Pharmacy Reflective Account

This activity was based on values and ethics. We were divided into groups of four and we had to navigate though a situation based on our teams’ knowledge of values and ethics. Our situation was about a couple that came into the pharmacy wanting to purchase syringes. They where dressed very unprofessional and had Band-Aid’s placed where they shouldn’t be. They acted very sketchy and demanded syringes for their diabetes medication therapy. They did not have their prescription for their insulin and they did not know the pharmacy that they picked their insulin up from. They were also from out of town and demanded syringes immediately. Our team discussed the situation and came to the consensus that we were not going to sell them syringes because

they looked and acted as if they were abusing drugs. We did not know them so we denied them the syringe regardless of the threats. My role in the activity was to listen, assess and provided input. I provided them with different options for this situation like calling their previous pharmacy to confirm their diabetes drug. I did not speak too much and insisted that one person speak throughout the situation in order to keep the patients focused. I believed that we were successful in our activity because our feedback was positive and our team worked well together.
At the beginning, I felt really nervous because two teams went ahead of us and didn’t do too well with their scenario.

Luckily, our scenario was something that I have encountered at my CVS Pharmacy back home. I thought about how my pharmacist handled the exact same situation and mimicked her actions. When performing the activity, I thought about what excuses or ideas can the patient toss at us and how can we navigate through those excuses. Overall, I thought the team performed really well under the pressure and came up with solid ideas and plans.
From this activity, I learned that I only knew how to perform this activity through my previous work experience. Through the IPE Core Competency, I gained the conformation of knowing what I learned though my work experience will correlate with my school experience even through value and ethics

situations.
Through this IPE Core Competency Activity, I need to improve on my knowledge of pharmacy values and ethics.

I only knew how to answer the patients question and provide them with the correct options through my work experience. If I were to be given the first or second scenario, I would have no clue on how to handle the situation. I will increase my work experience knowledge by first applying for a pharmacy intern position or a volunteering position at a local hospital or retail store. This will help me mimic a pharmacist what will have to deal with value and ethics situations. In the meantime, I will improve my knowledge about different value and ethics situations by reading articles on pharmacy forums to further understand different scenarios that I might not encounter in a pharmacy anytime

soon.