Last week, students in the Medical Assisting and Pharmacy Technician programs at Ross Medical Education Center in Morgantown visited locations around their city. Throughout their visits, they were given the opportunity to gain a better understanding regarding what really takes place in the day to day operations of an urgent care center and a non-dispensing pharmacy facility.
Eleven Medical Assisting students and three faculty members visited the brand new West Virginia University Healthcare (WVUH) Urgent Care center that recently opened near their campus and is currently hosting a Ross extern. WVUH Urgent Care is a walk-in clinic that provides a complete range of medical treatment for minor illness and injury. They see cases that need immediate attention but aren’t life-threatening conditions that require an emergency room visit. The facility offers on-site X-ray and lab services such as urine testing, pregnancy testing, rapid strep, monospot, and rapid flu and RSV testing. As part of the WVU Healthcare family, they have access to a full range of health care experts. The facility is staffed by six physicians in addition to registered nurses, x-ray technicians, medical assistants, and administrative staff. The Morgantown campus has an active affiliation agreement with WVUH and has already assigned six students to this particular site for externship; two of them have chosen to remain there as employees. Students were impressed with the facility, commenting that it was neat, clean, and employed an organized process for patient flow.
The Pharmacy Technician group spent some time seeing what goes on behind the scenes at Omnicare Pharmacy. This organization delivers comprehensive medication and related services that result in positive, cost-effective outcomes for patients in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities throughout Morgantown. They also provide free access to Omniview, a secure, web-based communications and data portal, to facilities with which they contract. Through Omniview, facilities can initiate refills, check the status of orders, view bills, and accomplish many other daily tasks. Omnicare is a closed, non-dispensing pharmacy. The Ross Morgantown campus currently has an active affiliation agreement with Omnicare, and four students have completed externship at the site. Those that were able to tour the pharmacy enjoyed the experience and are interested in potentially doing their externships there. 