I’ve often thought about making a list of the things I do at work. The duties I have as a community pharmacist. All the things I do on a regular basis at work in one big list. That job description list could get to be pretty long if I was pressed hard to think about it. But I think one of the job descriptions that gets lost in the mix when you think about what a pharmacist or pharmacy technician does is the duty of problem solver.
I remember years ago a parent who was a regular customer came in with her daughter. She had a school assignment that required her to give a brief interview to someone and ask them about their job and what they do for a living. The girl, who I think was ten years old, wanted to interview a pharmacist and ask them some questions. I agreed to be interviewed so the girl was going to return on another day with some prepared questions for me.
She came back on a day when it was slow and I took a few minutes to go and sit down with her and answer her questions. She asked me what subjects I liked in school and how I became interested in pharmacy. She asked about what kind of training you needed to become a pharmacist and some other standard generic questions about the profession. But one of the things she asked me was what do I do at work every day and what skills would you need to do this kind of job.
I thought for a moment about how to answer that question and then I told her basically what pharmacists did helping patients by filling prescriptions and I mentioned things like how multitasking was an important skill to have for this line of work. But I also said pharmacists are basically problem solvers. She gave me this confused look after I said that so I went on to explain what I meant.
People come into your pharmacy or are admitted to your hospital or nursing home with certain problems. Pharmacists try to help solve those problems for patients. Things like getting rid of an infection or finding a new dosing route because someone can’t swallow tablets are just a couple of examples of problems that pharmacists solve. Patients have all kinds of problems and pharmacists try to solve those problems.
And then there are other problems like having a patient who can’t afford their medications or an insurance billing issue that we are trying to process so a patient can get their medications. When you think about it pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can include “problem solver” on their job description and that alone explains a lot of what we do for patients. I might as well have a PS behind my name to stand for problem solver instead of RPh to designate what I do so often at work.
I also remember an evaluation at work where my immediate boss (the district pharmacy manager at the time) asked me to evaluate my own job performance over the previous year. One of the things I mentioned immediately is the fact that I am paid to solve problems so those problems never escalate or become some else’s problems. That is part of what my employer pays me to do every day at work. I solve issues at the pharmacy level so problems don’t work their way up the corporate structure and become my boss’s problem.
And after years of being a pharmacist I’ve learned what some of the typical common problems are in pharmacy and how to handle them. You learn as a pharmacist to deal with third party audits or OSHA visits or Medicare billing hassles or anything else that becomes part of the job. And if patients are out of refills you start the routine of solving that issue as well. It becomes second nature to deal with the same problems over and over again.
You also see and hear about problems you never expected. I remember a gentleman came in and was picking up some prescriptions for an elderly neighbor who couldn’t get out of the house. This patient was on several medications and they were expensive (think drugs like Plavix). As I looked at the receipts and was about to ring him up I asked about health insurance.
This man stated that he was just the patient’s neighbor who was trying to help her out. What little family she had wasn’t living in the area and didn’t help her with anything like making sure she could afford her medications. She was a couple of years past being eligible for Medicare but never had anyone help her or sign her up for a Part D plan for her prescriptions. He asked for any assistance for her because he worried her family wasn’t going to help her. It is those types of problems that you see at work as much as the poison ivy rashes or bug bites these days. And they can be challenging to solve.
And then I think about those demanding customers that want a prescription filled in five minutes. They don’t realize all the potential problems that can arise when filling a prescription for them. We do so many things behind the scenes for people that they just assume all that is involved in filling a prescription is counting pills and labeling a bottle. In reality our jobs are much more detailed and often involve problem solving.
So even if patients and bosses don’t always get it they should realize that problem solving is a big part of our job as pharmacists. Things don’t always go smoothly at work and when problems come up it is our job to solve them. That is what I think more people need to realize about the profession of pharmacy.
I never did hear back from that young student about her report. I wonder if my answers to her questions about being a pharmacist were what she expected? I hope she learned a thing or two about what it was like to do this kind of work for a living.
And I hope I helped at least one person realize that problem solving is a big part of being a pharmacist. Problems are inevitable, and how we handle those problems defines us as pharmacists as much as filling prescriptions or anything else we do for patients. But I have to admit that there are some days when I wish I had just a few less problems to deal with at work. But in the end it is just part of the job! Just call us the problem solvers. It’s what we do.
The Redheaded Pharmacist
The Redheaded Pharmacist has been working full time in retail pharmacy for more than a decade. He is in his mid 30s, and, yes, he has red hair.
Disclaimer: This blog represents the opinions of the author and the author alone. It does not represent any pharmacy group or organization. I also will leave out or change the names of patients/customers to protect their privacy and comply with government regulations regarding patient privacy rights and personal information.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
