This was the posting of a discussion thread on the Cleveland young professionals linkedin.com page over the past weeks. I was about to post my position, as an inpatient care pharmacist... and I realized I couldn't. Only seven words? How is it possible to describe what you do, as a pharmacist, in your respective positions, in only seven words?
It's getting to the season where P4s are beginning to call me, asking me what I do as a staff pharmacist, and if they should go into it. I can't describe it easily- it involves a whole lots of processes that somehow relate to getting the drug to the patient. I mean, really, you're involved in all aspects of care- verifying the order as it pertains to the patient; calculating the rate and volume of the IV fluids; seeing if the drug is on formulary and if not, how to order it; answering drug information questions involving everything and anything (technology, smart pumps, administering instructions, even random literature questions) from nurses, physicians, residents, PA's, etc ; to finding out where nurses can get interdry dressing from; instructing individuals to use the state of the art informatics software to order something simple like docusate; figuring out how much the drug will cost the patient on outpatient basis; and the list goes on. Sometimes, even patients will wander their way somehow to the basement, and ask drug related questions. I sometimes ask them, "how in the world did you find your way down here?" and then happily answer their questions.
I was hanging out with some CVS and Giant Eagle pharmacists who had invited me over to watch the Steelers versus Jets game yesterday. We sat around chatting- they were discussing difficulties they had with insurance companies and customers and so on. They then were talking about how many scripts they filled per day...and it made me wonder, as an inpatient pharmacist, how many orders do we go through per day? More than 300? I'm not sure- I don't really keep a count. All I know is that... there's a lot that goes on.
It's interesting too- we all currently (well, recent graduates at least), graduate with a PharmD, all from respective schools.. yet we can all do entirely different jobs. I spoke with a friend who was in managed care- which is an entire entity with all their T-codes or whatever it is, to work with. And the list goes on and on and on of all the different vast number of jobs we can have as pharmacists. Marketing in industry, clinical research, to administration in public health sectors- the opportunities are pretty much endless. I'm pretty thankful to be in pharmacy during this economic slump we have- at least we always have a job, no?
Amidst all of it, I love the challenge of pharmacy. It's never the same every day. Something always challenging you on some level or in some shape or form- it's a pretty exciting job.
I think all we have in common though, no matter if we have a residency, fellowship, work in community, hospital, or so on can actually, indeed, be summed up in seven words: Getting the correct drug to the patient. (Yes, that's seven words). How would you describe it?