Community Pharmacy, a full prescription pharmacy that features herbs and natural healthcare, has developed a unique internship program with University of Wisconsin’s School of Pharmacy.
The internship program was developed by a pharmacist at Community Pharmacy over a span of more than 30 years to promote learning about Community Pharmacy’s unique structure and work environment among students.
“We like to include [learning about Community Pharmacy as] part of the training, to get [the interns] used to a more untraditional way of pharmacy opposed to a chain pharmacy,” Jessica Kannemeier, co-director of the internship program, said.
Community Pharmacy offers a wide range of natural products. The students spend one afternoon a week in the supplements and herbal section of the store, at least four to five hours at least, she said.
“It gives them the opportunity to learn about all kinds of alternative medicines, Chinese medicines, bulk herbs and supplements,” Kannemeier said.
Interns are trained to do the same work as pharmacists in order to provide a thorough experience. Everything is done under supervision.
She said interns consult patients, help pharmacists with clinical inquiries and work flows and become familiar with the procedure of checking prescriptions. The university also gets involved in the program, assigning mandatory projects and clinical inquiries, she said.
UW senior Erin McAllister, an advanced clerkship intern, has been training at Community Pharmacy for two weeks now.
“The School of Pharmacy doesn’t teach about any natural medicines; everything is evidence-based,” McAllister said. “The internship has allowed me to learn about supplements and alternative therapy for people who don’t want to take prescription medications.”
Interns provide a valuable contribution to the pharmacy as well, Kannemeier said. They are used as resources for drug information questions that patients have, and are well-trained to look up information on Community Pharmacy’s databases.
Kannemeier said the pharmacy gets a lot of questions about the interaction between herbal supplements and medications.
“Interns help with answering these questions. This program is a great collaboration between the university and us. As a unique business in Madison, it’s important to have that presence at the university as well,” Kannemeier said.
There are different internship programs offered depending on where each student is at during their studies at the university. The advanced clerkship interns are fourth-year students who train for seven to eight week rotations at different sites.
This rotation is enacted in order to provide training and experience to as many students as possible throughout the year. Community Pharmacy runs its internship program throughout the summer as well.
“On occasion we work with first-year, second-year and third-year students, but they’re usually only there for a certain number of hours a week,” Kannemeier said. “An advanced clerkship intern’s last day is on a Friday and a new intern starts on Monday.”
