Once upon a time I was a full-time pharmacist...
I worked 12 hour days
I filled over 600 scripts in a day (and was the only pharmacist on duty). Ok that only happened once but still.
I would talk on one phone and be on hold on another
I took calls
I counted pills
I counseled patients
I got refills authorized
I got medication prior authorizations
I was a cashier
I mixed antibiotics
I made over the counter recommendations
and...
I was good at it
What? I was. I'm a good multi-tasker. I'm fast and efficient with my time and I get the job done.
As the number of kids I had increased, the number of hours I worked decreased. I moved from working at the busier Walmart to a much slower paced Sam's Club. Eventually I left Sam's Club to work in a closed pharmacy filling mail order prescriptions (high cost injectables). It was my BEST pharmacy job ever. I no longer had to do the long list I shared above. I just had to check prescriptions for accuracy all day long.
Then we moved to Texas and I didn't work for two years. I no longer identified with being a pharmacist. Not because I wasn't (I do hold a doctorate degree that NO ONE or NOTHING can ever take away), but because it wasn't a part of my day to day (or even week to week) life, it just didn't seem who I was. I started to fear that I didn't know how to be a pharmacist anymore-- that I somehow wasn't good enough or wasn't worthy of the profession. Could I still do it?
So when I moved back to Pennsylvania (where I am a licensed pharmacist), I signed back on with Sam's Club in the hopes of regaining that part of my life, but I was scared. I feared that I'd lost my touch and I didn't know "how to be a pharmacist" anymore.
Well today my friends I worked my first day back in the pharmacy where I was the only pharmacist on duty. You know what?
I worked 10 hour day
I filled about 100 prescriptions
I would talk on one phone and be on hold on another
I took calls
I counted pills
I counseled patients
I got refills authorized
I got medication prior authorizations
I was a cashier
I mixed antibiotics
I made over the counter recommendations
and...
I was good at it.
It feels good to be back.
In case there is any question.... This is still mom swim bike run up in here. I know there's not a whole lot of those things going on, but don't worry we won't let this little J.O.B. get in the way. Oh nosiree. I am working on an as needed basis covering shifts for vacations and other pharmacists' days off. I hope it amounts to 2 or so days a month.
Oh and we still have that hamstrings to deal with... I'm PATIENTLY resting. More on that later.
Monday 25 February 2013
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