Aimee Simone, Associate Editor

Effective com&shy;munication skills cannot be taught but must be learned through experience.

After receiving a thorough education, completing clinical rotations, graduating pharmacy school, and passing the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exams, young pharmacists are ready to take on their first full-time pharmacy job. However, despite their training and quali&shy;fications, new graduates may be unsure how to conduct themselves in the professional pharmacy world.

Here are some dos and don’ts to help recent graduates adjust to their new positions.

Just as you were advised to get involved in school, joining professional organizations and becoming an advocate for the profession will help fur&shy;ther your professional goals and keep your passion for pharmacy alive.

“Stay connected with major pharmacy organizations, attend their meet&shy;ings and conferences to stay abreast of the new trends in the pharmacy profession at large, and meet new colleagues and expand your profes&shy;sional network,” said 2013 Next-Generation Pharmacist Future Pharmacist of the Year award winner Hoda Masmouei, PharmD, in an interview with 

Attending national meetings is a good start, but to gain valuable expe&shy;rience, Dr. Masmouei suggests taking an active role in local or national associations.

“If you can, become active in regional, state, or national chapters of pharmacy organizations and practice your leadership skills within the profession,” she said.

Communication is the key to any successful relationship—especially those with your coworkers and superiors. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education identifies communication as an important skill for new pharmacists to possess on their list of competencies for community, health-system, and managed care pharmacy.

For the most part, effective communication skills cannot be taught but must be learned through experience.

Speak up if you have questions or concerns about any aspect of the pharmacy or the work you are doing. Be open to communication with coworkers and try to create and maintain good relationships with everyone you work with.

Although you have received extensive education and training, you do not know everything—many skills come from experience.

To help guide you through the unknown, seek out an experienced mentor you trust and feel comfortable with. Mentors can provide valuable advice on career transitions, professionalism, career advancement, and other areas that are not necessarily taught in school.

“Find a pharmacy mentor who has experience in the line of pharmacy your job is in, who is abreast of the trends, and is familiar with you enough to be able to help you make the decisions that are right for you when the time comes to make changes,” Dr. Masmouei suggested.

Many people have helped you get through pharmacy school, land your first job, and do well in the position. Remember to thank all these people.

In her book The New Pharmacist: 46 Doses of Advice, the first piece of advice from author Erin Albert, MBA, PharmD, JD, is to send handwritten thank you notes.

“Thank your parents, friends, family, boss, professors, co-workers, and anyone else who got you to the point of being a licensed pharmacist immediately. You did not get to where you are at this moment alone,” she writes.

After sending these initial thank you notes, Dr. Albert suggests that pharmacists make gratitude a habit.

“Also, keep a stack of blank thank you notes on your desk somewhere, and make sure you’re thanking someone in the universe each and every week at a minimum and day at maximum if and when you can.”

If you have a question about a patient or process, do not understand a task, or are confused about anything, don’t be too shy to ask your boss or coworker.

Asking for help does not show weakness—it shows that you are learning. If you don’t ask, you risk making a mistake or completing a task wrong, which can cause everyone on your team extra time and energy to correct.

Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations will help you to grow professionally and to contribute to your place of employment.

“Invest in your strengths to bring more value to the organization you work for and use your knowledge of your limitations to develop strategies to prevent mistakes,” Dr. Masmouei advised.

Although the health care landscape is changing, don’t try to or expect to make big changes when you are new on the job.

The organization you work for most likely has tried and true processes and protocol in place and knows best how to manage problems. Before you try to reinvent the wheel, spend some time learning the basics, learning how the organization runs their daily activities, and gaining an understanding of the unique challenges they face.

After you have spent some time learning about and understanding the organization and the profession, then you can begin to think about ways you can improve it.

When you are immersed in a new job and new environment, phar&shy;macy school may seem like the distant past, and keeping in touch with anyone from school can be difficult. However, your professors, preceptors, and anyone else who helped you along the way can serve as important contacts, mentors, and friends.

Don’t neglect these valuable relationships—write emails, send LinkedIn messages, meet up for coffee, have phone conversations. Do whatever you can to maintain these relationships within your and their busy schedules.

While in pharmacy school, or just before starting your first job post-graduation, you may lay out your career goals and the steps you will take to get there. But once you start working full-time, you can easily become distracted by your daily duties.

