Pursue Pharmacy As A Career Choice

I have graciously been given the opportunity to broaden my horizons and learn a variety of practices in the pharmaceutical environment. Since the October of 2017 I have been employed at Hoey Apothecary under the care and teaching of many pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. At Hoey Apothecary I work as a pharmacy assistant, and only because of the Youth Apprenticeship Program that Monona Grove High School has offered to it’s students. During my time in the program I having developed a variety of skills and learned the inner works of the cooperation between the technicians and pharmacists. Specifically as an assistant, I am tasked with the responsibilities of; ensuring that the patients are receiving the correct prescription, at the right time,

From there, I began to explore more of what a career in pharmacy would mean and take the steps necessary to pursue my dream. As I reflect on the past and look forward, becoming a Doctor of Pharmacy is still the clear answer to achieving both my immediate and long-term goals. My immediate goal is to work towards additional education to be better equipped to utilize my undergraduate degree. In particular, I have a strong interest in applying my knowledge of biochemistry to the area of pharmacy in order to better understand how different medications work, how to help patients understand their medications, and how to solve problems to better care for patients. Ultimately, through achieving a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, I desire to develop a meaningful career that would allow for life-long learning and impacting lives.

In a changing healthcare environment, the role of the pharmacist has evolved from primarily dispensing to monitoring and managing drug therapy in collaboration with physicians and other providers. As a result, pharmacy technicians are beginning to take on some of the technical aspects of pharmacy practice. This means that better educated, more qualified technicians will be needed in the future.

Over two year career as a pharmacy technician, I have developed skills such as good customer care, effective communication, how to handle critical situations, and how to deal with different

Many years ago when I first decided to pursue a career as a Pharmacy Technician, I always believed that I would be working in a retail pharmacy chain such as CVS or Duane Reade. As a CVS customer, I would see the Pharmacist and Technicians working diligently behind the counter. I told myself I want to do that, I wanted to help people take away their pain and begin the healing process. My career started and I was typing and filling prescriptions for 8 hours with the occasional break to help a customer find something within the store. I never considered working in a hospital Pharmacy because I never experienced what that was like first hand. After working a year at CVS, I was eligible to take the PCTB exam to become a certified Pharmacy technician (CPhT). While studying the material there was another side of Pharmacy that I never knew about. I learned about hospital Pharmacy, it has the same day to day operation that retail does but more. Having a degree in Chemistry from SUNY Stony Brook University, labs were a big part of my education. The idea of a cleanroom and compounding medication excited me; the closest to compounding in retail was reconstituting antibiotic medication for children. This involved measuring and mixing water into a bottle. I left retail and searched for a job that would further advance my pharmacy knowledge. I started working at NYULMC Pharmacy, here I was exposed to information technology that was far more sophisticated compared to retail. As I

As I reflect on my experience of a pharmacy practice, I realize how much of my personality has changed in only few months. The experiences I gained during my first rotation at Walgreens were particularly rewarding, especially those gained while working as a team to achieve a common goal of a patient’s well-being. I did not have any previous experience in the pharmacy setting, therefore I was determined to take advantage of this opportunity to grow and develop skills that are vital to be a good pharmacist. During the rotation, I performed many activities that were assigned by the preceptor, learned new skills and competencies, identified my strengths and weaknesses, and made plans for continued development throughout the journey of pharmacy practice.

A career in pharmacy will enable me directly or indirectly serve the growing population of sick patients. I also believe that attending pharmacy school will provide me the practical skill and knowledge I need to develop the medications that will have lesser side effects on patients.

