The “What I Wish I Knew” series of articles is a service of CPNP’s Resident and New Practitioner Committee. Articles are intended to provide advice from experts for students, residents, and new practitioners. Articles are not intended to provide in-depth disease state or pharmacotherapy information nor replace any peer-reviewed educational materials. We hope you benefit from this “field guide” discussing approaches to unique problems and situations.
All new psychiatric pharmacists will encounter situations they struggle to handle, no matter how robust their training. At best, residents will formally precept a handful of students during their residency. Despite the lessons learned during these co-precepting experiences, practitioners cannot be fully prepared for the challenges they will encounter throughout their years as preceptors. Each trainee on rotation presents with various levels of baseline knowledge, clinical reasoning, and aptitude that can result in a multitude of unique scenarios. While stories of challenging trainee scenarios can be attention grabbing, it is better to focus on ways to prevent or mitigate problems on rotation from the beginning.