Next Generation is a Brigham Clinical & Research News (CRN) column penned by students, residents, fellows and postdocs. If you are a Brigham trainee interested in contributing a column, email bwhclinicalandresearchnews@partners.org. This month’s column is written by Salima Amiji, a Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at Northeastern University who is completing pharmacy co-ops at the Brigham.

Salima Amiji

In my sophomore year of high school, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in research for the first time. I can remember walking into my father’s laboratory that day, out of the freezing cold, with my faux fur coat, North Face backpack, and can-do attitude, completely unaware of the impact the day would have. The project—which involved culturing cells for a scientific experiment to test a targeted cancer therapy—not only kindled my love for science but also piqued my interest in pharmacy. I knew from then on that I wanted to impact patients’ well-being by providing medication expertise. My enthusiasm for the field of healthcare, coupled with my parent’s influence on me as pharmacists, motivated me to independently explore and deepen my understanding of the profession.

As a pharmacy student at Northeastern University, I have had the opportunity to complete two co-ops at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The co-op education program at Northeastern University is an essential part of the curriculum, providing students with real-world experience beyond traditional classroom education, and offering students the opportunity to build on their professional network prior to graduation. My co-op experiences as a pharmacy intern in the Investigational Drug Services (IDS) and Outpatient Pharmacy Services have taught me several professional and personal lessons and have helped shape the future pharmacist that I will become.

In May 2021, I began my first co-op, encountering difficulty locating the inpatient pharmacy in the maze of the Brigham. Without any prior work experience in pharmacy, I was eager to be introduced to the IDS team during the COVID-19 pandemic. Helping to support ongoing COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials immediately captivated my interest. Contributing to the development and implementation of groundbreaking treatments fanned the fire in me and made me feel like I was part of something much larger than anything I’d previously experienced. Disposable, hospital-issued yellow and blue surgical masks were my companions during these shifts. My weekly rotations between three pharmacy technician staffing assignments provided me with a comprehensive understanding of pharmacy workflows and operations in IDS. During my time in IDS, I was able to learn about clinical research design, the FDA drug approval process, the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration as well as strengthen both my critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The ability to work independently on specific projects gave me a sense of autonomy and created sufficient variability to provide continuous learning opportunities throughout the co-op experience.

Given the wonderful learning experience I had at my first co-op in IDS and the comfort I felt at this illustrious institution, I was eager to pursue my next co-op at the Brigham as well. In January 2022, I transitioned to Outpatient Pharmacy Services, focusing on the Meds-to-Beds program for patients in the hospital. For the first two months, I assisted with delivering prescriptions directly to a patient’s hospital room before discharge. I saw the impact of enhanced patient convenience, improved medication adherence, and reduced readmission rates. Each day offered a different experience where I often completed up to 50 deliveries, providing glucometer education and fostering conversations with diverse patient populations. The latter half of the co-op involved product dispensing where I became adept in counting controlled substances, managing pharmacy inventory, and operating the ScriptPro robot that automatically counts the top one hundred of drugs dispensed by the pharmacy. In these two months, I developed valuable community pharmacy skills such as typing up prescriptions, calculating prescription dosages, and addressing insurance issues including prior authorization requests and refills that are requested too soon.

Though my co-op experiences at BWH were full of learning and enjoyment, they were not without challenges. From frustrating communication gaps between healthcare providers for bedside deliveries, to the overwhelming nature of handling investigational product shipments, the journey was marked by valuable takeaways. Messaging providers through the Voalte system on updates for a patient’s prescriptions taught me how important effective communication is to ensure smooth handoffs, while opening one box at a time reassured me to stay calm under pressure to receive drug shipment items. The exposure to two distinct pharmacy settings —investigational and outpatient— allowed me to understand and appreciate the nuances of both environments. The ability to participate in research projects outside of my workdays, shadow clinical pharmacists in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and understand the importance of medication reconciliation all contributed to my professional growth as a pharmacy intern.

My two co-op experiences at the Brigham, and the opportunities resulting from the experiences, have been amazing in providing me with a multifaceted perspective of the pharmacy profession. The stark differences between the IDS and outpatient pharmacy settings highlight the great variety of practices within the pharmacy field. As I reflect, I see how my time with these BWH teams helped solidify my choice to become a pharmacist. My time at BWH has showed me that helping to support clinical trials in an IDS and caring for patients in the outpatient pharmacy can be fulfilling a career for pharmacists and both services are integral parts of the overarching care model at BWH. To fellow pharmacy students, I advise you to actively seek mentorships, embrace a variety of experiences, and try to understand the real-world implications of lessons learned in the classroom. Whereas material covered in college courses such as pharmacology and pharmacokinetics is essential foundational knowledge to graduate and obtain a license, co-op experiences, like those offered by BWH pharmacy, are a catalyst, propelling individuals to learn practical skills and advance in their personal professional journeys.

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