No Longer Invisible: Shifting from Do-er to Thinker as a Pharmacist

Let’s talk about the constantly interruptive climate a pharmacist works in. In any given hour the always accessible, no-appointment needed, world’s number one trusted health care provider has phones ringing, patients in the aisles looking for recommendations, patients waiting in the counselling room for vaccines, deliveries arriving, patients dropping off prescriptions and others picking-up. They have staff needing answers and doctors faxing (yes, faxing!) and someone incessantly asking where the Q-tips are.

If not careful, the pharmacist will have to restart an important clinical thought more often than penicillin for strep throat.

To do this job well, for a long time, the pharmacist must have one thing.

The Right Mindset.

Through practicing over a decade and a half, I have come to realize that my role as a pharmacist and a manager of people and business is best served as a Thinker, instead of a Do-er.

The Do-er

The do-er resembles my fresh-grad model where I was a very busy doing plenty of heavy lifting, putting out fires and managing urgent, non-important work that others could do.