The #1 Link for Pharmacy Students RPhLink.com offers Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techs a wide range of Pharmacy Business opportunities. Pharmacists and Techs are Linking to the site to get current Pharmacy Business News and Great Job Opportunities.. for Pharmacy Grads and Interns. Allergan presents ACULAR PF, the only preservative-free topical NSAID My Father's Pharmacy As I relaxed in an old swarthy chair, in the corner of my father's pharmacy, I stuffed an orange gummy bear into my chubby round face. I listened to my father speak in Cantonese to a patient about over the counter drugs. Shortly after, my father spoke to another patient this time in English, inquiring about a prescription drug. I watched as both patients strolled out of the pharmacy with grins on their faces. By the looks on their faces, it was apparent that the customers always left more rejuvenated and pleased than when they walked in. Patients praised my father for his dedication, professionalism and most importantly-ability to communicate. My fondest childhood memories were spending time in my father's pharmacy. As a child, I grew up working at my father's side. I discovered quite early what the life of a pharmacist was like. My father's job as a pharmacist never constituted just distributing medicine; he was an integral part of the medical team. Professionalism as well as communication plays as important role in the pharmaceutical profession, between the patients, doctors, nurses, and other pharmacists. I always felt that my father had an advantage over other pharmacists by being fluent in two languages. His bilingual ability raised the standards in his independent pharmacy. He brought confidence to his patients and demonstrated professionlism in a caring way. Presently, I also wish to pursue the same profession as my father. I hope to contribute to the pharmaceutical profession with the ability to speak not only two but three languages. As one of my prized attributes, I enjoy interacting and communicating with others. With this strong desire, I am eager to cousel with the knowledge I am attaining in pharmacy school and continued education. Couseling will not only include the basic over the counter drugs as well as prescription drugs, but also the knowledge acquired in my continued education. Finally, having the ability to warmly communicate with my patients will ensure the trust needed for professionalism and success. My father's abilities as a pharmacist has far surpassed his own expectations. I feel my passion for pharmaceutical care, hard work, and dedication can and will do the same. February 2003 From : Drake University         Why I decided to pursue pharmacy school?  N.G. Throughout my childhood I was fascinated by medicine and the health care field.  During my elementary and middle school education my academic strengths were in math and science, but I was particularly interested in the human body as it relates to health and medicine.  When I was in high school I enrolled in a four-year health careers program.  This program introduces students to various health care professions both through classroom and field experiences.  Students spend the first two years in the classroom learning basic health care terminology, history of medicine, and biomedical ethics.  During the last two years of the program students get hands-on experience through rotations in a hospital. During my last two years in the health careers program I rotated through various departments in the hospital, which included different types of nursing units (such as maternity, short stay, medical surgical, telemetry, post-op recovery for orthopedic patients), outpatient rehabilitation for patients recovering from heart surgery, as well as inpatient hospital pharmacy.  While rotating at the pharmacy I shadowed a hospital staff pharmacist and had the opportunity to observe pharmacist interactions with other healthcare professionals (nurses, physicians).  My experiences of shadowing a pharmacist helped me understand the variety of duties of a hospital staff pharmacist, which included making recommendations for drug therapy, preparing IV medications, compounding medications for individual patients, and monitoring patients for undesirable drug related effects.  After my rotation at an in-patient hospital pharmacy, I became more interested in the profession of pharmacy.  There was so much variety to pharmacy that had motivated me to further explore the profession of pharmacy and the career of a pharmacist. During my senior year in high school I volunteered at a local community pharmacy.  I was astonished by the differences in the pharmacist's role in the community pharmacy setting versus a hospital pharmacy setting.  Pharmacist duties were more directed toward the patient care by helping patients understand their disease and the medications they are taking to help treat these conditions.  I learned that pharmacists also have expertise in over the counter medications, and medical devices (such as blood glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors).  After my volunteer experience at the community pharmacy, I was convinced that the career of a pharmacist does not involve "counting pills", but rather is centered on patient education. After volunteering at various pharmacy settings, I was fascinated by pharmacist knowledge of diseases and medications (both prescription and over the counter).  However, I was most interested in services pharmacists provide to both health care professionals and patients.  I decided to research pharmacy curriculum to find out about classs' students must take in order to become experts in the field.  After reading descriptions of various classes I became more interested in pursuing a career in pharmacy.  The pathway of becoming a medication specialist was pharmacy school. In summary, a combination of factors including strong academic background in math and science as well as interest in health care, particularly the career of a pharmacist had motivated me to pursue a career in pharmacy.  My experiences of shadowing pharmacists in both community and hospital pharmacies have given me the opportunity to explore multiple practice settings and the role of the pharmacist in each practice setting.  Additionally, pharmacy school curriculum about medications interested me the most, which had further convinced me to go to pharmacy school.   Back   |  Pharmacy News RPhLink.com  The Pharmaceutical Care Network!                01-19-2004 L. K. PharmD Candidate University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy Why I chose Pharmacy School?    I am proud to say that I am a fourth-year Pharmacy student at the University of Rhode Island.  That means that in only two more years Iwill be able to graduate with a Pharm D. (Doctor of Pharmacy degree) and enter into my life-long dream goal in the rofession of pharmacy as a provider of pharmaceutical care-health care services and health promotion and disease prevention activties to ensure that medications are used safetly, effectively and in a cost efficient manner to improve a patient's well being anduality of life.  The program is a very challenging one, in all regards, but I picked pharmacy school because I am sure that it will really prepare me for what's to come.   In this day and age of pharmaceuticals, as new options lead to new opportunities, there will be so many job offerings in all possible areas of healthcare. Demographics in this country ensure a bright future in any one of those areas:  ranging from community pharmacy to cutting-edge research.As a pharmacist, I will be responsible not only for the management of  medications in a global sense but also in a microscopic sense, as well.  A key point will be interaction one-on-one with my patients to recognize and prevent adverse medication reactions, which will both maximize therapeutic benefits and minimize - risks of drug-related problems.  I will teach patients how to read labels, store their medicines, and safetly dispose of their out-of-date, unused medications.    I love the fact that I will graduate, after six quality years at URI, and step into the realy world armed with the unique - knowledge of the power and potential of medications.  As part of the healthcare team, I will have five essential professional responsibilities bestowed upon me which include: drug delivery and medication safety, patient education and advocacy, - monitoring drug therapy, teaming with other health care providers, and research and studies.  Every day in my profession will - allow me to play a mroe integral role, giving me the ability to make a real impact and truly positive difference on people's lives.