Skills for Working as a Pharmacist - Essay Example

Reflective Essay, Community Pharmacy Placement Introduction My five days in a job placement was a window of opportunity for me to not just practice the skill I have leant so far as a pharmacist, but to also recognize the areas where I need to improve. I believe this was a learning moment and while I did well in most of the task, I believe that there are some areas that I may need improvement; the following reflective essay addresses these issues. What happened during my short time at the pharmacy Working in a local community pharmacy was chance to experience what it is to be in an actual situation to practice my skills in pharmacy. As Gibson (2012) says, such experiences are good because they form the basis in which future professional development is done. In the one week that I served at the pharmacy, I worked with different people and managed to learn about a lot of things and also to know the areas where I may need more skills to be able to mature as a pharmacist. During the one week that I worked at the pharmacy, I did a number of things that involved the work of attending to patients who needed to get medication. On day one for instance, I worked at the shop front of the pharmacy, giving OTC (over-the-counter) medication to customers. These were first time prescription. Apart from giving the medicines based on doctor’s prescription, I also did some more activities such as answering general queries and Dispensing and labeling FP10 scripts. I also had the chance to learn how to dispense drugs restriped using the Electronic prescription Service (EPS). I also discarded some unwanted medicine as per the standards of the pharmacy. On the second day, I dispensed medicine, handled queries and called the supplier to keep up with a delayed order. I also did a number of activities related to the work of pharmacies. On the third day, I got to exercise my conflict resolution skills by sorting out a query with GP. I also called patients to keep abreast with their process with regard to their medication. I also did controlled drugs (CD) checks and observed an MUR (Medicines User Review). I had the chance to study the technique of how to conduct such a consultation with patient and building a rapport with them. This was a challenge because I had to know how to make the conversation informal enough to make the patient comfortable and willing to share information, but at the same time not too informal as to appear unprofessional. On the fourth day, I did CD (Controlled drug) register check. I also dispensed private prescriptions, e-mailed patient following their MUR to answer questions they had and identifying potential MUR and NMS (New medicine service) patients and flagging them up to pharmacist. The fifth and last day of the placement was the most challenging because I to play a very important role as a pharmacist, not just dispensing first prescription drugs and repeat drugs. On this day, I did a smoking cessation consultation. I got the opportunity to use techniques learnt and used data to back me up. I also used carbon monoxide monitor to inform the patient how high their carbon levels were. I even had to communicate to them the benefits of quitting. One of the issues that came up was with regard to controlled drugs. As a pharmacist, there are many people who may come to ask for any controlled drug and this amount to an ethical violation is laws and ethical issues are not observed. There are a number of reasons why drugs are controlled and this is because they are likely to be abused. As a pharmacist, I realized that I have a role to make sure that these drugs are not controlled. While dealing with this issue, one has to consider the United Kingdom Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 which regulates such drugs. Failing to act in accordance with this law may lead to legal issues that can land a person and his or her career in a lot of problem. My feelings I feel that maybe I could have done a better job, in regard to interacting with the patients as opposed to just dishing out the medication that have been prescribed to them. The two instances where I had to deal with a patient were learning moments for me and it changed my perspective that a pharmacist main role is to dispense medication. I realized that pharmacist will also have to play other important roles such as the cancelling the patient and also motivating them to do the right thing, such as to quit smoking. I felt that because of this, a nurse may need to possess more than just the skill for understanding prescriptions and giving the right medication to patent, but have to have more skills such as interregnal and also cancelling skills. I also feel that is it necessary for me to be able to increase my interpersonal skill, in order to communicate with colleagues and also the patients. My reactions Although I may not be able to ascertain where the patient I talked to about quitting smoking was able to keep up, at least I managed to convince him that he was not doing any good to himself by smoking. He made a decision to quit smoking. I was working there permanently, I could have continues to follow up with him and help him with the journey to quit smoking. The implications for me I need to learn more to become a better rounded pharmacist, not just one who is able to dispense medication but someone who is able to have meaningful relationships with the patients. This will mean I will have to advance my studies and be willing to have continuous professional development. What I need to improve is my ability t relate well with patients so that any time I am needed to communicate with patient I will be able to do it in an effective way. I need to really perk up in this area since failure in doing so would translate to not being able to be effective in my work as a pharmacist. In the future I hope I can be able to handle such situations better by not just handling the patient in one session but being able to follow up, such as in the case of helping a smoker to quit smoking. This is in line with what Gilford (2012) said about professional development, especially with regard to health sciences professionals. In this regard, I will have to learn more skill on how to deal with such situations and to be effective in helping patients in more than just dispensing drugs to them. There are many opportunities that exit which I can use to improve myself in these areas. There are books and journal articles I can read, or I can do consultations with those who are experienced in this situation. My New SWOT Analysis Strengths In my new SWOT analysis, I can now say I have experience in the field allowing me to apply the theory learnt in college into practice and this is very important fro my professional development. Weaknesses After working at the pharmacy, I believe that my main weakness is that I do not have enough confidence to deal patients. I also lack thorough knowledge of products and services being offered at the pharmacy. Opportunities Working at the pharmacy was a good opportunity for me to prove that I have good potential to bring positive change to both community and hospital. My ability to learn fast in a practical environment will be an opportunity for me to develop in my career as a pharmacist. Threats As a pharmacy student, my biggest threat to my career development is the lack of enough opportunities to rise in the ranks so that I can be in position of leadership where I can bring in positive change. Conclusion My five days in a job placement program as a pharmacist was a learning moment for me. I learnt a lot of things I could probably have never learnt in class. I also had the opportunity to practice a lot of the skills I acquired in school. It was also a chance for me to realize that being a pharmacist takes more than just dispending drugs, but goes further to be a counselor and sometimes having to motivate people. These two areas, I realized I have to improve through continues professional development. References: Gibson, P. (2012). Career development in Medical Sciences. Journal of Medical Sciences, 12, 5 , pp. 45-49. Gilford, P. (2012). Modern Medical Practice, A Guide for Professional development . London, UK: Cengene Learnign. Read More