I pleased to apply to the PharmD program as the program is one area that corresponds to my career dreams. Being part of this program gives one the opportunity to gain an excellent experience in working and collaborating with various health care providers in the ward. But more importantly, it facilitates a practical environment in dealing more closely with patients. Hence, it helps to provide the ultimate health care services to patients. Also, it permits me to carry on gaining different knowledge, skills, and values in addition to those I have already developed during my undergraduate studies. My interest in being a clinical pharmacist was first aroused during my SPEP rotation in the hospital setting where I was really impressed with the role of clinical pharmacists who provide a consistent process of patient care with healthcare teams to maintain the appropriateness, effectiveness and safety of the medication use. Unlike a pharmacist, a clinical pharmacist has a more diversified responsibilities and closeness to direct patient care. Moreover, provides …show more content…
I strongly believe that personal characteristics is an essential part of being a good clinical pharmacist. My personal characteristics that qualify me to be a good PharmD candidate are I am energetic, ambitious, and have the enthusiasm that enables me to develop a mature and responsible approach to accomplish tasks assigned to me. Another quality I possess is being life-long learner. I continue learning and building on my knowledge by learning from others and gaining multiple knowledge and experiences for continuing self-development. I believe all of these are features needed for a clinical pharmacist as they would make her an engine of change and development in all areas of the pharmacy
Subsequent to attending a week of chemistry and medicine lectures during the Sutton Trust Summer School programme at St Andrews University and attending master classes at local universities, I know that I am committed to continue with my scientific education. The experience of lectures and the practical investigations in the laboratory have given me an indication of how to analyse and interpret data at such an advanced level. Studying pharmacology would allow me to develop my knowledge to a higher level, learning more about for example how the derivative of the opium poppy, morphine, works by binding to opioid receptors in order to reduce the impulses from nerve cells therefore relieving pain. I would also be able to explore further how high doses of morphine can cause respiratory depression, but more interestingly how these effects can be reversed by a competitive opiate antagonist which can bind to opioid receptors without activating them.
Pharmacists have training and expertise in medication therapy as well as patient care capabilities to assess and respond to patients’ health care and drug-related needs. Pharmacists are important members of the health care team. Pharmacists are well accepted by general people as healthcare personnel who provide knowledge about medication to patient (Perepelkin, 2011) but they also acquire knowledge and training to asses and respond to patients’ healthcare and drug related need. So prescribing is a logical extended role of pharmacist. It is assumed that medicine and dentistry professions dominate the prescribing activity but some other health care professionals such as optometrists, podiatrists, midwives, and nurse practitioners have been granted prescribing rights (Sketris, 2009). It is suitable for pharmacist to expand their professional role by adopting prescribing because they have skill and knowledge to initiate, monitor and adjust drug therapy and develop patient-centered care. As a result to an expanded scope of pharmacy practice, pharmacists in several Canadian, American, and British jurisdictions can prescribe medications (Tonna, Stewart & McCaig, 2008).
When you ask people what you think when word “pharmacist” come to your mind? They often say pharmacist have to deal with variety of legal drugs. From my personal opinion, when I hear the word “Pharmacist”, I think of helping others. This inspiration came from my Health Science class I took in twelve grade. Until senior year of my high school, I did not know what I wanted to be. But it all changed, after my first shadowing experience at pharmacist station. There I learn about what exactly the pharmacist career is about, what are some of the equipments used in the field and how I can contribute the knowledge I receive here to help others.
I’ve always looked up to Pharmacists in my local community when I was a kid. As a person growing up in California, our local hospital was an hour drive away and people relied on Pharmacists for basic medical inquiries more than they do with doctors. As a premature baby, my immune system had been always weak as a child, and whenever I catch a cold or have a minor fever, my parents took me to Dr. Lin, a local pharmacist who has been in the neighborhood for almost nine years. Dr. Lin would hand me sweets while assuring my concerned parents that I will be alright, and teach me about personal hygiene and how to prevent minor illness. To me, the impression of a Pharmacist is like a family member: not as serious as doctors in hospitals but as respected by people around town. That impression heightened my interest in pharmacy. I started to read the labels on drug bottles and learn to take medicine by the correct dosage. The curiosity and respect shaped my determination to pursue pharmacy as my future career.
Ambulatory care pharmacy is becoming a rising branch of pharmacy. These pharmacists can work in a variety of environments, such as community-based and hospital settings, tending to a diverse patient population. Ambulatory care allows pharmacists to be associated with tending to patients in ambulances and continuing their follow-ups in the emergency room. Ambulatory care pharmacy is the ability to have accessible health care service by professionals that address special medical needs for patients who may have concurrent illnesses. Some specialize in specific disease states, such as hypertension or diabetes. Patients of ambulatory care pharmacists look to them for medication management and education, self-management, and promotion of their wellness and health.
