Suzanne Soliman, PharmD, BCMAS

women in the profession to celebrate their achievements past and present. The fourth Women Pharmacist Day will be observed on October 12, 2021. October was chosen for this special recognition because it is also National Pharmacist Month. The 12th day of the month was selected in honor of the legendary first female pharmacist in the United States, Elizabeth Gooking Greenleaf, who had 12 children and is an inspiring role model for thousands of women who dream of becoming pharmacists. Although women made up just 8% of all US pharmacists as recently as the 1960s, they now represent almost 70% of the pharmacy workforce.

In addition, 4 pharmacists will be chosen as Woman Pharmacist of the Year in the categories of community pharmacy, health systems, independent, and nontraditional, based on their significant impact on the practice of pharmacy. The winners will be announced live during a program held within the Pharmacist Moms Facebook Group. There will also be nearly 500 giveaway items for those who participate in the event.

2020: Jennifer Shannon, PharmD, BCPS, clinical pharmacist at and owner of Lily’s Pharmacy in Johns Creek, Georgia

2020: Krista Capehart, PharmD, BCACP, clinical associate professor and director of the Wigner Institute for Advanced Pharmacy Practice, Education, and Research at West Virginia University School of Pharmacy in Morgantown

2019: Jesica Mills, PharmD, owner of Owensboro Family Pharmacy in Owensboro, Kentucky

Visit the Pharmacist Moms Group website to view the 4 winners of this year’s Woman Pharmacist of the Year awards (www.pharmacistmomsgroup.com).

The Pharmacist Moms Group recently relaunched its website with a new overall look and feel. In addition, “Coffee With Suzy” will launch shortly and be held every Thursday at 9:30 AM ET. During that time, there will be giveaways for the group and interviews with women in the pharmacy profession. Those interested in getting involved by joining the community, sponsoring an event, or writing for the organization should not hesitate to reach out. Join the community (https://www.facebook.com/pharmacistmomsgroup/) or get in touch (suzy@pharmacistmomsgroup.com).

is the chief academic officer at the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs and the founder of Pharmacist Moms Group, the largest group of female pharmacists in the United States, with more than 35,000 members.

1. Women Pharmacist Day. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://womenpharmacistday.com/

Articles

October 12 observance gives special recognition to the significant achievements made.

Profession Celebrates Women Pharmacist Day This Month

It is hard enough to be a mom and a pharmacist outside of a pandemic.

Crazy schedules, including late nights and holiday and weekend work, have always been an issue. But now women in pharmacy can factor in increased anxiety about sending kids back to the classroom, vaccination responsibilities, virtual learning, and working with at-risk populations, which is sending many into crisis mode. What can we do to help each other during this pandemic, and can it be a turning point regarding how our profession and maybe even society value motherhood?

Based on my discussions with moms and the millions of posts within the Facebook Pharmacy Moms Group over the past 18 months, I can say that many moms are still struggling. Many are still doing most of the childcare and housework, as well as working outside the home for hours on end. It has been extremely difficult to coordinate children’s schedules as well. Many pharmacist moms are at their breaking point. As pharmacists, we are supposed to know exactly what to do for our patients, and as moms, our children and partners also expect much from us. It is the current state of uncertainty that makes it most difficult for many pharmacy moms.

One goal for the Pharmacist Moms Group, and also one of mine, is to use this time during the pandemic to highlight the stress that women in pharmacy have faced and continue to face.

It is important to remind each other that perfection is not attainable and doing what you can is acceptable.

Every working mother will have a sick child at home at some point, so we need to give these employees the opportunity to stay home.

When pharmacist moms are sick and need immediate coverage, let’s make sure we have backups.

We cannot forget the pregnant moms who are working and who need a place to rest.

Likewise, every pharmacy should have a designated place for nursing moms who need a place to pump.

Most importantly, during this time of stress and uncertainty, we need to stick together as pharmacists and be there for each other.

COVID-19 may change how stress for women in the pharmacy profession is viewed.

Pandemic Sends Moms into Crisis Mode

 Before we conclude today’s discussion, I’d like to ask each of you for a final thought or some key advice you’d like to share with our audience. Jen, would you like to go first?

