2019 REHPS Whitney Hutchison

Week one of my internship was great!  The first day consisted of getting shown around the new hospital and introduced to everyone.  This was more of just telling everyone that Michael and I were here since I am originally from Burke and he has done hours for school here before.  The first week I spent most of my time in the pharmacy relearning the system and understanding the hospital side of pharmacy in a small town.  A couple of the mornings I got to observe hospital rounds with the providers on staff, and on Thursday got to spend some time in the lab learning different techniques done on blood and urine samples.  We had lunch with the Community Club on Tuesday, which was something I have never sat in on before.  We suggested ideas for a theme for the town celebration’s parade and came up with different fun ideas to do over the weekend.  On Wednesday, I attended Women’s League Golf night at the golf course.  This was a fun and relaxing night with different women in the community.

I started my week out by traveling to two different nursing homes with Dr. Megan Smith.  I got to look at different medication lists and determine whether there were any drug interactions between all the medications the patients were on.  I really liked this aspect of pharmacy, and it was eye opening to see how many medications may not be needed as a person ages.  The next day I spent most of my time in the pharmacy but spent a couple of hours with the Outreach Cardiologist.  I got to witness a stress test on a patient complaining of shortness of breath.  On Thursday, I got to shadow the radiology department and got to watch an abdominal CT scan and an X-RAY of a hand.  Friday was spent shadowing Dr. Megan Smith again, but this time in the clinical setting.  Once again I got to go over everyone’s medication lists with her before we went to see them.  She asked me lots of medication questions and let me give input on medications I would suggest for diabetes and high blood pressure.  That weekend Burke held a big rodeo called the Burke Stampede Rodeo.  I attended this both Friday and Saturday night!

On Monday I started my third week by doing hospital rounds with the nurse practitioners.  I also got to spend a couple of hours in the Physical Therapy department.  Physical Therapy was interesting as it is one area that I have never shadowed before. While in the PT Department I got to watch a couple of different therapy sessions.  One was for a man who had severe kyphosis and the second was a new evaluation on a patient who had been having knee pain.  The next couple of days I spent in the Pharmacy.  Wednesday afternoon I got the chance to spend some time in the clinic with one of the nurse practitioners.  I got the chance to watch and help with a few more hands on clinic visits.

This was much more exciting than the routine diabetes and blood pressure checks.  Friday morning I was able to go with the paramedic in town and tour the ambulances.  After the ambulance tour, I sat through a CPR training/class with the Gregory County Court House employees.  I cannot wait to see what my last week of the REHPS internship has in store for me!