Pharmacy School

Everything I need to know, I didn't learn in Pharmacy school.
Jimi Hendrix once asked "Are You Experienced?" Great song. Different meaning. Apropos of reality...

Sure the important clinical stuff was taught. And we had rotations for experience. But the true, real, day-in-the-life of a pharmacist was somehow overlooked.  Nothing can properly prepare someone for what it's like the day that switch flips; the day you check the Board's website and your status changes from intern to RPh as quickly as it takes you to click "refresh". It's that split second that reality hits.

I think all pharmacy schools should be required to offer a class entitled "What a Pharmacist Really Does". And I will teach it. It will be a traveling position as all schools in the country will need me to teach this class. It will be expanded to include guest lecturers in hospital, nuclear, and other specialty areas of pharmacy practice. The main focal point will be retail since most of the general information is the same.
From third party billing to impatient patients to prior authorizations to dealing with doctors and their offices to corporate requirements and customer service metrics to holiday schedules and immunizations to MTMs and OTC counseling and advice not taken to can-you-look-at-this-and-tell-me-if-it's-infected to addressing complaints to being a shoulder to cry on to counseling on life-changing medications and diagnoses to identifying stolen Rx rings and calling the cops and DEA and FBI to dealing with getting robbed at gunpoint to learning the laws but dealing with "grey areas" to professional judgement to "the law is the law" to transfer coupons to free antibiotics to being a most trusted profession to being a most hated professional to first of the month mania to end of the year craziness to new insurance cards to discount cards to vacation overrides to lost/stolen overrides to requesting police reports to requesting PMP reports to realizing this is just a normal Wednesday, I think there is enough material for a full semester. It would, of course, be a mandatory elective.

If you or your university would be interested in my lecture series, please contact me. I am sure everyone will want to have the best prepared students graduating from their university and this cannot be accomplished without my class...