Five years ago

This year marks the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I remember skipping nearly a week of classes because I was glued to the television watching the coverage of one of the worst disasters in our history. As a broke college student I was pretty helpless. I just couldn't believe one of our nation's most historic cities could be stranded and forgotten.

I believe the disaster of Katrina put a spotlight on a major economic and social problem in our country. We are a wealthy nation, but I believe we must be judged by the way we treat our most helpless citizens. I'm not saying we should just give charity and handouts, but we must work to build everyone one up. All ships should rise with the tide, so why are so many people anchored down and drowning as the rest prosper?

I'm not placing blame on anyone or any political party. This sort of reflection time makes me take a longer look at myself. I've been out of school for a little more than a year and have done nothing to make this country better.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Faculty Future?

Over the past few months I haven't been able to shake this crazy urge I have to get back in the classroom and teach. During my last year of pharmacy school I had several opportunities to give classroom lectures and I loved every minute of it. I have still managed to write and publish a few things over the past year but I've only really given 3 educational presentations since graduating. I became a preceptor for students in June but have not had the chance to set up a rotation site for students.

I'm not sure why I have this urge to teach but I feel like that is one thing my career is missing. I guess if a COP never gives me the opportunity to teach student pharmacists I will go get a teaching certificate and become a part time high school physics teacher. Call me crazy, but I loved physics and if this pharmacy thing doesn't work out that may be my backup plan, lol!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPad testing

I just downloaded "Blog Press" for the iPad to write on my blog. I'm still getting used to the iPad keyboard but so far I really like it. If anyone has any tips I'd sure appreciate it:)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Throw away my cell phone

One thing that has been consistent at both pharmacies I have managed is the number of text messages and phone calls I receive from my technicians when I am off work. Today was my first Saturday off work in the past three weeks and at noon I started receiving text messages from two technicians that were complaining because a third technician there was not working. The pharmacist on duty is one of my full time staff pharmacists and should have handled the situation. Somehow I end up worrying about it on my day off...ah...I guess I can't complain since I wanted to be manager.

5:31PM Problems

If you practice pharmacy in the community retail setting you have probably faced this situation: A physician's office calls in or faxes a prescription for a patient at the end of the business day and there is a therapeutic or technical problem with the prescription. For simplicity, we will just use the example of the patient's insurance not covering the medication. The patient then arrives at your pharmacy shortly after 5:30 to discover that their insurance is not covering the drug and that paying out of pocket will be ridiculously expensive. The frustrated patient is now at your pharmacy counter so as a caring health care provider, you attempt to call the prescriber's office only to reach an after-hours answering service or a message that instructs you to call back during normal business hours. You hang up and deliver the bad news to the patient that your hands are tied because the prescriber wrote for a therapy that is not on the patient's insurance formulary.

Most rational people would think, "well...there is not much the pharmacy can do so I should contact my physician tomorrow." Unfortunately, sick and frustrated patients usually do not rational and tend to take out their frustration on the pharmacy staff. Welcome to retail.

I've had several problems this week that have all occurred with multiple patients after their prescriber's offices have closed. Many of the problems were simple fixes (usually revolving around a prescribing error left on a voicemail or a insurance issue requiring a change in therapy). Is there any way to avoid this mess?

Crazy Month

I managed to work 50-60 hours a week for the past month after taking over my new store. In addition to the longer drive, I have picked up overtime shifts on my days off. I can't complain because the overtime pay is nice and my new store runs rather smooth. We just wrapped up a big health fair at my store this past Saturday, so with that out of the way hopefully the next few weeks will not be as crazy.

Time continues to fly by and it just doesn't feel like I have been out of pharmacy school for over a year. I am now a preceptor, I have managed two stores, and have experience 5 audits. What will be in store for me for my 2nd year as a practitioner?

Sweetest goodbye

My last two days at my store in Southland Terrace were busy but great. My feelings were mixed with excitement, satisfaction, and sadness. I look forward to my new challenge in Valley Station. I'm satisfied with the results achieved at my old store in four short months. Finally, I am sad to leave a group of people I have quickly grown close to.

My technicians bought me a cake with "We Will Miss You" written in icing. It really made me feel good that they actually did like having me as manager (no matter how much they complained about the schedule or whatever). Every single day seemed to bring on new challenges and there were times my employees really pushed me to the edge. In the end, I think that I did have a positive impact on my employees and I hope that my time with them helped in some way.

During our store huddle today (where members from each department meet for about 10 minutes to discuss things going on throughout the store) my coworkers announced that it was my last day and they thanked me for the work I had done. One of the biggest compliments was that some of the employees from other parts of the store said they wanted to still call me at my new pharmacy for medication questions. It meant a lot that so many people welcomed me in as one of their own and trusted me. It made me feel like I had lived up to the belief that pharmacists are the world's "most trusted" health professionals.

I will definitely miss Southland Terrace and the people of Shively. Now it is time to see if I can win over the people of Valley Station.