The Best Pharmacists Have These 2 Things
Neither of which is a big brain.
The first is social awareness. They know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. I’ve never seen a great pharmacist fumble with their words or fail to show empathy. They are always about the patients and it shows in the way they practice. In What Makes A Good Pharmacist, I discussed the concept of treating the patient and not the disease. This is related in that they can consistently draw out what the patient’s true concerns are and focus on that. The best pharmacists all do this. You don’t have to be born with social awareness. Most people learn through experience and that brings us to the second point.
The second is experience in their field. It doesn’t matter what type of pharmacist you are. Community, hospital, industry, or consulting — it doesn’t matter. Your job eventually becomes repetitive and with repetition, comes expertise. These pharmacists know exactly what to look for and where to look for it. They know odd interactions and doses. They catch things that, sadly, many pharmacists miss. They can solve anything, from computer meltdowns to troublesome patients. These skills are all developed by putting in the hours.
Practice makes progress.
New graduates with egos bigger than their heads need to understand that our job is more than just textbook knowledge like our licensing exam frames it as. We need to humble ourselves and know that experience is the best teacher.
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