There are so many things I want to say. How do I condense it down into 1 final thought? I think, as pharmacists, we’ve known for a long time what role we play in our communities. We’ve known how we help keep our communities healthy, and we’ve known how we help keep our patients safe. Nearly every pharmacist I know cares so much about their patients and their communities, and this is another way we’re able to support the health of our communities. We should try to capitalize on this opportunity for more pharmacy advocacy, so that more pharmacists, across more states, can provide these types of services and get paid for them—that’s another conversation for another day. But it’s so important that the visibility we’ve achieved as a profession over the course of the last year, that we continue to capitalize on that opportunity. Hopefully, the pharmacists out there working on the front lines every day can feel that as well and have that same kind of hope, looking at this as an opportunity rather than a burden.

 Jen was too articulate, it’s tough to follow her. One of the things that comes to mind is that I’m incredibly proud of the way pharmacy, and pharmacists, have stepped up during an unprecedented health care crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. There are so many examples of pharmacists going the extra mile, pharmacists and pharmacy staff; I don’t want to leave out technicians because they’ve played a critical role. In terms of showing others, whether they’re in health care or outside of our profession, I think we’ve been able to showcase our value, and there have been lots of lessons learned. One of the things I mentioned earlier is pharmacy having a big role in public health, whether it’s a pandemic, a natural disaster, or whatever situation, pharmacists play a critical role in public health. We need to continue to work with our colleagues in the public health sector to collaborate.

 First, I want to thank every pharmacist and every pharmacy technician out there who has been working so hard to protect our communities, and so tirelessly giving so much of themselves for the greater good. You guys have truly changed our world and our communities, so thank you for that and for all of your hard work there. The second thing I’d like to say is to continue to nurture the relationships that have been built. We’ve built relationships with physicians, health departments, and in a lot of different ways that we didn’t previously have. So continue to nurture those relationships because those are the ways we will continue to grow, to learn, and to be included and considered in different initiatives. Remember and nurture those relationships moving forward.

 I think everything’s been stated already, but I want to echo what everyone else has said about pharmacists stepping up. We are recognized now by all of our patients. I think maybe in the 1990s or in the early 2000s, it was more questionable, “Where are we going to get our vaccines and where are we not?” Coming out of this pandemic, pharmacists are now recognized as the major provider for vaccinations. I’m going to echo in thanking everyone for everything they’ve done this year. We also have to work with our boards of health, I think it’s imperative for pharmacy to get more involved with our local boards of health. I think it’s critical to take this to the next level, and to help with pharmacy. I agree about the reimbursement, and I think that should be another topic because pharmacists want to get paid for what they’re doing, and rightly so, they deserve to be paid. I think we need to talk about that and continue that discussion as well.

Thank you, Suzanne. Thank you all for your final thoughts, comments, and for the last hour of great conversation. To our viewing audience, we hope that you found this 

 webcast to be rich and informative. Thank you.

Videos

Panelists share final thoughts and advice regarding the critical role pharmacy has played and continues to play in public health initiatives.

Pharmacy’s Role in Public Health Initiatives

 We’ve addressed the fatigue and the stress on our staff, and we’ve talked about creating the urgency for patients to continue getting the flu vaccine from our pharmacy teams. We talked about balancing COVID-19 immunizations with other immunizations. We focused initially on pharmacy playing a central role, and being key to successful immunization campaigns, but there are a few other things. We talked about pediatricians, but collaboration with the medical community at large is important. We have to spend a minute or two on that, and then planning and executing a successful, comprehensive program. How do we help some of the independent stores understand how to do that and provide guidance as well? John, I’m going turn to you about that collaboration with the medical community at large, and then we’ll go from there.

 Yes, when I think about collaboration with the medical community, I know you and I go way back with immunizations, and I think back to when pharmacies started immunizing patients in the mid to late 1990s. Those were the days when there were vaccine shortages. I remember one plant got shut down, people had planned clinics, and there weren’t a lot of vaccines to go around. Pharmacies prebooked patients, but physicians didn’t necessarily do any planning around ordering of vaccines, so oftentimes, they were left wanting. I remember the company I worked for, we made a lot of friends in the medical community by sharing the vaccines we were able to get with our physician colleagues. We were able to demonstrate a willingness to work with them for the greater good, and that’s similar to what’s going on today. I know there are a number of concerns on the part of the pediatric community, particularly with catch-up vaccinations for adolescents and children. One of their primary concerns has been about well-check visits going away if patients come to the pharmacy to get immunized. So, if there’s a way for pharmacy to work collaboratively with the medical community, particularly with the pediatric groups, I think that would be very beneficial. We need to figure out a way to bring the groups together to make that happen.

John Beckner, RPh, discusses the importance of collaborating with the medical community on the provision of immunization services.