Monthly Archives: September 2015

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Pharmacy Awesomeness

Healthcare is a large community with many moving parts and overlapping worlds. The words ‘community’ and ‘pharmacy’ can be put together to mean either the setting where pharmacy activities take place (community pharmacy) or in reference to the larger pharmacy group (pharmacy community). All pharmacists in all settings are connected by our shared scope of practice, although our day-to-day tasks may differ.

A colleague of mine, Dylana Arsenault, is a hospital pharmacist and director. As a life-long learner, she has always been fascinated with the latest clinical evidence and pharmacy trends in social media. She has been asked many a question from peers as well as other healthcare practitioners on a variety of subjects. Once she stumbles across a great article or reference, there is always some excitement that goes along. A little while back, she sought a way to share that information with others that may be interested. Enter Pharmacy Awesomeness.

This facebook page began as a fun project to post links, articles, news items to friends and friends of friends, but it’s quickly expanded to include professors, entrepreneurs, retail, hospital, industry pharmacists from many locales. Due to facebook privacy policies, it remains a closed group but those that ask to join will be treated to an amalgam of fun and education from a very diverse group of contributors.

Currently, there are internet memes interspersed with links promoting apps that help switch antidepressants and university academic detailing resources for oral contraceptives. A little scrolling will bring you to guidelines on prescribing hydrocortisone and a skin cancer self-exam book-ending a funny image featuring Star Trek’s Captain Picard. Everyone likes a little levity now and again, and this format really lets you browse through and trip on amusing items and many topics that may not be on the forefront of your practice, but feature pearls that you can use today. I also find that my academic curiosity is stoked to research and rediscover subjects that have been gathering dust in the dark recesses of a mind that graduated 14+ years ago.

So to all members of this great pharmacy community: stay curious, and stay connected. Take an extra minute to check a news feed, or scroll a Twitter trend that resonates with you. Most importantly, if it’s helpful or fascinating for you, chances are there are many others who would feel the same, so find a way to share it. I have a quick suggestion. Perhaps send Dylana a note asking to post your article/link/amusing pic/resource and become one of the three-hundred plus who receive instant notifications.

Whenever the passion for the profession seems to wane, it’s refreshing to feed off of the excitement of others and rekindle that fire. Pharmacy is awesome. A reminder now and then certainly doesn’t hurt.

 

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.

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Not Forgotten

Two years ago around this time, PharmAspire was still in its 6-month infancy. Writing was, and continues to be a salve that helps to both allay negativity and create positivity wherever it may be found. Two years ago around this time, a tragic event occurred that affected me in an unexpected way.

The loss of Karen Zed, a well-respected community pharmacist in the south-end of Halifax and mentor to countless pharmacy students and international pharmacy graduates, impacted a large section of the local pharmacy community. She had been working less than five days prior, and was telling her staff that she expected to be back helping her patients less than 36-hours before the news arrived. The shock was real, and the aftershock was felt for quite some time: long-standing pharmacy patients asked for her for many months after her passing, her university and college involvement was sorely missed, and colleagues from a four-decade career silently mourned a loss of a reliable friend.

I was fortunate to have been her manager for more than 5 years, and although I knew very little of her personally, I had the utmost respect for her career, and her approach to patient care. When I initially wrote the blog post in Sept 2013, it was a reflection on my experiences with her, and how I had lost contact in the previous year. What I didn’t expect was the response to the post. It was the first time I realized how close-knit our pharmacy community truly is. It is still the most-viewed piece I have ever written. She touched so many lives.

The alumni really wanted to honour her contributions and received support to fund an award in her name. The Karen Zed – Spirit of Community Pharmacy Award was summarized on page 2 of our pharmacy newsletter, the DUCPAD Dispatch. The goal was to recognize students who share Karen’s passion for community pharmacy and contribute to a learning environment while on structured clinical rotations. Within the past year, the fund has steadily grown but at the time of this writing, it has not quite reached a level to be a sustainable award. There is hope that we will reach the threshold and present this award at the end of this school year. If you would like to contribute, I encourage you to click the following link:

Http://alumniapps.dal.ca/giving/giving.php

By selecting ‘Health Professions’ in the drop-down menu below ‘Select a designation by faculty’, the College of Pharmacy will auto-populate in the field below. Among the worthy causes listed in the final drop-down menu, Karen’s award is on the bottom.

I believe in the creation of this award and have made my own donation. Community pharmacy is such an important part of the healthcare system and it’s nice to recognize students who are hungry to learn and enjoy helping patients with their medication needs. This award promotes the values we share and ensures the spirit of a dear colleague lives on.

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.