Kareem Soliman
Pharmacy Student
MCPHS
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Soliman
Description
A change that happen in all the aspects, academic, personal and professional was leaving my hometown to attend MCPHS for pharmacy school. I had to shift my goals and career pathway from the original plan since I did not intent to go abroad for school and I had to leave my family and friends that I have made during my lifetime while I attend school.
Feelings
My feelings towards this massive change were generally optimistic as I was excited to embrace a new life. The reason behind the optimism is because I recognized that this was the best choice academically and professionally speaking and with that in my mind it shunned away the majority of the negative thoughts. The only aspect which scared me was moving away from my family, however I recognized that it is only 3 years or so and not the end of the world
Evaluation
I feel very positive on how I handled this change as I wasn't really afraid of it to begin with. I have surrounded myself with good friends while at the same time retaining my previous friends from my hometown. I kept my values, my hobbies and my personality and the major change I faced only made me re-value what I already had placed priority on.
Analysis
From the way I dealt with the change, I learned that I most resonated with Sniff, constantly aware of his surroundings therefore knows when change is coming and fully embraces change as he moves on with his life. Perhaps it would be more effective if instead of acting like Sniff, incorporate some of Hem and Haw's better traits, such as thinking about the future. However with that in mind its important not to overdo the stress and anxiety about thinking ahead, but a little doubt may be beneficial so I can prepare for any worse case scenario.
Conclusion
If faced with a similar situation I would likely handle it the same way, observe my surroundings in my life and solely focus on how the change will positively affect my future. But, as mentioned previously, I could perhaps slow down a bit and think about any bad scenarios just to be prepared should any obstacles come in my way
Description
My goals are heavily influenced by my past experiences and my childhood, in the sense that both my parents are business-owning pharmacists and as the eldest son, I have been groomed to follow that path. I have already established connections during my teenage years in the world of pharmacy by volunteering and shadowing which will help achieve my second goal to work in a hospital setting as a pharmacist and will use my experience to later head the businesses that my parents have built.
Feelings
I feel greatly optimistic about my career goals and rather proud of myself so far that everything is going on track. I entered pharmacy school as quick as it was possible and so far have not encountered something drastic as to endanger my enrollment. The school presents itself with many opportunities to make connections and to learn about hospital pharmacy which will be useful when I graduate and apply for jobs back home.
Evaluation
My experiences so far have been very positive and are aligning with my career goals. I am only in my second semester however there have been numerous opportunities available, including speaking with an MCPHS alumni who currently owns a pharmacy, that have allowed me to get a greater sense of my career goals. I would imagine that these opportunities would keep arising during the remaining semesters and would better help me achieve my goals
Analysis
From my experiences in my teenage years, I learned that despite being one of the most frowned upon fields of pharmacy, being a business owner and operating in a community pharmacy is a very rewarding career in terms of actual pharmacy work and pay associated. After participating in the MCPHS curriculum, I have taken a heavy course-load in the field of industry pharmacy however it has not swayed me in pursuing a career in that field, but rather re-emphasized my goals to first enter hospital pharmacy then community as a business owner and operator
Conclusion/action
I plan to take the most out of my rotations when it comes to both community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy and get as much on-site experience and learning as much as possible. In regards to post-graduate learning and certificates, it was never in my plan however should a great opportunity arise I would not immediately dismiss it so long as it does not delay my career goals by a significant amount of time.
One item that I did not know was an entry level responsibility for another profession was when I learned that a Physician Assistant has the authority to prescribe schedule II to schedule V controlled substances, and this was a surprising discovery since one of my classes in my program is Pharmacy Law, where we dive in deeply into the rules and regulations surrounding prescribing a scheduled drug. One thing I learned in relation to an entry level pharmacist was the same topic mentioned earlier except in the opposite direction, in which an entry level pharmacist cannot prescribe a Schedule II to schedule V controlled
substance.
I was a little disappointed to learn that further training is necessary in order to prescribe a schedule II to V drug as a pharmacist, since the majority of the profession revolves around drugs and prescriptions. However what I was surprised to learn is that further education is not required should a pharmacist want to switch specialists, which came as a shock since the world of pharmacy has many different specialties.
I did not attend the session as I received a documented absence however I previously attended a university which involved collaboration of multiple health care professionals and from that experience I can say it was positive, as you learn that the healthcare world is much larger that one assumes and that many different professionals are needed for something, to a non healthcare professional, might seem simple.
The major advantage is the qualified inputs received from professionals who might understand a certain topic or field better than I would and their input would drastically improve the patient's health. The world is constantly evolving therefore multiple professionals are needed to properly provide effective patient care.
The steps I would take is to understand my role and responsibilities within the healthcare team. Knowing what is expected of me and what my teammates are responsible for is essential for effective collaboration while also make the intention to commit to continuous learning and professional development to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements.
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