Last Tuesday, November 4th, students from Ross Medical Education Center in Charleston’s Pharmacy Technician program traveled to OmniCare Long Term Care Pharmacy. OmniCare is an active affiliate with the campus’ Pharmacy Technician externship program. In each of its programs, Ross requires students to complete a practical externship in order to graduate. The externship is crucial to the learning experience for every Ross student, giving them a chance to apply what they have been given instruction on in the classroom to a real world setting. The externship also provides employers an opportunity to assess students’ skills prior to hiring entry-level allied health professionals.
The students enjoyed learning more about OmniCare which specifically caters to nursing homes and Hospice. Within their 17,000 square foot facility, OmniCare has a non-sterile compounding area and a sterile compounding area which includes IVs, blister packing, and many other jobs that pharmacy technicians are hired to do. Tim Clemons, a Pharmacy Technician student, said, “Everyone looked like they enjoyed working there. I love that the building is clean and you don’t feel boxed in walking around. I learned that there is a lot more than meets the eye at filling prescriptions.” During their externship affiliation with them, Ross has had students complete their externship at the facility and find it to be an excellent place to work and to learn.
The visiting students were also able to learn a lot during their brief time at Omnicare. Taquana Thomas, Pharmacy Technician student, was interested to find out “that there is a certain area where medications have to be disposed of property. I liked that there were also different sections a pharmacy technician can train in, such as IV solutions and packaging medications.” Another student, Marie King, really enjoyed the day, saying, “my trip to OmniCare was awesome. They are so organized; the way it is divided would make doing your job so much easier.”