Why do you precept?
Ask our 2019 Practice Educator of the Year award recipients this question and a common theme emerges.
For many, precepting is an opportunity to not only share skills and expertise with future pharmacists but also to benefit from the fresh energy and knowledge UBC Entry-to-Practice PharmD students bring.
“By far the best part of working with student pharmacists is sharing learning experiences with them. The key word is “sharing” because I learn from them as well,” says Ana Baskalovic, BSc(Pharm)’15.
Cameron Bonell, BSc(Pharm)’93 approaches each new rotation like a “mini-residency.”
“(I try to) challenge each student to get the most out of the experience and I do not consider it a fully successful rotation unless I too have learned a lot. I think this is the main reason that I enjoy my role as a preceptor: not only watching students realize how much they can learn but leveraging their learning moments to further my own,” he says.
Practice educator of 30 years, Marianna Leung, BSc(Pharm)’84, PharmD agrees. “Teaching helps me stay current of my knowledge base. Having another person on service allows better patient care which translates to more patient satisfaction, as evident by all the positive patient comments we receive about the students,” she says.
Many also express a desire to give back to the pharmacy practice community.
“I still remember how impactful a positive preceptorship experience was for me as a student, and I do my best to ensure that we offer that to (the students)” says Ana Baskalovic.
Ben Wou, BSc(Pharm)’17 adds, “I have been fortunate to have had amazing and inspirational preceptors throughout my career, and I want to pay that forward.”
Below, several of our practice educators share their advice for prospective practice educators and for pharmacy students commencing their rotations.
Advice for Prospective Practice Educators
"Embrace being a preceptor and engage your students every chance you get. Seek out all those opportunities that you love about the job and share them with your students and you’ll find the time flies by." Christopher Chase Fisher, BSc(Pharm)’16, Clinical Pharmacist, Kelowna General Hospital
"The best advice I would give is to provide context to your students. As a recent student/resident I struggled with applying the information that I learned during school, and one of the key reasons that I did was that I did not fully understand 'why' we ordered specific labs, or ordered specific drugs. The most effective preceptors I had helped fill that gap of inexperience by explaining the context behind why they made specific decisions."
Ben Wou, Clinical Pharmacist
Advice for Students
"Question everything and don’t be afraid to say you don’t know the answer, there may not be ‘an answer’ and it may be more about what you think and why." Christopher Chase Fisher
"Get the most out of your rotations. You will always learn from every patient encounter or scenario, whether positive or negative, and grow from that experience." Marianna Leung, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, St Paul’s Hospital
"Don’t be nervous! It’s often a new setting and experience and preceptors understand that." Carla Dumaresque, Pharmacist II, Vernon Jubilee Hospital
"Be prepared to be challenged. Your course work in school has prepared you for many different conditions and diseases, but your clinical rotations are going to show you that there is still much to learn. Your clinical rotations will develop your soft skills and critical thinking in a way that may be frustrating or daunting, and that is completely normal." Ben Wou
"Come in with a great attitude and desire to learn!" Ana Baskalovic, Pharmacy Manager, Vital Health Pharmacy
The experiential education component of the Entry-to-Practice PharmD program is made possible by over 600 practice educators across the province. Each year, we host the Pharmacy Practice Educator of the Year awards to help celebrate their valuable contributions to our program and students.