Pharmacy Intern

About the Role

Join the Phoenix Children’s Inpatient Pharmacy team as a Pharmacy Intern at the Arrowhead Campus. This role offers hands-on pediatric hospital pharmacy experience and a vital part in providing comprehensive pharmacy services to pediatric patients. Interns will gain valuable clinical and operational experience in a pediatric hospital setting, working alongside experienced pharmacy professionals. There may be opportunities to contribute to special projects, quality improvement initiatives, and process improvement efforts within the pharmacy department.

To support continuity of care and professional development, interns are expected to maintain a regular work schedule that includes:

• One 4-hour shift per week
• Two 8-hour shifts every third weekend
• Two holidays per year

This position provides pediatric hospital pharmacy work experience to pharmacy students enrolled in a college or school of pharmacy at any Phoenix Children's pharmacy location. Under the supervision of a registered pharmacist, the individual in this role participates in the daily activities of the medication use process and provides comprehensive pharmacy services to patients from neonate to young adulthood.

Key Responsibilities

• Preparing, Dispensing, and Delivering Medications
• Assists in accurately preparing and labeling medications in accordance with Board of Pharmacy regulations and department policy.
• Prepares medications and verifies accuracy under the supervision of a pharmacist prior to dispensing.
• Delivers medications and supplies to patient areas per hospital and department timelines and guidelines.
• Restocks automated dispensing cabinets and rotates stock.
• Removes expiring medications of both patient-specific doses and unit-dosed items available in patient care areas and medication rooms.
• Assures departmental policies and procedures are being followed.
• Processes medication orders in a timely manner and assures the quality of products dispensed meets established departmental guidelines.
• Ensures that patients receive ordered medications as to dose, route, salt, regimen, and generic substitution.
• Medication Use Process & Patient Care
• Accurately completes Controlled Substance Documentation Records when dispensing controlled substances.
• Accurately maintains investigational drug study records and documentation as required.
• Acts as a liaison between the Pharmacy and medical/nursing staff for issues pertaining to pharmacy services.
• Identifies and intervenes when problems involving drug therapy arise (e.g., allergies, drug interactions, therapeutic duplication, adverse drug reactions).
• Ensures appropriateness of all medication doses in reference to the patient's diagnosis, weight/body surface area, age, allergies, and drug interactions.
• Verifies appropriateness of medication selected.
• Recommends initiation of drug therapy when necessary.
• Evaluates the need for all non-formulary medication requests; suggests equally efficacious but less expensive therapy as appropriate.
• Performs medication reconciliation through oral consultation about a prescription medication to a patient or patient’s caregiver and documents history collected.
• Initiates and processes medication incident reports and adverse drug reaction reports.
• Participates in departmental data collection and reporting of Drug Use Evaluation, Quality Assurance, and Performance Improvement activities.
• Completes annual aseptic technique certification by skills validation.
• Serves in a professional capacity on unit-based clinical teams.
• Monitors patients to assure optimal therapeutic outcomes.
• Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as requested.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• This position performs the duties of a pharmacy intern as defined by the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy Administrative Code º R4-23-402-407.
• Receives supervision from inpatient pharmacy leaders.

Qualifications

• Must be enrolled in the first or second professional year of an accredited PharmD program.
• Anticipated graduation in 2029 or 2030.