“Don’t get too caught up with your current job to the point where you forget about mapping your career and where you want to be in the next 5, 10, and 15 years,” Dr. Masmouei said. “Take up tasks in your current job that make you more eligible for the positions you want should they arise.” 

“Find a pharma&shy;cy mentor who has experience in the line of pharmacy your job is in.”

“Thank your parents, friends, family, boss, professors, co-workers, and anyone else who got you to the point of being a licensed pharma&shy;cist immediately.

Asking for help does not show weakness—it shows that you are learning.

Articles

These tips can help recent pharmacy school graduates navigate the professional world.

New on the Job: Dos and Don'ts

After celebrating its 75th anniversary, the 

Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) College of Pharmacy

 remains dedicated to providing training and education to future pharmacists in an evolving field.

“We continue to tackle today’s global pharmaceutical opportunities and challenges in a nurturing, student-focused, educational environment,” said dean Dennis F. Thompson, PharmD, FASHP, FCCP, in an  exclusive interview with 

In addition to their PharmD program, the school offers a combined PharmD and MBA program, residency and research opportunities for students, and an expanding rural health program that provides clinical support to critical access hospitals and rural community pharmacies.

In addition, the school is home to the SWOSU Center for Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences (SCRiPS). The center promotes research in the pharmaceutical sciences and strives to advance drug discovery and development. SCRiPS provides students and faculty with research and scholarship opportunities.

“We are dedicated to harnessing the passion and work ethic of our students, faculty, alumni, and stakeholders to create the very best pharmacy education,” said Thompson.

Q: What is the teaching style or philosophy?

 We take tremendous pride in educating the next generation of pharmacists. The College of Pharmacy offers an innovative and student-focused curriculum. Our faculty members excel in the classroom, taking advantage of our small class sizes to provide learning experiences with personalized attention. We utilize combinations of active learning, flipped classrooms, traditional lecture, and case-based problem-solving methods. In addition, we have a series of 6 pharmaceutical care labs that provide a continuum of activities leading to the advanced pharmacy practice experiences.

Q: What are some community outreach activities or programs the school participates in? What volunteer opportunities are available to students?

 There are a number of opportunities for SWOSU pharmacy students to get involved in their community through service and fund-raising activities. Faculty and students at the college help to provide free medical and pharmaceutical care to local residents in Oklahoma City and Weatherford who are in need. Students are also involved in international medical missions, such as our 2014 mission trip to Panama. Fund-raising for charities and as a mechanism to raise funds for their organizations is a constant part of the student experience at SWOSU.

Q: What opportunities do students have for rotation experiences?

 Students at SWOSU have a wide variety of rotation opportunities at clinical, retail, institutional, and selective/elective settings. A brief list of examples includes nuclear, long-term care, professional organizations, benefit management, leadership, scholarship, academic, and a private physician’s office.  The College of Pharmacy has a strong relationship with the Indian Health Service, and multiple opportunities in different practice settings are available for students throughout the state.

Q: What advice do you have for students who will graduate this year?

 Consider doing a residency to enhance your patient care, research, and administrative skills. Develop your leadership skills and continue to be involved in professional pharmacy organizations.

After celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharmacy remains dedicated to providing training and education to future pharmacists in an evolving field.


Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharamcy

During his time at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy (STLCOP), Andrew (Drew) Steppleman has distinguished himself as a leader, involving himself in several activities in organizations and dedicating his time to community service.

The 2016 PharmD candidate serves as the president of the college’s Phi Lambda Sigma pharmacy leadership society, class president, and the external vice president of the college’s chapter of the pharmacy fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha. He has also served as the vice president and secretary of the STLCOP student government association.

“As you can see from his CV, Drew is an experienced leader,” Kenneth W. Schafermeyer, PhD, wrote in his nomination. “What you cannot tell from his CV is that he is selfless, caring, helpful, collegial, and helps others by empowering and supporting them.”

Steppleman is actively involved in campus service projects, including the college’s annual outreach and advocacy day. He also serves as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity within the local St. Louis community and abroad on service learning trips.

Steppleman traveled to Jutiapa, Guatemala, in January 2013; Gilwice, Poland, in July 2013; and Tecpán, Guatemala, in January 2014, as part of an international service learning course offered at STLCOP. While in Poland, he served as a student leader and was responsible for organizing service learning projects and other on-site responsibilities.

“We worked with Habitat for Humanity in these countries, building affordable housing units in Guatemala and rehabilitating a homeless women’s shelter in Poland,” he said. “Meeting the local people and working with them was such an eye-opening and enriching experience that I will never forget.”