Since my early schooling days, science and mathematics have always fascinated me given that all components of the world are explained on the basis of these disciplines. In this regard, Pharmacy which is based on Chemistry and Mathematics has interested me a great deal as it has direct impacts on our daily lives. The more I have become familiar with the chemistry and mathematics knowledge involved in pharmacy, the more I have appreciated its significance in improving the lives of people in the community. Out of the many careers that one would opt to pursue, Pharmacy has stood out as the career that will enable me serve the society more directly and have a real impact in the quality of peoples’ lives by touching their health. In addition, I love a career that is challenging and one that I will be involved in even in old age. In this case, Pharmacy offers me this opportunity. My interest in Pharmacy has also developed from my personal health experiences and becoming aware of its expansiveness. Every time I have had to take medicine to cure an illness, I have become more interested to know how drugs are made and how the drug components work in the human body to alleviate pain and restore health. I desire to pursue a career in Pharmacy so as to gain practical experience in these aspects of research.
With a background of 3 years working at a retail pharmacy, I decided to explore further about other pharmacy settings. I chose my top picks for the rotation to be independent pharmacies. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to shadow at Hilgers Family Pharmacy. This experience provided me great insight of what a typical day would be like for an independent pharmacist.
At the start of this, it was hard to narrow it down to interviewing one person. I had forgotten that I was allowed to give them a survey as well. I decided to interview the person I knew was farthest along in the Major. Her name is Maria (I changed her name due to confidentiality reasons).
The entirety of my middle and high school years revolved around the idea that I would help people in a health profession, but I was never sure what that meant; so I always aimed high. I finally realized I wanted to be a pharmacist in my second year of college. I knew what pharmacists could do since I watched my dad while he worked in a small pharmacy in Queens all my life. As a teenager, my dad would bring me to work with him and I would help and shadow the pharmacist. I never thought much of the profession then, however, Mr. Masub explained to me that pharmacists didn’t just count pills. Pharmacy was a broad field filled with untapped potential, from clinical to ambulatory care. Most of all, he saw potential in me to make a real difference
1. American Pharmaceutical Association Academy of Students of Pharmacy - American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Council of Deans Task Force on Professionalism. White Paper on Pharmacy Student Professionalism." Journal of the American Pharmacy Association. 40:1 (2000): 96-100.
The importance of the becoming a pharmacist should not be about what the career can give a person in monetary value or the amount of accolades one receives. Instead, the career should be about saving and improving human lives and serving the public. Pharmacists keep people healthy, make them feel better, and try to help the public live longer and happier lives as long as possible. From small infant children to the elderly, everyone needs pharmaceutical care. Sometimes it can be a matter of life and death if medication is not available to the public. Pharmacy as a career would be a wise decision if a person could withstand the amount of education the profession entails.
As I was getting older, I was finding myself getting bored with the everyday patterns of just existing and not doing something that I really had a passion for. Living comfortably with minimal contribution became increasingly easy for me. Rest assured, I knew my life had bigger meaning and I was meant for something better. Auspiciously, the medical field and the human body had caught my attention. I became increasingly interested in medical research and drug therapy. The reason I have selected pharmacy as a career path is due to the simple fact that I want to make a positive contribution to my peers and surrounding community. Being a face in a community that is known to help people and make them feel comfortable when talking about personal issues, such as medicinal intake, is something I have developed a yearning for.
During the tenure of five years of undergraduate program I studied variety of different courses including Biochemistry, Anatomy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pathology, Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmacognosy, etc. but always found myself more inclined towards pharmacology, physiology and pharmacotherapy of all the different courses I studied and with passing time my interest just grew stronger. In the commencement of undergraduate program, studying different drugs and their mechanisms, diseases and modes of their therapy was merely an interest but by the time my undergraduate degree program ended it became more of a passion. It was for this passion that I decided to pursue a post graduation degree in the respective field. Before I could go any further in academics I wanted to have some practical exposure and consequently, I decided to join a hospital rather than a pharmaceutical industry. Hence, after fighting off a tough competition from all over the country I was recruited among the twenty pharmacy graduates in a year lengthy “On-the-Job Hospital Pharmacist Trainee Program” in July 2013 and currently, I am working as a trainee pharmacist in the most preeminent hospital of the country, Aga Khan Ho...
A career as a clinical pharmacist seems to be the goal was working up to my entire life, even before I knew what it was. As a child I found myself fascinated by what made people sick and how to make them feel better. This interest only continued to grow through my education, culminating in my decision to attend pharmacy school upon reaching adulthood.
Nowadays, there is increasing number of people take pharmacy as their profession. As everyone knows, there is many practice area for pharmacists like community pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, industrial pharmacist and academic pharmacist. Other than that, there are few specialties in pharmacy ...