Hello Everyone,
My name is Lisa and I am excited to be part of
the mdBriefCase team over the next few weeks! I am in my final year of pharmacy
school and in about five months from now - should I pass the national licensing
exam for pharmacists - I will be deemed to possess sufficient knowledge to be
the medication expert of a healthcare team. It is an exciting and daunting
thought to realize that not long from now, I will be directly responsible for
the wellbeing of my patients. Equally as exciting and daunting is the question
of what my first job as a pharmacy professional will be like. As pharmacists
are discovering more and more career opportunities outside the traditional
fields of retail or hospital pharmacy (like being a medical writer for CME
providers), it becomes more challenging for me to settle on one choice.
Despite the uncertainty of my future career
prospects, there are some certainties I am looking forward to in my future role
as a pharmacist.:
- Working with patients living in remote communities: I have worked in fly-in Northern Ontario communities for two summers as a camp counselor and during my time there, I witnessed the disparity between healthcare access for patients who live in rural communities compared to urban dwelling patients. I feel there is an untapped opportunity for pharmacists to provide pharmacotherapy services to rural communities, and I am eager to see how pharmacists can integrate themselves into rural healthcare delivery models. I hope to find a role that will allow me to help improve the lives of those that live in areas that are underserved medically, specifically those in rural areas, so that they can receive the care that they need and deserve in order to reach their full potential and so that I can grow as a front line healthcare provider.
- Working within the field of mental health: Many people with mental health problems experience poorer care than they should, and much of this relates to getting the right treatment and support. As an advocate for mental health, I want to actively participate in leveraging the strengths of pharmacists (being medication experts and one of the most approachable healthcare providers) to improve accessibility to services to support people’s mental health. Pharmacists working across the health sector are ideally-placed to help patients through spotting early signs of mental health problems, managing long-term conditions, providing expert medication advice to colleagues or signposting to other forms of support.
- Opportunity for lifelong learning: I love learning, and the process of learning is as exciting for me, as is the content and results. I thrive in dynamic work environments where I can work on project-based tasks, where I can be expected to gain knowledge about different and new subject matters with each new project. I hope to find a role that will allow me to incorporate both direct and non-direct patient care elements in my responsibilities so that I can develop the skillsets unique to each focus.
Returning back to the current moment, I look
forward to delving into the world of continuing education during the upcoming
weeks, and I invite to you follow alongside as I record my journey on this
blog.
Cheers,
Lisa
