South Carolina to Pittsburgh (by way of Alabama)

Hello everyone!  This is my first blog post ever!  Last weekend I attended a wedding where I was asked repeatedly where I was living now...I didn't know how to answer this question.  My car was packed with all I would need from July to February and I was en route from Charleston to Pittsburgh for my next rotation.  So I thought this would be the easiest way to keep friends and family up-to-date on where I am currently located and what I'm doing at each spot.  I am in my last (and final!) year of pharmacy school, which consists of nine 1-month rotations.  For these rotations I will be traveling from Charleston, SC to Alabama, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Maine, North Carolina, and Texas.  Why would I want to leave such a beautiful place full of wonderful people and delicious food, you ask?

So I can work with patients like this:

Yup, that's an actual profession: veterinary pharmacy.  Normally when I tell people about pursuing a career in vet pharmacy (pharmacists or not), I get a quizzical look followed by many questions:

Do you have to do special schooling for that?
Not necessarily, but it certainly helps!  I first got interested in veterinary pharmacy after taking a vet pharmacy elective in my second year of pharmacy school (Thanks, Dr. Gaskins!).  Since then I've sought out additional online classes, work experience, and volunteer opportunities to gain more insight into the profession.

Do you need more training after pharmacy school?
There are also 2 residencies that I will be applying to in the next few months for veterinary pharmacy.  They are one-year programs at NC State and UC Davis and each take only one resident per year...fingers crossed!

Where would you work?
There are jobs for veterinary pharmacists in large vet hospitals and schools, industry (think Merck, Pfizer, etc), compounding pharmacies, and even some private veterinary practices.  I could see myself working in any of those fields so I'm keeping an open mind this year.

There are not many opportunities in South Carolina to gain experience in this field, so I decided to get in touch with pharmacists all over to set up rotations around the country.  And while I was at it, I might as well go to Hawaii too to work with people :-)

So there it is, the reason I'm a gypsy and living out of my car for the year!  So far I have completed two rotations:
May:
Pediatric Surgery at MUSC in Charleston, SC--Children...they're kind of like animals (some can't speak to you to tell you what's wrong, you have to give medication directions to their parents (owners), dose medications based on weight).  This was a VERY demanding rotation but it was very rewarding and I learned so much!

June:
Clinical Veterinary rotation at Auburn University in Auburn, AL--This was an amazing introduction into the world of clinical veterinary pharmacy.  I got to round with the ICU, equine, bovine, neurology/neurosurgery, ophthalmology, and dermatology teams. I will probably devote a blog entry (or two) to this experience in the future!

As for this month: August I will be at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA for my last acute care rotation (Internal Medicine).  I was born at this hospital so this will definitely be a special experience :-)

On deck for September: The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium!

It's good to be back :-)

Thanks for reading!

xoxo Erika