Other Careers: Pharmacist

Whether you've been practicing for years or you are just considering which PAth to take, looking into other health professions helps you understand how you can fit into the health care team. Today we get to take a look at Pharmacists.

My name is Atish and I am a clinical pharmacist specializing in emergency medicine. I have worked in the hospital setting exclusively since I graduated and in emergency medicine specifically for the last 6 years.

What is the role of a pharmacist?

There are many different career paths a pharmacist can pursue after school and can practice in many different settings, including retail, industry, nuclear, hospital, clinical, and ambulatory.

Most of my experience is working as a clinical pharmacist and I will be speaking mainly within that field. A clinical pharmacist’s role as part of a multidisciplinary team of physicians, PAs, NPs, nurses, and other healthcare professionals is to coordinate and manage the proper care of patients.  These responsibilities include:

• Assessing the effectiveness and appropriateness of medications and ensuring it is the most beneficial option for a patient.
• Recognizing untreated medical conditions that could be improved with medications and determining if medications are the cause of a patients medical complaints.
• Following a patients progress to determine the effectiveness of patients care and optimizing medications.
• Educate patients on how to appropriately take their medications and provide counseling for adherence.
• Provide advice and education to healthcare providers to address any questions they may have regarding medications (dose recommendations, adverse reactions, pharmacology, kinetics,

What kinds of skills are involved?

Strong math skills

Advocacy for patients

Pharmacology knowledge

Finance/cost savings skills

Multitasking and efficiency

Effective communication

Management skills

Why did you want to be a pharmacist? 

I was fortunate enough to end up on a career path that fit well with my skills and interests.  I knew I wanted to pursue something within the health care setting but I wasn’t sure what I specifically wanted. I initially went into pharmacy school as a place holder hoping I would discover what career I really wanted. I was accepted into a 6-year accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program right out oh high school.  My plan was to consider transferring or changing majors once I knew what I really liked because my knowledge of pharmacy and the different career paths was limited.  In regards to being a pharmacist, all I knew about was the retail setting which did not appeal to me.  My first job as an intern at Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, NJ changed all that for me. I was able to witness how pharmacists make meaningful changes to drug therapy, prevent patient harm with their interventions, and how they are valued and respected among healthcare professionals.

How would you describe what you do to someone outside of healthcare?

We are the health care professionals charged with ensuring the patients get the right dose of the right medications at the right time.  We optimize therapy to make sure the medicines work and try and limit the side effects of the medications.  We educate patients on the medications so they can be advocates of their own health.