Comments on: To all you new pharmacists who know everything…

By: Ryan Glaze

Ryan Glaze — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:34:31 +0000

I promote the Dale Carnegie book for my students who do rotations with me.

Excellent book…again…and again…and again. Everyone can benefit by embracing the concepts in the book and applying it to everyday relationships.

The book is loaded with stuff that JUST MAKES PLAIN SENSE!!

By: Kym

Kym — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:22:49 +0000

Pharmacy Chick,

You write a hell of a great blog. I am glad I found your site. These words of wisdom are great. Lately I have run across one or two new people who think they know everything. It was actually surprising as I had not come in contact with this much over the past 20 years that I have been practicing. My guess is that it has become much more pronounced with PharmD’s than it used to be pre-Pharm-D. I could be wrong about that as it is also a personality trait that some have and some don’t. The know-it-all gene.

I loved the “tag-you’re-it” line. Welcome to jail! They never really tell you that in pharmacy school, eh? Lately I have been missing the days when I was a tech for just that reason. Less of a jail.

Thanks for a thoughtful and useful post. For all of us. Not only the new. Actually, I would love it if you submit it to a journal for publication. Drug Topics or something. More people need to read it.

By: The Ole' Apothecary

The Ole' Apothecary — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:01:49 +0000

This post has officially endorsed by The Ole’ Apothecary (BS in pharmacy, 1976; 32 years in practice, retail and hospital). Chick, you can tell the ACPE that what you have written is now required reading for every new pharmacy grad, especially with regard to Dale Carnegie!

By: pharmacychick

pharmacychick — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:04:32 +0000

Thanks Mike, I love your blog too. Sometimes I just wanna grab my interns and shake em. (and it would probably sound like the last tic-tac in the pack). They have so much knowledge and so little common sense. I try to give them a lot of advice before they leave my employ. I just don’t know how much of it is taken
I may not be the brilliant mind I’d like to be, but I am a much better pharmacist now than I used to be.

By: Pharmacy Mike

Pharmacy Mike — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:17:06 +0000

This is a great post. Your advice to new pharmacists is spot on. It’s funny because if I had to write advice to pharmacists, I’d write almost exactly what you did.

I haven’t even been licensed for 2 years yet, so I still have a TON of learning to do. I tell everyone that pharmacy school teaches you everything about pharmacy except how to be a pharmacist. The thing with me is that I knew that right from the start, so I was always looking to learn and improve with each passing day.

I think that’s really the most important thing. You have to realize that immediately after getting your license you don’t know everything. You won’t know how to handle certain situations. You’ll make mistakes (and I don’t mean prescription errors as much as I mean mistakes in dealing with the customers). You just have to learn from each mistake you make and try not to repeat them.

I also think it’s a great idea to try to work with an experienced pharmacist that you really respect. You’ll learn how to handle situations through observing his/her interactions with the customers, insurance companies, doctors, etc. I was lucky enough to be placed in a store where the manager had been in the same location for 23 years, and one of the staff pharmacists had been there for 17 years. Those two had seen and handled every situation imagineable, so I couldn’t possibly have had better mentors.

Anyway… Great post, great advice.