Q: Why did you decide to become a pharmacist? 

 I decided to become a pharmacist when I was 16 years old and started working in a community pharmacy. I saw the great knowledge pharmacists have and how large of an impact they make on patient outcomes and their quality of life. I have always wanted to be in the medical field, and being a pharmacist is the perfect fit for me.

Q: What has been your most rewarding extracurricular activity, and why? 

 My most rewarding extracurricular activity has been being in a fraternity. We participate in community outreach and community service projects multiple times every semester. Even if it is not a fraternity-sponsored event, if one of the brothers is active in the organization hosting the event, many of us will attend in support of each other. I have learned a lot from the guys older than me and have become well-rounded and a very influential leader on campus myself.

Q: What is the most important issue in pharmacy today? Why? 

 The most important issue in community pharmacy is requiring pharmacists to do more with less. I see community pharmacy technician hours being cut, requiring the pharmacists to do more. Seeing pharmacists working the register and working with the technicians as a fluid team is great, but this is taking away from their time using their clinical expertise. Patient consultations are rushed and usually take place while the pharmacist is multitasking. Companies want to increase pharmacist outreach via immunizations, mediation therapy management, and adherence and new-to-therapy consultations, in addition to continuing to increase prescription volume. This is applying an incredible amount of stress on the pharmacists, which I think will result in a higher number of errors.

Q: Has a patient or coworker taught you something that will help you be a better pharmacist? 

 The person who taught me to be a better pharmacist is the first pharmacy manager I worked for. He has had such an influential role in who I have become in terms of pharmacy—not only regarding my interactions with patients, but also my work ethic and management skills. I hope to be as much of a mentor to someone as he was to me, and I am sure many others.

The St. Louis College of Pharmacy enrolls students directly from high school into its 6-year PharmD program. The curriculum integrates courses in liberal arts and sciences. The college partners with nearby institutions, including Washington University, Saint Louis University, and Goldfarb School of Nursing.

About RESPy - Brought to you by Walmart and 

The RESPy (Respect, Excellence, and Service in Pharmacy) Award is presented to the student who has made a difference in his or her community by demonstrating excellence in pharmaceutical care. For more information, please visit 

Reaching the Community Through Leadership

During cold and flu season, working women turn to pharmacies whenever symptoms appear, according to the results of a recent study conducted by Workplace Impact.

A total of 6683 working women completed an online survey about their shopping habits for cough, cold, and flu prevention and treatment products.

The results indicated that many working women take steps to prevent illness during cold and flu season.  When asked what they do to stay healthy, hand washing was the most common behavior.

Hand sanitizer was the most popular prevention product, used by 73.3% of women surveyed, followed by vitamins (65.3%), and flu shots (60.9%). In addition, 43% indicated that they are always prepared with a supply of cough, cold, and flu products in their work desk during the season.

When symptoms occur, many women continue to work and rely on OTC products to feel better. Among the women surveyed, 36.3% said they will power through illness in order to go to work and 31% said they make the decision to work or stay home depending on their workload. Of those who do go to work sick, 73.7% do so because they are concerned about not getting enough work done.

Although 41% of women said they stocked up on products at the beginning of the season, 91% also purchase products when symptoms appear. Drug stores were the preferred place to purchase these products for 45.1% of women, while 25% chose grocery stores, and 21.3% shopped at discount stores.

When symptoms do occur, 71.4% of women purchase products to relieve their specific symptoms, 58.4% purchase tissues, 51.7% buy cold-relief medication, and 51.4% pick up cough medication. In addition, 43.3% and 39.1% also purchase comfort foods and drinks, respectively, during these shopping trips.

The survey also asked women how they determine which products to purchase. A total of 71.2% of women said their purchasing decisions were influenced by a physician’s recommendation, 64.2% made decisions based on coupons, 57.2% were influenced by word of mouth, and 44.8% chose products based on samples. In addition, 75% said they do not research products before they buy them.

During cold and flu season, working women turn to pharmacies whenever symptoms appear, according to the results of a recent study conducted by Workplace Impact.


Working Women Rely on OTC Products for Flu Season

Although they are often criticized for their violent content and tendency to discourage physical exercise, action video games may improve learning skills, according to the results of a recent study.

Previous research has shown that playing action video games improves skills related to those taught in the game. The current study, published online on November 10, 2014, in the 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

 analyzed the effects of these games on general learning skills, beyond those related to gameplay.

