Bendigo Health

Campus where pharmacy interns will work: The Bendigo Hospital

With more than 4,500 staff and volunteers and covering an area a quarter of the size of Victoria, Bendigo Health is an expanding regional health service offering the advantages of city life combined with the beauty and freedom that comes from living in a regional area. It is a multi-campus facility with teaching links to most major universities in Melbourne and beyond. Bendigo Health is a 700 bed service that treats more than 45,000 inpatients, triages more than 65,000 emergency attendees and welcomes more than 1,600 new born babies in a year. In addition more than 15,000 operations are performed in our operating theatres and more than 100,000 occasions of services are provided in our clinics to outpatients. The pharmacy department is rapidly growing and has a significant role in the provision of education and training of students and graduates through placements, lectures and continuing education activities.

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Intern program information

3 intern positions are available in 2025 (2 government-funded, 1 hospital funded)

The intern program is orientated to provide comprehensive, rounded training in all aspects of hospital pharmacy practice. Being a smaller department, there are great opportunities for one-on-one interaction with supervisors. We have been running the IFP program for a number of years and support the interns with their projects and workplace learning. The interns are rotated through a range of areas including:

Clinical Services: Orientation and training in the provision of ward based pharmacy services including medication reconciliation, clinical review of medication charts and knowledge of protocols, TDM, clinical meetings and working as part of multidisciplinary teams. Throughout the year, you will rotate through all ward areas including Medical, Surgical, Orthopaedics, Psychiatry, ICU, GEM, Rehab, Cardiology and Oncology.
Dispensing: All aspects of dispensing for inpatient and outpatient settings, including an understanding of the principles of dispensing, counselling and provision of medication profiles.
Manufacturing: Inclusive of non-sterile and aseptic dispensing and compounding facilities.
Education and training: Participation in health-promotion activities such as cardiac rehabilitation, in-service education activities, case presentations and other education to hospital staff.
Medication Safety: An area in our department, responsible for the quality use of medicines with a patient safety focus, including audits, reporting to the TGA, updating hospital policies and health promotion
Stock control: All aspects of procurement, distribution, receipting, contracts, stock usage, relevant reports, stockholdings, critical stock-turns, budgeting, recall processes.
Preceptor & Mentor: Each intern has a preceptor and mentor who are there to guide and support you through your internship. Mentors are recently graduated pharmacists who help you with work & exam practice.