Student Café: COVID-19 Impact on Pharmacy Residencies, Internships

Students at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy—Michael Forst, Josiah Baker, and Rachel Goldberg—answered the question “How has the pandemic impacted your summer internship/residency (or other pharmacy work)?” The video is one part in the Pharmacy Times Student Café series.

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This is a partial transcript. View the video for the students' full responses.

Michael Forster: I work at Rush University Medical Center, which is in Chicago, Illinois. It’s about 5 minutes away from me, located in the Illinois Medical District—right next to my school as well. For me, compared to some of my other friends who work at some of the other hospitals, I still work 40 hours a week. And I feel like I’m more valuable than ever now.

Josiah Baker: It’s been a pretty big impact from what we’re used to, but I understand that it’s affecting everyone. So, we still are able to find ways to overcome [the pandemic] and get the work done. But obviously, (it’s) a lot less in-person activities and meetings, and stuff like that. I’ve been lucky to be able to go into my site pretty much every day. But as far as what I do onsite is a little bit more remote work.

Rebecca Goldberg: I currently work as an inpatient pharmacy technician at a hospital. So, at the beginning of this pandemic, I started picking up more shifts at the hospital. I feel very fortunate that my mangers were very flexible with my schedule and very willing to allow me to come in.