When looking at overviews of career paths that I could choose from, I knew that I would choose something in the science field. But, I am very social and wanted a job that dealt directly with the public. To bridge this gap, I began a search and came across the pharmaceutical career field and immediately fell in love. There is a vast amount of opportunities that come within the big umbrella of pharmacy, and Doctors of Pharmacy can branch out and try different things in the practice. It is also a continual learning practice that has new discovers almost every day. Being able to be a part of this and completing my own research that will help the public is a pleasure. There have also been breakthroughs that bring pharmacist closer to the individuals in

The road to choosing pharmacy was a winding path. I knew from a young age that I loved science and that the medical field would someday become my home. As I progressed through high school I explored other careers, like physician’s assistants and medical school but I never felt like I had found my niche. I started working for Publix and soon found myself working in the pharmacy as a technician to gain more knowledge about medicine. Before I knew It, I was hooked. I knew I had found my dream field of work. The combinations of Sciences, patients, and the flexibility of the changing world of pharmacy is enticing. I have a wide interest in the scope of pharmacy and find comfort in knowing I can have many different careers within the field. While competing at the Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) student leadership conference I met a faculty member from a nearby University who inspired me with stories of various careers all within my reach. The following year I had the pleasure of presenting with her at the 2017 HOSA conference and was able to share my experiences as a Pre-Pharmacy student, as well as knowledge on the career path to high schoolers. This inspired me further and I found that I enjoy teaching and sharing my passion for pharmacy. As I come to my third year as a Pharmacy Technician my passion for pharmacy has only increased. Not a day goes by that I am not inspired by my pharmacist. My work in pharmacy has presented me with many skills from pharmaceutical

The core element of service to others in pharmacy was ingrained in me from an early age. At 10 years old, I experience the joy of helping others through my religious institution, which I quickly learned is more fulfilling than helping myself. Being 10 years old limited me from doing any major work so carrying out minor works like assisting the elderly and cleaning the prayer hall became an integral part of my daily life. These activities on a regular basis made me realize that choosing a profession of helping people would be in my best interest.

I had only a broad idea of the career choice I desired for my future going into college as an eighteen year old freshman. Prior to beginning my higher education, I would classify myself as a well rounded student, but there was not a single area that I exceeded in starkly above the others. However, I have always held a greater appreciation for the natural sciences more so than other subjects. This led me to choose Stony Brook University as the school I would attend as an undergraduate, as this institution has choice science programs. The education I have received at Stony Brook University is one that I value very greatly. My coursework at Stony Brook University has been quite intense, effectively preparing me for the rigors of pharmacy school.

I chose pharmacy as a career because of the passion I have towards medicine and helping others. I vision being able to create the drugs needed to save others and researching new drugs to end current diseases as my ideal future. It is a career I respect and stems from my obsession with nutrition and healthy living. This obsession with living a healthy lifestyle resulted from my wrestling career as I always tried to be at my absolute physical peak for competitions. Knowing what I eat and regulating the amount eventually lead to being fascinated by the drugs I took to heal my various injuries (such as ringworm, sprained ankles, and damaged knees). That fascination with medicine coupled with my high affinity with chemistry is why I saw pharmacy as my ideal career. I always knew I wanted to work in the health

Life is measured by moments of impact. February 22, 2016, was impacting because I received acceptance from the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. I felt relieved, grateful, and whole. From that moment on I had an expectation of what pharmacy school would be like. I would wake, breathe, and sleep to everything pharmacy. However, from day one of orientation, I realized that pharmacy is not a narrow, point A to B path. I remember being inundated with so many new acronyms and expectations, but the one word that stuck with me most was “interprofessional”.

My family suggested I look into a career in pharmacy because of my caring personality and strengths in the science field. After graduating from high school, I will be attending pharmacy school at Drake University. I am interested in pursuing a career in pharmacy because it would complement my academic interests of math and chemistry, as well as my compassionate personality and desire to help others. I have chosen Drake because their pharmacy program has an excellent reputation, a 100% placement rate into the field, and the six-year program reduces the cost. This school offers an accelerated six-year pharmacy program to obtain a PharmD degree with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, instead of the eight-year pharmacy program that most schools offer.

This semester has been a tough one but I feel like I have learned a lot about pharmacy over these past few months. I have had a lot of courses so far and in each one, I have been able to make connections to the practice of pharmacy. In this essay, I will reflect on some of things I learned in my courses and how they relate to my future career as a pharmacist. I will also identify areas where certain topics intersect in different courses.