To measure learning capacity, the researchers of the study used a perceptual template model.

"In order to sharpen its prediction skills, our brains constantly build models, or 'templates,' of the world," study author Daphne Bavelier, PhD, explained in a press release. "The better the template, the better the performance.”

For the study, visual performance on a pattern discrimination task was compared between participants who played action video games and those who did not. Gamers used a better template to complete the task and outperformed the non-gamers.

In a second experiment, participants with little video game experience were instructed to play video games for 50 hours over a period of 9 weeks. Players were randomly assigned to action video games, such as Call of Duty, or non-action video games, such as The Sims. Participants completed a pattern discrimination task before and after the video game period. The results indicated that those who played action video games improved their templates when compared with those who played non-action games.

For the final stage of the study, the researchers aimed to understand how the video games impact templates and improve learning. Using neural modeling, the researchers found that initially, action video game players performed similarly to non-gamers on a perceptual learning task. However, those who played the action games were better able to learn and adapt to the task as they completed it.

"When they began the perceptual learning task, action video gamers were indistinguishable from non-action gamers; they didn't come to the task with a better template," Dr. Bavelier said in the press release. "Instead, they developed better templates for the task much, much faster, showing an accelerated learning curve."

In addition, the results indicated that the video games had a lasting effect. After a follow-up period of a few months to a year, those who had played action video games in the initial study still outperformed those who played other games.

“Taken together, our results establish for the first time to our knowledge the development of enhanced perceptual templates following action game play,” the study authors wrote. “Because such an improvement can facilitate the inference of the proper generative model for the task at hand, unlike perceptual learning that is quite specific, it thus elucidates a general learning mechanism that can account for the various behavioral benefits noted after action game play.” 

Action Video Games Boost Brain Power

As a college sophomore, Ray Jhala began volunteering with the Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP) at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) to bolster his resume and increase his chances of being accepted into the school of pharmacy. Now that he is a second-year professional student of the pharmacy program, the community service organization has become his passion.

"In a very short amount of time, it was not about my resume or how many hours of community service I could get, but instead it just became about our mission to help those in need," Jhala said to 

The ASAP is a nonprofit volunteer student organization that aims to serve those in the St. Louis area who are homeless and living in poverty.  Once a month, members of the group deliver 40 to 50 boxed lunches, in addition to clothing, hygiene items, and other supplies, to community members in need.

Jhala serves as the president of the organization and is working to expand its reach.  Recently, he organized student efforst and co-created a video that helped obtain $5000 from the Sodexo Foundation to fund a Campus Kitchen Project -- a student run kitchen that produces nutritious meals for those who struggle to provdie food for themsleves.

Jhala believes that his experiences with and passion for assisting the homeless in the community will heop him to better serve his patients as a pharmacist.

"Being homesless has an exptremely negative connotation to it, and people who are homeless are treated poorly," he said, "But at the end of the day, we are all human and deserve the same level of respect. Understanding this concept will help me treat patients equally and with the same level of care and respect as I would any member of my own family."

Why did you decide to become a pharmacist?

Growing up, I was always that kid who was getting sick for one reason or another. I spent a lot of time waiting at the pharmacy with my mother or father. I learned quickly that going to the pharmacy and feeling better went hand in hand.

I also had the opportunity to shadow a pharmacist in the hospital setting in my hometown of Corona, Claifornia.  I know it isn't the most glamorous of stories, but after that experience, I decided I would give the pharmacy field a shot.

What is the most important issue in pharmacy today? Why?

I believe that we do not have enough pharmacists in the field who are willing to go against methods that are set in place if they do nota gree iwth the way things are done.  I think that many of us fall into complacency and abide by our institutions' rules and guidelines instead of fighting to change them when we know of a better way. I think that we need more pharmacists in administrative roles, and fewer in the dispensing role.  I believe this is the way that we can keep advancing our field in direction that encourages innovation and optimazation to better meet our patients' needs and expectations.

What is the most important quality for a pharmacist to possess?

I think that the most important quality for a pharmacist is humility. This quality can be extremely powerful in the pharmacy. Being an entirely unintimidating figure to our patients, as well as someone who does not make people feel inferior or belittled, sends a silent message to patients that it is okay to ask us questions when ty don't quite understand something. A little modesty can go a long way when dealing with patients and is important ot me when trying to optimize patient care.

For additional information about the RESPy Awards, please visit