Christina Adler, Caryn Belisle, Susan Flaker, Nathan Pinner, Joshua Villarreal, followed different paths in health-system pharmacy. But in a series of video recordings for ASHP, all of them share the same advice to students: Explore what it means to be a pharmacist.
“Look outside what you think you know about pharmacy,” says Pinner, associate clinical professor in the department of pharmacy practice at the Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy and a clinical specialist at Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
“Don’t focus on a single area and say this is what I’m going to do,” says Flaker, regional pharmacy director at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Really explore the different areas and find what you love.”
To celebrate National Pharmacy Week (Oct. 19-25), ASHP News Center is highlighting this collection of videos from members sharing their stories about how they got their start. These stories, which include testimonials from clinical specialists, administrators, and educators, show the wide range of pharmacy career opportunities and the profession’s impact on patient care.
Belisle, the director of pharmacy compliance, quality, and safety at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, says she had originally planned to work in community pharmacy but got an unexpected offer after graduation to work in a hospital. “I had never worked in a hospital pharmacy before … but it really intrigued me,” she said. “I never looked back.”
Villarreal, lead clinical educator at the University of Washington Medical Center and School of Pharmacy, talks about the various clinical areas of health-system pharmacy, including the cardiac unit, intensive care, emergency department, as well as administration.
“There’s really no limit to how you can use knowledge of medication to improve lives,” he says.
And the wide range of opportunities in pharmacy makes it possible to pivot if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, says Adler, a clinical research pharmacist at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
“There’s always an opportunity to change,” she said.
Check out the full remarks from these pharmacists then share the series, along with stories and podcasts from ASHP’s national We’re Your Pharmacist campaign, to spread the word about what your pharmacy team accomplishes every day.
