Pharmacy internships
Each year Bayside Health Alfred offers seven internships to fourth year pharmacy graduates. All of our internships are heavily centred around developing core clinical pharmacy skills and knowledge.
Our interns are recruited via the Advanced Pharmacy Australia allocation method. The allocation usually begins in the middle of each year.
Pharmacy Internship Resources
Frequently asked questions
Our intern rotations cover a wide variety of areas, with a strong focus on clinical development. You will spend over 75% of the year in clinical rotations!
In addition to clinical rotations, you will also spend time in both inpatient and outpatient dispensaries, aseptic preparation and medicines information.
Yes, you can choose where to go in your elective rotation. This could be Emergency, Infectious Diseases, Oncology, or whatever interests you!
The other clinical rotations are core rotations and are important to your development as an early career hospital pharmacist. These include Surgical, General Medicine, Cardiology and Aged Care.
The majority of the intern year will be located at The Alfred (55 Commercial Road, Melbourne VIC 3004). You will also have the opportunity to spend time at other Bayside Health Alfred campuses, Caulfield Hospital and Sandringham Hospital, during your clinical rotations.
Yes. You will undergo orientation and an introduction to the department during your first week.
Additionally, you will have a three-week clinical orientation with a clinical team to help you develop essential skills in basic clinical pharmacy processes.
Yes. Each intern is allocated both a Mentor and a Research Mentor for the year. A Mentor is a pharmacist who has completed their intern year recently and can provide invaluable support and insight throughout the year. Mentors also spend countless hours organising practice exams to complete with you in the lead up to the Pharmacy Board Oral exam.
Research Mentors are Lead/Senior pharmacists who will assist you in the development of a research project.
Bayside Health Alfred also has an Intern Coordinator (a member of the dedicated Pharmacy Learning and Development Team) to plan the intern rosters and tutorial program. They provide guidance throughout the year and conduct weekly check-in meetings with all the pharmacy interns.
Yes! We have a strong focus on research and development. You will have the opportunity to participate in both governance and a research project that will have a clinical impact. This is where your Research Mentor assists you! You will be allocated time throughout the year to work on your research project, including a dedicated research rotation.
Yes. Multiple practice exams are provided during the year to help you become familiar with the structure of the exams and the questions expected.
Six exams will be run by the department under strict exam conditions to simulate the real environment including one of the exams run by Bayside Health staff members that are also Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency board examiners.
Our intern tutorials are scheduled every week from 3:00pm - 5:00pm. The program covers clinical topics delivered by clinical pharmacists, primary care topics delivered by interns and exam preparation tutorials delivered by the recently registered pharmacists and Pharmacy Learning and Development Team.
Furthermore, the Research Team deliver research tutorials to equip you with the tools necessary to undertake a research project.
Our tutorial program also incorporates our Nicotine Replacement Therapy and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring credentialing modules, which help support an extended scope of practice for our pharmacists.
Yes, however weekend work only commences a few months into the year and equals out to approximately one shift every 2 months.
Yes, you will have one week of annual leave rostered during your intern year!
No! We employ interns from every university in Victoria via Advanced Pharmacy Australia’s Victorian Hospital Pharmacy Intern Program application process. We do not discriminate between any of the pharmacy courses and our interns come from everywhere.
Yes, we have been offering the Monash Intern Foundation Program since 2016, and we will continue to offer this program next year.
No! The intern year is already a very stressful and demanding year, and at Bayside Health we ensure you are supported through the process as much as possible. We have a dedicated Intern Coordinator (a senior member of the Learning and Development team) to guide you through any tricky parts of the year. The intern coordinator rosters a weekly meeting with the intern group for a wellbeing check-in, discussion on upcoming events and deadlines, as well as any issues.
Public hospitals are rapidly changing environments, and therefore it is difficult to predict what opportunities will become available each year. In a typical year, recruitment to Alfred Pharmacy Foundation Residency positions generally occur at the end of the intern year, which interns are encouraged to apply for. Please be assured that we invest a lot of time and energy into our pharmacy interns and want to support your transition into becoming excellent pharmacists who will be ready for the opportunities that come your way!
Bayside Health Alfred has many unique opportunities for our pharmacists! We provide multiple credentialing modules to continue expanding your practice, such as Pharmacist Led Warfarin Management and Analgesia De-Escalation.
In addition, we are also an Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) accredited site that offer the Foundation Resident and Advanced Training Resident (Registrar) programs.
Alfred Care Group (formerly Alfred Health) consists of The Alfred, Caulfield Hospital and Sandringham Hospital. While we are part of Bayside Health more broadly, this pharmacy intern program refers to Alfred Care Group only. Other Care Groups within Bayside Health may offer their own pharmacy internship positions separately. You can read more about these on the Advanced Pharmacy Australia website.