Drug Topics - October 29, 2007 - (Page 10)

10 DRUG TOPICS OCTOBER 29, 2007 www.drugtopics.com Of Interest to Students Butler University students compiling book of advice for future pharmacists Michael Barbella ike most other final-year pharmacy students, Annah Steckel is anxious about her future. “You go through life—through kindergarten, through grade school, and high school, and you don’t have a lot of huge choices to make,” she said. “Your parents are pretty much with you all the way through. Then you get thrown into college, and suddenly you’re faced with all these decisions. You have all these questions and fears about the future. It would be nice to get some perspective from someone who has been in your situation and has survived.” Survival tips are on the way for Steckel and thousands of other pharmacy students preparing to enter “I hope this the workforce next year after graduation. The book inspires tips are coming from professional pharmacists and corporate executives; they will be students to compiled into a book Steckel and three othbecome great er pharmacy students at Butler University, Indianapolis, are publishing as part of a research pharmacists educational grant from in whatever path project funded by anTitled Prescription to My Johnson & Johnson. Younger Self: What I Learned After Pharmacy they choose.” School, the book is designed to help pharmaAlisha Broberg cy students better understand what to expect after graduation. Copies of the book will be given to each graduating pharmacy student next spring and will be sold on Amazon.com and in mainstream bookstores. The students—Steckel, Alisha Broberg, Jennell Colwell, and Brad Koselke—have been working on the book since May. The four got the idea for the book from Erin Albert, an assistant professor who is serving as the students’ mentor for the project. Albert said she suggested the idea to teach the students about book publishing and the rewards that can come from being persistent. “I wanted to impart to the students that they should not give up,” she said. “As pharmacists, they are not going to have to go out there and be proactive. They don’t have to go out and sell themselves and sell ideas. This project forces them to do that, and I think that’s a really good idea.” Selling themselves and the idea for the book was not an easy task. Not only did the students have to track down busy pharmacists and hard-to-reach company executives, they also had to figure out a way to convince these profes- L sionals to write a letter containing advice about the “pharmacy world” and what they have learned since graduation. “We left the content of the letter open to interpretation, but we simply asked them for the challenges, education, and learning that occurred after pharmacy school and during their professional careers,” Koselke explained in an e-mail. “We were interested in hearing about these pharmacists’ personal experiences and life lessons that, when shared with current graduates, could help to inspire and guide us as we start our professional careers.” With Albert’s help, the students composed a list of about 50 pharmacists and corporate executives they wanted to contact, including State Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D) of Texas, a pharmacist for more than 28 years; Jeff Rein, CEO and president of Walgreens; and Thomas Ryan, chairman, president, and CEO of CVS Corp. Creating the list of pharmacists and corporate executives was perhaps the easiest task for the students. Albert made it deliberately difficult for the students to find contact information for their targets. “Many people contributed names of respected pharmacists as suggestions for us to contact. However, many could only provide a name,” Broberg said. “We used all of our resources within the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Butler, including students, faculty, and staff, to help with finding contact information for our pharmacists.” So far, the students have about 20 letters ready for publication. The book will head to AuthorHouse, a Bloomington, Ind., publisher, at the end of the year. For the next two months, the students will collect any other letters that come in from pharmacists and draft their own letters for inclusion in the book. The students decided to include their own letters upon Steckel’s suggestion. By identifying with pharmacists and others who wrote letters for the book, Steckel, Broberg, and Koselke are attempting to provide their fellow students with inspiration for their future. “I hope this book serves as a reminder to students and recent graduates that they can make anything they want out of their degree,” Broberg said. “The pharmacists in our book are proof that the possibilities are endless. I hope this book inspires students to become great pharmacists in whatever path they choose.” DT http://www.drugtopics.com http://Amazon.com

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Drug Topics - October 29, 2007 Contents N.J. R.Ph.s Take AMP Fight to Congress Oral Care Product Sales Holding Steady Still More Stellar Independent Pharmacies Students to Students: Check Out Our Book The Week at a Glance

Drug Topics - October 29, 2007

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