Exploring the Pharmacy Profession
May 2, 2022
Not every high school senior has the chance to learn, hands-on, what goes into the job of a pharmacist. But if you attend Bio-Med Science Academy, a public STEM school with its grade 7-12 campus located on the NEOMED campus, that’s just one of the interactions you might be able to arrange with health sciences faculty members from the College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy or College of Graduate Studies.
Each year, seniors at Bio-Med complete an internship or independent research project known as their APEX project. NEOMED recently sat down with Jarod Cummings, a Bio-Med senior whose APEX project has been to work as an intern at Summa Health Rootstown Pharmacy under the supervision of Fady Abdlrasul, Pharm D. (’14), assistant professor of pharmacy practice and director of pipeline programs at NEOMED.
Why did you choose to intern at Summa Health Rootstown
Pharmacy?
JC: I chose to work at this pharmacy because I’m very interested in careers related to life sciences, such as biomedical engineering. I thought that working in a pharmacy would be a good introduction to this and could help me narrow down my future career choice.
What are some of the things you have learned through your hands-on experience at the pharmacy?
JC: Being a pharmacist is hard work! There is a lot more that goes into being a pharmacist than just over-the-counter immediate patient care. Pharmacists have to prepare the drugs that are given to their patients and work closely with the patient and be ready to answer any questions. There’s a whole process behind the scenes of what goes on for patients to receive care.
What is something you learned about the pharmacy profession?
JC: Say you go into a pharmacy to pick up your prescription. The person that you initially talk to is a pharmacist. The person you sit down with and are counseled with is a pharmacist. The person who prepares your prescription is a pharmacist. There are also pharmacists in hospitals, there are veterinary pharmacists, there are pediatric pharmacists. There are a wide variety of pharmacists that all deal with different things but with the basic principle of drug handling.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done this year?
JC: I’ve spent time in NEOMED’S pharmacy practice lab to prepare different types of medications for different patients. In the lab we make a wide variety of medicines like capsules and chap sticks which are each tailored to cooperate with a person’s immune system and allergens.
What does an average day look like?
JC: My day-to-day routine tends to vary. Sometimes we will meet to discuss what we are doing and the goals we want to accomplish in that week. When we are in the pharmacy, we are assigned to go through a spreadsheet with a category of the top 300 drugs, sorting them into categories and researching them. For example, some categories are gastrointestinal, renal and different types of drugs for different parts of the body. Other times I will go to the Wasson Center, which is where students and Standardized
Patients do mock exams and are tested.
Will you be able to use anything you learned in your internship in the future?
JC: Yes, I have learned something called motivational counseling. It is a process where you have to help patients to motivate them to take these drugs. Learning these counseling skills will help me help other people in the future.
Who do you work with to accomplish your goals?
JC: I work with one other Bio-Med intern, Zach Boyden. I also work with a supervisor, Fady Abdlrasul, Pharm D., who is a faculty member in the College of Pharmacy at NEOMED.
Have you found this experience helpful in your development?
JC: Throughout the year it has been somewhat challenging to manage my time researching drugs. It has been a slow process, but as the year goes on and I learn more about pharmacists and what they do with drug production. I will continue to learn and enjoy my time there.
This article was written by Robert Greenwood, a senior at Bio-Med Science Academy interning in NEOMED’S Office of Marketing and Communications.