Pharmacy Intern

CVS Health•Charlton, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

This role is for a 3rd year Pharmacy Intern at CVS Health, focused on transforming healthcare and making the company a great place to work. The intern will support pharmacy teams in retail locations, helping to deliver on the brand promise and develop skills for future pharmacist roles. The position involves applying pharmacy school learning to real-world practice under the direction of a preceptor, following a comprehensive training roadmap. The intern will gain hands-on experience through Key Learning Experiences (KLEs), activities, and interactions with district leaders. Responsibilities include assisting the pharmacy team to ensure smooth operations, prompt, safe, and accurate prescription fulfillment, and exceeding patient expectations with caring service. The intern will learn to operate as part of the pharmacy team by applying Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), best practices, and effective communication. They will demonstrate empathy and genuine care in all interactions, contributing to a safe and inclusive culture. The role involves completing a training roadmap focused on KLEs that build aptitude in various areas, with increasing responsibility for the safety and effectiveness of pharmacy operations as tenure increases. This includes following SOPs, pharmacy workflow procedures, contributing to positive patient experiences, offering counseling, fielding medical questions, taking telephonic prescriptions, providing in-the-moment coaching, completing inventory activities, contributing to a high-performing team, and remaining flexible for scheduling and business needs. The intern will also understand and comply with all relevant laws, regulations, professional standards, and ethical principles, as well as CVS policies and procedures. Additionally, the intern may support immunizations, including completing required training and licensure, educating patients, monitoring for adverse reactions, and reviewing/collecting patient information.

Requirements

Accepted into, or actively enrolled in, an ACPE accredited college or school of pharmacy.
Must possess, or be in the process of obtaining, valid intern and/or technician licensure as required.
Regular and predictable attendance, including nights and weekends.
Ability to complete required training within designated timeframe.
Ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time.
Ability to pivot quickly from one task to another to meet patient and business needs.
Ability to confirm prescription information and label accuracy, ensuring patient safety.
Actively look for ways to help people, and do so in a friendly manner.
Notice and understand patients’ reactions, and respond appropriately.
Use and understand verbal and written communication to interact with patients and colleagues.
Utilize active listening by giving full attention to what others are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Ability to use math to solve a problem, such as determining the total number of tablets to dispense, day’s supply, and/or number of full bottles and additional bottles needed to fill a prescription.
Identify challenging patient or colleague interactions and choose the best course of action when faced multiple options.
Be mobile and remain upright for extended periods of time.
Lift, scan, and bag items.
Reach overhead; stretch or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs to grasp items.
Move fingers repetitively; picking, pinching, typing, or otherwise working primarily with fingers rather than whole hand or arm.
Extend hand(s) and arm(s) multiple directions to place, move, or lift items.
Control precision; quickly adjust machines to exact positions.
Stoop to a considerable degree, requiring full use of the lower extremities and back muscles to move items between low and high positions, including bending spine at the waist.
Close visual acuity to perform activities such as: transcribing, viewing a computer terminal, reading, visual inspection involving small parts.
Occasionally lift of up to 20 lbs and/or exert up to 20 lbs. of force; Frequently lift of up to 10 lbs and/or exert up to 10 lbs. of force; Consistently lift and/or exert a negligible amount of force to move objects.
Express or exchange ideas by means of spoken word where detailed or important spoken instructions must be conveyed accurately.
Have the ability to receive detailed information through oral communication.

Nice To Haves

1+ years of related work experience in pharmacy, retail, medical, or customer service setting.
Ability to become immunization certified: Once state regulations are met, pharmacy interns should be striving to provide patient immunizations as this is an essential pharmacist function.
Ability to work in home store, and across the market in other locations, to meet business needs.
Proficiency in Microsoft Suite (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.).

Responsibilities

Complete a comprehensive training roadmap, focusing on KLEs that build aptitude in various areas.
Take on increasing responsibility for the safety and effectiveness of operations in the pharmacy.
Follow all company SOPs at each workstation to help Pharmacists and Technicians manage and improve patient health.
Follow pharmacy workflow procedures at each pharmacy workstation (i.e., production, pick-up, drive-thru, and drop-off) for safe and accurate prescription fulfillment.
Contribute to positive patient experiences showing empathy and genuine care: creating heartfelt and personalized moments while serving patients at pick-up, drive-thru, and over the phone.
Keep patients healthy by offering immunizations and other services at the register and over the phone.
Demonstrate compassionate care by solving or escalating patient problems.
Offer to counsel, field medical questions, and solicit information on a patient’s medical history to provide optimal care, when appropriate under the direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist.
Take telephonic prescriptions from the prescriber, and call the prescriber to clarify prescriptions or facilitate medication changes, where allowed by state regulation.
Maintain the highest level of self-awareness and provide in-the-moment coaching, training, and mentoring to pharmacy team members while sharing best practices.
Complete basic inventory activities, as permitted by law, and as directed by the pharmacy leadership team, such as accurately putting away medication deliveries and completing cycle counts, returns-to-stocks, waiting bin inventories, etc.
Contribute to a high-performing team, embracing a growth mindset, and being receptive to feedback; actively seeking opportunities to expand clinical and technical knowledge needed to better assist patients.
Remain flexible for both scheduling and business needs, while contributing to a safe, inclusive, and engaging team dynamic; voluntarily travel to stores in the market to work shifts as needed by the business.
Understand and comply with all relevant federal, state, and local laws, regulations, professional standards, and ethical principles.
Comply with CVS policies and procedures to ensure patient safety, compliance with controlled substance dispensing and recordkeeping, and to protect patient privacy and security.
Deliver additional patient health care services (e.g., immunizations, point-of-care testing, and voluntarily staffing offsite clinics), where allowable by law and supported by required training and certification.
Support immunizations, which includes completing additional licensure and training requirements, in compliance with state Board of Pharmacy regulations, to obtain Technician Immunizer status to support preparing and administering vaccines.
Educate patients about the importance of vaccines and refer patients to the Pharmacist-on-duty for vaccination questions.
Monitor for, and respond to, adverse reactions; report adverse reaction events per public health requirements.
Review and collect patient information; track and document for each applicable patient.