There are a few guarantees in life, but I have one for you: If you develop the right habits you will be a successful pharmacist. And what are the “right” habits? There are three that I will discuss briefly:

  1. The habit of empathy
  2. The habit of translating complexity into simplicity, and
  3. The habit of recognizing and acting on the obvious

The Habit of Empathy

Successful pharmacists have empathy. Empathy with patients whose lives can be improved by the appropriate use of medicines. Empathy with patients whose health has been compromised by the inappropriate use of medicines.

“Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.” That quotation from Norman Vincent Peale is an excellent message for pharmacists. The reality is that pharmacy practice will not be a complete profession until all of its practitioners are driven by a deep and abiding desire to help people make the best use of medicines.

Empathy comes in part from a person’s basic orientation and in part from experience. Seek training and early work experiences that boost empathy. Look for mentors who will steer you toward such experiences. If, in your early life as a pharmacist, you become truly engaged with patients and develop a deep sense of how drugs affect lives, then you will have good grounding for career-long success. Success that will be linked to identifying in personal terms with both the healing and the harm that medicines can produce.

The Habit of Translating Complexity into Simplicity

Successful pharmacists also have learned how to translate complexity into simplicity. I’m talking here about clear thinking and the power of simple words. People judge our profession not only by how pharmacists act but also by what pharmacists say. Every time we speak with a nonpharmacist about our work, we have an opportunity to influence what someone thinks about the value of pharmacists. Thousands of such opportunities occur during a pharmacist’s lifetime, and each of us should prepare to perform well when given the chance. The pictures we create, the feelings we evoke with our words, have immense power.

A good technique for preparing for a discussion with a lay person is to imagine yourself on an airplane seated next to a chatty passenger. Eventually, the conversation gets around to your occupation. How do you answer that inevitable question, “And what do you do for a living?” Here is one possible answer: I have one of the best jobs in the world. I devoted more than six years of my life to preparing for this career, although the learning has never really stopped. I work closely with doctors, nurses, and patients, and my job is to help them make the best use of medicines. Medicines have tremendous power to do good or to do harm. Achieving the good is my area of expertise. I am a pharmacist.

A general statement like this should be punctuated with examples of your success in helping patients improve their lives. Use examples that will relieve your fellow conversationalist of any old stereotypes of the pharmacist. Make this person want to tell others about the exciting work that is being done by pharmacists.

The Habit of Recognizing and Acting on the Obvious

Successful pharmacists also have learned to recognize and act on the obvious. When I think of this habit of successful pharmacists, I think about how easy it is to accept as “normal” the things that we see in our everyday lives that in fact are not normal and that could be improved with concentrated effort. Much of what we accept as “normal” simply does not square with our proclamations about the pharmacist’s role or with an objective assessment of things pharmacists have under their control. And, unfortunately, because of the public’s stereotype of the pharmacist, strangers passing through our community do not even notice the disparity.

Consider the cases of troglitazone and cisapride. Troglitazone’s potential for liver toxicity was well known before it had to be removed from the market. Similarly, before numerous deaths and reports of serious cardiac arrhythmias, warnings had been issued against prescribing cisapride with drugs that might interact with it. Despite this knowledge, lives were lost.

Could not pharmacists have stepped up to this challenge and ensured that the appropriate monitoring tests were done before the products were dispensed and that none of the potentially deadly interacting medications were being used by the patients?

This lack of assertive involvement by pharmacists is one of those situations generally considered normal in health care. But is it really normal for patients to by dying because pharmacists haven’t cared enough to ask the right questions or take the right steps? Care enough to know the latest safety information about medicines. Care enough to make pharmacy practice much more than just filling prescriptions. Show the world that pharmacists care.

We know that medicines are powerful chemicals and that their use is filled with risk. We know that Madison Avenue is overly influential in determining the medicines physicians prescribe. We know that patient behavior is a big factor in achieving a medicine’s maximum benefit. We know that we must change what people expect of pharmacists and what pharmacists deliver when it comes to helping people make the best use of medicines. Changes in the role of the pharmacist will not “just happen.” It will take the leadership of successful pharmacists.

(Adapted from: Zellmer WA. The habits of successful pharmacists. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2000; 57:1794-6.)

Source : CareerPharm

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