Ryan Swanson, PharmD

Dr. Swanson is currently serving as executive resident with the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists. He is a 2008 graduate of Campbell University's School of Pharmacy.

My first 25 years have beenblessed ones. I have grownup in the best of familiesand shared memories with the closestof friends. I have learned under thegreatest of teachers in the classroomsof school, church, and life&#8212;teacherswho showed me that I really could beanything I wanted to be. I should not betoo surprised, then, when I look backon my first 6 months as a pharmacistand realize that I belong to the greatestprofession.

I will admit that I may be a bit biased&#8212;only a bit, though, and I amnot alone. Those outside the field ofpharmacy are beginning to notice justhow great our profession is, too. InDecember 2008, 

&ensp;published "The 30 Best Careersfor 2009." The fact that pharmacy wasincluded on the list is not what struckme&#8212;I was counting on that. Rather, itwas 

 the periodical chose to spotlightpharmacy as one of the year's topcareers. Did it have to do with income?The write-up included just 2 small sentenceson salary data. Job security wasonly briefly alluded to. The opportunityto work flexible hours was not evenmentioned. Aren't these the things thatmake for such a great profession? Icertainly do not think so.

The article noted that our professionis a changing one, and those changesqualify it as a "best career." With ever-risinghealth care costs and a consistentdecline in the amount of time physiciansspend with patients, the role ofthe pharmacist is evolving into that ofa primary care provider. Pharmacistshave long been regarded as the mostaccessible health care professionals,but these days, we are able to offerour patients so much more than triage:from medication therapy consultsto bone density screenings, immunizationsand lipid panel evaluations, evendiabetes education classes. Althoughpharmacists have long claimed ownershipof many of these activities, a lackof reimbursement for the provision ofthese services always seemed to say,"We really do not see value in what youare doing." Thankfully, that is beginningto change.

This is not about tooting our ownhorn. It is about reminding ourselveswhy we chose pharmacy as our life'scareer in the first place. Was it reallyabout the money, the job security, theschedule? My guess is that it was not&#8212;that it was about the patients we couldhelp and the lives we could touch. Inthis season of change, take a momentto reflect on how 

 can make thisgreatest profession even greater.

Articles

Touted by U.S. News & World Report as a top career for 2009, pharmacy offers unique opportunities for growth and professional fulfillment.

The Greatest Profession

Dr. Swanson is currently serving as executive resident with the North Carolina Association ofPharmacists. He is a 2008 graduate of Campbell University's School of Pharmacy.

Medicare fix. Comparativeeffectiveness.Health carereform. There is certainlyno shortage of buzz words that pharmacistsemploy in discussing today'shot-button issues. But how many pharmacists,when peppering their conversationswith these catchy phrases, trulygrasp the full depth of the issues? I willbe the first to admit my guilt.

Until a few months ago, if pressed todescribe the concept of quality assurance(QA), I would have offered an answeralong these lines: "assuring qualityin pharmacy practice." The more I learnabout QA, the more I cannot believe Imade it through 4 years of pharmacyschool without becoming more familiarwith an expression of such consequence.Imagine my chagrin to discoverthat my state actually has a law mandatingQA programs for all pharmacies!Fortunately, one of my first residencyprojects involved developing a QA trainingsession for pharmacy inspectors,forcing me to become knowledgeableon a topic to which I may have remainedotherwise oblivious.

Was I alone in my ignorance? Thatwas my initial fear. The more I spokewith friends still in pharmacy school,however, my peers, and even fellowpharmacists who have been practicingfor years, the answer more oftenthan not was: "quality what?" To befrank, the inspectors who participatedin our training session&#8212;none of thempharmacists&#8212;were far more knowledgeableon the subject of QA than Iwas when I sat for my boards.

The issue here is not that pharmacyschools have been negligent in educatingfuture pharmacists on QA; thefundamentals of QA were definitelypart of the fabric of my pharmacytraining, and any good pharmacistwill do what he or she can to reducethe possibility of a medication error.The real problem stems from a lackof physical visibility of QA programsin pharmacies, inevitably leading toan underutilization of the systems andpromoting the occurrence of medicationerrors.

Chances are good that you, as apharmacist, know the procedure forhandling a medication error that hasalready occurred.

Is it not just as vital that you knowhow to record the error that 

occurred to prevent it from happeningagain? If quality assurance rings merelyas a hollow catchphrase to you, it istime to discover just what QA meansto you and to your pharmacy practice.If you are not sure where to start, yourstate pharmacy association can provideyou with the resources necessaryto establish such a program.

Pharmacists must become aware of the importance of quality assurance and what it means to their pharmacy practice.