Watching a new life come into the world, only to quickly watch it be taken away, can change everything. “Alison,” you describe your experiences in labor and delivery; they are both moving and defining. Experiences like this can, in an instant, change your perspective on life and the way you practice. This is what makes rotations immeasurably valuable. As you mention, they can also be fear inducing. Being on rotation can feel like you have been haphazardly tossed into a strange new world, about which you know painfully little. Successful communication with your preceptor can define your rotation experience. You mention your terror at the prospect of starting a community rotation, and then your realization that your terror was unfounded. But, you also mention never feeling like you were on the same page with your preceptor regarding the goals and expectations of the rotation.

You are interning at a community pharmacy. You get a prescription for a blood pressure medication for a commercially insured patient. When you run the claim, you find that the patient’s insurance prefers mail order and the patient will have to pay a $20 co-pay to get it filled at your pharmacy as opposed to $0 co-pay for mail order. The patient takes the prescription back to fill with the mail order and avoid the co-pay. But now you are left wondering, “How did that happen? Why the difference in co-pay?”