Rotation 3: Sleepless in Seattle (but it's a good thing)

Posted by Lauren Leader at Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Day 1: I woke up early to get to rotation by 9 am since I knew I would encounter traffic on the I-5 Southbound. Between watching the road and the GPS, I barely missed it. Right in front of me was a phenomenal view of Mt. Rainier. Seattle in late summer is void of its traditional rainy weather and is instead a beautiful, crisp 70 degrees, which lends to clear skies and amazing views from all around town. Enough about the city, for now. I arrived at the managed-care organization I would be working with and met my preceptor. We immediately started talking about the expectations for the rotation and what I would like to experience and what she would like me to accomplish. The list started out small. I knew I would like to get experiencing writing a drug-monograph, work with formulary management, answer drug-information questions and spend time at the help-desk assessing insurance claims. I thought that would be absolutely plenty to accomplish in the next 5 weeks. I met the team and the pharmacy residents I would be working with and set out to my first meeting to receive my first assignment. I met with the formulary coordinator and she said she had a drug monograph she would like me to write, now, never having written a drug monograph before I was extremely intimidated and concerned I would not be able to accomplish the task. The coordinator and I set goals for the different parts of the formulary and decided to meet weekly to review the sections, that made me feel MUCH more comfortable. I began to work on research for the monograph, when suddenly it was time for my second meeting of the day. I met with another team member in charge of prior authorizations. This company does formulary reviews every quarter and new prior authorization templates are typically required after each review. My task would be to create templates for the drugs that were new or needed to be updated. This was something I felt that I could accomplish much quicker and more easily. Eventually it was time to head home and this time I didn't miss a single bit of scenery.

Day 25: By the last day of rotation I never thought I would have completed as many projects and learned as much as I had. Not only did I muddle through, develop and present my own drug monograph, I was able to publish a nationwide article comparing the use of testosterone products and cardiovascular events, observe a statewide meeting to develop a standard protocol for prior authorizations among managed care organizations, assess pharmacist reporting and outcomes for MTM services and present the analysis to the pharmacists for improvement, make decisions on whether a particular drug should be covered for a patient, and of course experience the life and food of Seattle. As I think back on this rotation I am glad I took the opportunity to travel and I had so many more experiences than I could have ever imagined.