NZ Intern Pharmacist AC common mistakes
NZ Intern Pharmacist AC · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the intern year as a passive placement and waiting to be told what to complete, rather than mapping the PSNZ intern training requirements (competency sign-offs, learning modules, assessment deadlines) against the calendar at the start.
New Zealand interns often arrive from overseas or from a university programme where assessments were scheduled for them; the intern training programme expects self-directed tracking of portfolio evidence and module completion, and the structure is unfamiliar.
What to do instead
In the first two weeks, build a one-page timeline of every PSNZ intern training requirement with due dates, then diarise a monthly 30-minute review with your preceptor to check evidence coverage against each competency. Keep the portfolio updated weekly rather than at the end.
Submitting portfolio evidence that describes what the pharmacy does ('we counsel patients on inhalers') instead of what the intern personally did and learned ('I counselled three patients on inhaler technique and identified two errors').
Interns copy workplace descriptions or generic role statements because they are unsure what counts as acceptable evidence and leave collection to the last minute, when memory of specific events has faded.
What to do instead
Write each evidence entry within 48 hours of the event using a situation-action-reflection structure, naming the date, the specific patient or task, your own actions, and what you would do differently. Ask the preceptor to verify entries as they occur.
Underestimating the assessment preparation component of intern training and revising only from lecture slides, without practising calculations and case-based scenarios under time pressure.
Interns assume the assessment mirrors university exams and that clinical exposure during the year is sufficient preparation; calculation errors and unfamiliar case formats then surface only in the assessment itself.
What to do instead
Start a weekly practice routine from month one: timed calculation sets (dose, infusion rate, paediatric weight-based, renal adjustment) plus one written case response per fortnight, reviewed with the preceptor for structure and safety-checking habits.
Not knowing which New Zealand reference sources are authoritative and defaulting to overseas sources or general internet searches when answering clinical or dispensing queries.
Interns trained overseas or recently graduated are more familiar with their home country's formularies and do not realise New Zealand-specific funding, scheduling, and guideline sources differ.
What to do instead
Build a personal one-page reference map of the sources you use daily (New Zealand Formulary, Medsafe data sheets and alerts, Pharmac schedules and funding rules, local hospital and DHB/BU protocols) and note which source answers which question type. Confirm the map with your preceptor.
Using the New Zealand Formulary or a data sheet as the only source for a funding or subsidy question, then giving the patient or prescriber incorrect cost or eligibility information.
Clinical reference sources and funding rules are separate systems; interns conflate 'is this medicine funded' with 'is this medicine indicated', and Pharmac's schedules and special authority criteria are unfamiliar.
What to do instead
For any cost or eligibility question, check the Pharmac schedule and special authority criteria explicitly, and record in your notes the difference between clinical recommendation and funding status. Practise three worked examples with your preceptor during the first month.
Failing to report an adverse reaction or dispensing error through the correct New Zealand channel, or reporting to the wrong body, because the intern is unsure which pathway applies.
Interns fear blame and are unclear on the distinction between the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) for adverse reactions and the process for notifying dispensing errors; uncertainty leads to silence.
What to do instead
Learn and keep visible the reporting pathways: CARM for suspected adverse reactions, your employer's incident system and any contractual notification requirements for dispensing errors, and Medsafe for product quality complaints. Discuss a de-identified example with your preceptor so the pathway is concrete.
Relying on memory or a colleague's recollection for a legal or practice standard question (prescription validity, controlled drug requirements, labelling) instead of checking the current Act, regulations, or standards.
Practice resources change and interns absorb informal ward or pharmacy habits; the pressure of a busy dispensary discourages checking, and errors become normalised.
What to do instead
Keep a short, dated summary of the legal requirements you use most (prescription form and validity, controlled drug prescribing and record-keeping, labelling and advisory requirements) and verify it against the current source at the start of each rotation. When unsure, check the source before dispensing, not after.
Treating recertification as an annual box-ticking exercise and recording continuing education activities only when the recertification cycle is due, with vague descriptions that cannot demonstrate learning.
Interns are focused on getting through the intern year and see recertification as a future problem; the recording requirements and the value of contemporaneous reflection are not yet familiar.
What to do instead
Adopt a running log from the first month of practice: date, activity, what changed in your practice, and how it links to a competency. Aim to record something every fortnight so the annual return is a summary of existing records rather than a reconstruction.
Choosing continuing education activities only for convenience (repeated familiar topics, passive attendance with no reflection) so the record shows hours but not breadth or development needs.
Busy rosters push interns toward easily available sessions; without a needs assessment there is no basis for selecting activities, and the recertification record looks repetitive.
What to do instead
Do a brief written self-assessment against the competency framework each year, identify two or three genuine gaps, and select activities that address them. Record the gap, the activity, and the outcome so the link is visible to an auditor.
Being unable to produce evidence when audited because records are scattered across personal email, paper certificates, and employer learning systems with no single index.
Interns assume audit is rare and that the employer's training records will cover them; personal recertification evidence and employer mandatory training are different records, and certificates are easily lost.
What to do instead
Maintain one indexed folder (cloud or physical) with a simple contents list: certificates, reflections, attendance records, and a summary table linking each item to a competency and date. Back it up and review the index at each quarterly check-in.