Labcoat to Leader

The course not taught in pharmacy school

Being a labcoat is just NOT good enough for me, anymore.

Imagine 2 pharmacists…

The first, Raphael is a great clinician and an extremely hard worker, capable of grinding through the heavy lifting the profession requires. But the demands of pharmacy life with higher expectations, rude customers, diminishing support staff and head office policies being forced down his throat have all taken toll.

He started out as a driven new grad, who dreamed of drafting care plans, hosting clinic days and solving drug-related problems. He was going to save the world!

And 5 years in, something feels awful. He doesn’t have the self-awareness to enunciate it, but he is punching the clock, shift by shift on a subpar team in a dispensary that is stressful, reactive, & error-prone. He feels well compensated but physically drained by operating at his red-line RPM so long. His eating and sleeping habits have degraded and he can’t give his whole self to his family at home.

He doesn’t know it yet, but this year he will choose one of three paths: seek a job change, leave the profession or burnout. To take matters deeper, his mood will affect his relationships, he’ll lose friends, fight with family and require a divorce.