Chris Banyas
Life Editor
So much focus is put on doctors and nurses in the medical field that it is easy to forget all of the other necessary component positions and functions that enable the overall success of health care.
Pharmacists fill a somewhat nebulous space within this hierarchy: their level of patient involvement is dependent not only on the physicians that they are working with, but how personally they are able to know and understand those individuals that they treat.
Sabrina Sherwood, a second year student in the Idaho State University College of Pharmacy, was recently chosen for a ten-week paid internship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, beginning in May, and cites this personal interaction as very important in the way she works with patients.
“I like to be that bridge between the physician and the patient. I think too many times physicians don’t have time for their patients and I love that I can be that person and I don’t have to necessarily do the diagnostics, I don’t have to touch them and do surgeries, but I can actually make a difference in their lives,” said Sherwood.
Sherwood, along with nine other interns, was chosen from eight pharmacy schools nationwide to participate in the program.
Sherwood is one of six interns that will work in an actual hospital setting, shadowing practicing pharmacists.
“I’ll be working 40 hours a week in the hospital, so either doing IV bags or unit dosing with medications, dispensing,” said Sherwood. “On top of that I have to do research, and I have to do these mini module things where I shadow physicians and get to go around and just see different things.”
Currently the hepatitis C coordinator at the Pocatello Family Medicine Clinic, Sherwood works with patients suffering from the disease, a virus that attacks the liver, preventing it from functioning correctly.
“With hepatitis C care clinic, it’s really nice to be able to talk to them, not just about their infection, but also about their personal lives and how they’re doing emotionally, because it’s something difficult, same with [Multiple Sclerosis]. It’s more than just a physical disease, and so it’s really nice to be able to help somebody with just compassion alone,” said Sherwood.
Sherwood also serves as president of the College of Pharmacy Student Senate, and works at the nuclear pharmacy in Chubbuck, which isn’t as complicated as it sounds.
“They dispense nuclear medications like iodine treatments for the thyroid, but they use IV bags basically.”
Most 14-year-olds have unrealistic and unfocused career goals, if any, but Sherwood was different.
“I’ve known since I was 14 that I wanted to be a pharmacist.”
Early experiences with the man that would be her future father in law, a sufferer of M.S. and close family friend, contributed to Sherwood’s eventual decision to become a pharmacist.
“I just remember his openness and being always willing to talk about his problems and I just always wish that all my patients could be like him, and would let me help them. Most people don’t want to get very close to you and let you help them it seems like,” said Sherwood. “He would let me watch him give himself injections and set up his pillboxes every week, and so I was always fascinated by that and he always pushed me to get more involved with that and find a cure for M.S.”
As part of the application process, Sherwood was required to fulfill a number of requirements.
“The application alone was just so many different things,” said Sherwood. “My mom definitely helped me the week before and basically told me ‘you’re fine, you’re going to do great.’”
Sherwood is originally from the Boise area, and was guided from an early age to excel in mathematics by her mother, an engineer at Micron, and her father, an Ada County Marshall.
Instructors within the pharmacy program also helped Sherwood along her way to obtaining the internship. One instructor, Dr. Cashmore, associate dean of the pharmacy program, in particular stands out to Sherwood.
“She was just very accepting of the fact that even though it would mean her losing an intern over the summer, it would help benefit me to become a better pharmacist and make differences in people’s lives,” said Sherwood.
Even though Sherwood is only halfway through her course of study, she has already encountered some of the more difficult elements of working in health care, specifically within her specialization of hepatitis C.
“Hepatitis C is treatable now with the medications they have out there. The problem is that it’s so expensive that a lot of patients don’t have access to it,” said Sherwood. “It’s really hard to get your insurance to cover some of them. We’re talking $1,000 for one pill and around $90,000 for one treatment.”
The expenses arise from the effectiveness of the new drugs as well as their lower number of side effects.
“There’s lots of patient assistance programs you can do to get the medications covered. I just don’t want any patient to give just because they can’t afford it,” said Sherwood.
Despite these programs, it is possible that patients may go untreated just because of the financial burden of the treatment.
Sherwood has also experienced the heights of what the medical profession can offer.
“The first person that cleared the virus [hepatitis C] from my therapy management, that was the biggest accomplishment that I think I’ve had,” said Sherwood. “It was really awesome being able to call her at the end of her 24-week therapy and be like ‘you’re clear, you’ve successfully cleared the virus, good job.’ She’ll still come into the clinic just to see me.”
Looking forward, beyond the end of the internship and the end of her time at ISU, Sherwood already has the beginnings of plans for her future.
“Right now I’m really interested in hepatitis C and I’d be really interested to see if I can make a difference in pharmacists being able to have more say when it comes to therapy,” said Sherwood.
