Full disclosure: I am a NASCAR fan. Watching ‘stock’ cars from multiple manufacturers that are designed to look identical, driving counter-clockwise on an oval track for three hours has burned many a Sunday afternoon in the shed. My dad and uncle have been fans for decades, watching Dale Sr. go from a villain to the most beloved driver the sport had ever seen. When their father, my grandfather, passed in 2000, all we did to grieve was talk about racing. That connection has stayed to this day.

Among the jargon thrown about during a telecast about tire pressures, wedge, stagger, downforce, etc. there is a lot of attention paid to driver mentality. How fit they are to withstand the heat, and how level-headed they stay driving an ill-handling race car. Near the end of a race, when the stakes are high, drivers usually get more aggressive and bump into one another. The leader is taught to ‘hit their marks’ on the track, meaning they have reference points on the track to keep them in the right lane, or where to brake and speed up in and out of the turns. If the car had been fastest up to that point, it’s often due to some luck added to a whole lot of consistency in racing the track conditions versus the other competitors.

Of course, if you’re trying to go for a win and someone is making gains on you, that’s virtually impossible to ignore. The attention starts getting divided between those marks, and defending against the competitor behind you. The closer they are, the more attention is spent on the road in the rearview than up ahead. This is called ‘rattling the cage’ whereby the driver chasing is waiting for the leader to miss their mark and make a mistake. They may drive into a corner too quickly and lose control, or pick another lane that blocks the chaser even though their car doesn’t work as well.

We are not immune to this in the pharmacy world. When the pressure is on, we have the tendency to start looking over our shoulders at what others are doing and how they are reacting. Nobody wants to repeat mistakes and we take great pains to learn from the past experiences of ourselves and others. We need to be mindful that if we stop leading or innovating, and are consumed entirely with what others are doing, we risk losing the identity and the drive that put us out front in the first place. Healthcare is challenging across Canada. Every profession is expected to step up in ways that were not possible a decade ago: pharmacists gaining access to lab values and making prescribing decisions, Nurse Practitioners are sought after for under-serviced rural outposts, technicians are being recruited at unprecedented levels, and ancillary staff members are being recognized as the core of many medical and pharmacy operations.

I’m proud to be part of a profession that is so progressive, and willing to change to enhance patient care. The road ahead means more opportunity and better collaboration. We know that every mile traveled may be met with obstacles, or criticism, but we would rather hit our marks than be turned into the wall because we’re not paying enough attention to where we want to be.

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.