Hi Dani!
I’m so glad I found your site that’s all about your experience as an EPIC pharmacist. Honestly a year ago, I didn’t even know this field existed until I stumbled upon a few LinkedIn profiles of pharmacists that stated they were EPIC certified.
I’m going to graduate in 2019 and I would highly be interested in getting exposure to this field. Do you know of any healthcare companies or locations that would allow a student to shadow them for the day? Just to get a feel of what goes on in a day to day of a pharmacist who works in the IT department?
Thank you!
Hi Jennifer,
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation… I know it’s still about a year away but you’re almost at the finish line! š
Yes… Epic certification for pharmacists IS a thing. Primarily, pharmacists get certified in the Willow and Beacon applications. Willow is the software for pharmacy dispensing and inventory management (both outpatient and inpatient) and Beacon is the oncology module.
Your best bet for getting exposure to the IT practice of pharmacy is to seek out organizations where they have pharmacy informaticists. I say that because it’s hard to shadow someone in IT if the IT department is not plugged into the clinical training program, whereas when you have clinical informaticists who are pharmacists, it’s much easier for a pharmacy student to be allowed to shadow a pharmacist than an IT analyst… the Epic-certified pharmacists are usually considered IT analysts/IT pharmacists.
Now, most clinical informaticists will work closely with the IT pharmacists and that will be your segue into their world.
I hope this little “puzzle” makes sense and helps you to see how you can possibly get some exposure to the world of IT pharmacy as a student.