Drug Topics - October 15, 2007 - (Page 8)

8 DRUG TOPICS OCTOBER 15, 2007 www.drugtopics.com Of Interest to Students What pharmacy school never taught you Fred Gebhart That’s the clear consensus from an informal poll of recent grads, midcareer pharmacists, and pharmacists who can’t imagine hanging up that white coat. “Pharmacy school never talked about taking all of the cool information they teach and translating it into practice,” said Karl Hess, International Travel Clinic Director for Hendricks Pharmacy in Claremont, Calif. Hess graduated from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, Boston, in 2005. He started fitting the clinical side of pharmacy into community practice during a residency at the University of Southern California. The “Pharmacy schools do a good fit is running a travel clinic. He spends time with each job teaching everything there patient, reviewing health is to know about drugs and status and drug regimens, administering vaccinations an idealistic way of practicing and prophylactic drugs, that exists for 5% or less of and providing basic pretravel health education and pharmacists.” information. Sue Bliss, R.Ph., MBA Hess is also assistant professor of pharmacy practice and the National Community Pharmacists Association adviser at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif. Working in an independent pharmacy helped him realize that pharmacy school missed the business side. “Even in a chain, you need an informed appreciation of pharmacy business practices,” he said. “If you have even the slightest interest in independent pharmacy or becoming an owner, business education is a must.” Sue Bliss beSue Bliss, R.Ph., MBA, longtime Drug Topics columlieves pharnist and recent author of We Will be Healed: Spiritual Remacy schools don’t teach newal for Healthcare Providers, has built a career in what enough practi- pharmacy schools don’t teach. She graduated from Orecal matters. gon State University College of Pharmacy, class of 1990. “Pharmacy schools do a good job teaching everything there is to know about drugs and an idealistic way of practicing that exists for 5% or less of pharmacists,” Bliss said. “They don’t teach the practical: How to work with physicians; how to manage, encourage, and teach technicians; how to develop empathy for patients; how and N life of community pharmacy practice. ewly minted Pharm.D.s are not ready for the real why to be involved in local and state politics; how to read the blinkin’ contracts and stop giving our profession away.” Larry Rolston graduated from the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy in 1973 and now works part-time for a major chain in the Sacramento, Calif., area. For Rolston, pharmacy school was too clinical and too short of professional. “Pharmacy school did not teach that you need to be involved professionally, personally, and politically,” he said. “If you don’t get involved in shaping your profession, you will be at the mercy of the marketplace.” Drug Topics columnist Jim Plagakis graduated from the University of Toledo in 1964. It was a solid technical education, he said, but pharmacy school missed humility, arrogance, and patience. “I came out of pharmacy school with Physician Syndrome,” Plagakis said. “I thought I was somebody special. I had attitude when I needed humility. I also treated physicians like they could do no wrong. It took a long time to learn enough arrogance to treat them like partners and not gods. And I wanted things to move fast. I wanted patient profiles 10 years before we had them. I thought technicians would put pharmacists out of work. It takes a while to learn that the wheels turn slowly.” Fred Mayer, president of Pharmacists Planning Service Inc. and a member of the Drug Topics editorial advisory board, was an early Pharm.D. from the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy. He still admires UCSF’s clinical training and wonders why the profession of pharmacy got such short shrift. “We were supposed to count, type, pour, and shut up,” Mayer said. “But we did a lot more. We talked with pa- Fred Mayer contends that tients and docs and—most impor- students tant—we talked with lawmakers and should be pharmacy board members. And that’s taught to be more assertive. where pharmacy school let us down. Nobody taught us not to be professional wimps. Nobody taught us about the politics of pharmacy, how to stand up for your profession and for your patient. Pharmacy schools still haven’t figured out how to add professionalism to the curriculum.” DT http://www.drugtopics.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Drug Topics - October 15, 2007

Drug Topics - October 15, 2007 Contents Drugs in the Pipeline for Diabetes Vanquishing Med Errors from Abbreviations What Pharmacy Schools Never Taught You The Week at a Glance What Kinds of Mistakes Do Pharmacists Make?

Drug Topics - October 15, 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.