Vickie McLean, PharmD
Carolinas Medical Center
Charlotte, North Carolina

Tell me about your training, the jobs you’ve held and your current position.

Vickie: I attended Pharmacy School at Campbell University School of Pharmacy from 1987-1991 and completed a General Practice residency at Children''s National Medical Center in Washington, DC in 1992.

Tell me about your training, the jobs you’ve held and your current position.

Vickie: I am the Clinical Pediatric Specialist at Carolinas Medical Center.

How long have you been precepting pharmacy students?

Vickie: I have been precepting students about 6 years.

What is your teaching philosophy?

Vickie: I remember being a student with a lack of confidence in my knowledge base. I just wanted a preceptor who understood and was willing to spend time with me. My philosophy is that a preceptor should be a mentor to the student. One who spends time with the student to make sure that they understand the basics. If you have a strong foundation, then you can build on that knowledge. I try to make sure that the students understand the disease state as well as the mechanism of action of a drug. If you understand the disease state, deciding which drug to use will not be difficult. "If you understand the why then you can determine the how."

Have you had any particularly memorable experiences while precepting pharmacy students?

Vickie: We had a pediatric patient with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. That in itself is a rare occurrence. The student and I had to interview the nurses and scrutinize the patient chart (flow sheet from PICU) to determine if the patient had received any heparin. We also had to contact the transferring hospital to determine if any heparin was administered there and also to gather more history about that admission and other recent admissions. Once the drips were discontinued, the patient was receiving heparin flushes q shift through an internal jugular line to maintain patency. Once the patient was transferred to the floor from the PICU, heparin was inadvertently given again as a flush. The patient’s platelets decrease again. The student was able to educate the nurses and the medical team about HIT. An order was entered on the patient’s profile that stated ***no heparin*** in addition to heparin being entered as an allergy. The student also presented this case to fellow pharmacy students.

Describe one of you precepting pearls that may be helpful to the new preceptor.

Vickie: I always tell the students that I expect them to be able to explain the indication for every drug that their patient is prescribed. In addition to understanding the indication
for each medication, they should be able to list at least three common side effects and the monitoring parameters for each agent.