My decision to become a pharmacist was crystallized when I volunteered as a pharmacy technician at my local pharmacy. That hands-on experience, which ultimately led to a paid position, has given me insight into pharmaceutical practice and helped me to better understand pharmacists’ roles and responsibilities — as well as the challenges they encounter in their profession. My attention was initially sparked by the professional duties of a retail pharmacist. I had not anticipated how interesting and complex communication between pharmacists and their clients could be. I observed that, in addition to filling prescriptions and dispensing medications, retail pharmacists ensure the quality of drugs and counsel patients on their medications. They also monitor and discuss patients’ drug therapies before dispensing drugs, during the course of treatment, and after patients have received their medications. As an illustration, once a potential drug-drug or a drug-disease interaction was identified at a prospective drug utilization review, the …show more content…
From a pharmacist’s point of view, communication with patients is not only fascinating, but also a source of potential challenges. I have particularly noticed that any barrier to effective communication between a pharmacist and a patient could not only reduce the quality of pharmaceutical care being delivered, but also negatively affect therapeutic outcomes. As an example, my experience working in a retail pharmacy showed me that ineffective pharmacist-patient communication reduced patient compliance with drug treatment, leading to medication errors. Another challenge pharmacists face is keeping current. I have also found that remaining up to date with new developments in pharmaceutical practice, new medications, new cost-effective therapy guidelines, new regulations, and current insurance policies requires lifelong