The Great Art of…Pharmacy?
This weekend, I was a little under the weather, so I do what I pretty much always do when I’m not feeling 💯: I ‘Netflix & Chilled.’ Except, I didn’t do the Netflix part. Instead, I went to Amazon Prime Video and loaded up on…vintage classic films. There’s something comforting about films of yore.
I watched for the first time ever, Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire. There is nothing better than watching him dance. He was truly one of the greats — like the Michael Jordan of dancing.
Recently, one of my friends asked me why I never studied acting and/or musical theatre instead of pharmacy when I graduated from high school. EASY! While I loved singing and acting on the big stage during high school, truly great actors IMO really should be great at least one of the 3 pieces of being a great entertainer, and decent at the other 2, or the trifecta of entertainment in my book:
- acting,
- singing, and
- dancing.
(Guess which one I was terrible at? Hint: Think Elaine’s style from Seinfeld…)
Yes, I’m a HORRIBLE dancer. Ugh! I have 2 left feet.
Anyway, this friend is also a pharmacist. So I shot back a quick retort, which has me thinking…
What is the trifecta of pharmacy?
What makes a pharmacist truly great? As in, the Art of Pharmacy?
Is it:
- Finding, memorizing or using Drug Medical Info?
- Communication — verbal, written, digital, or live, recorded or in the metaverse?
- Matching Needs?
- Compounding for animals, kids, elderly that can’t swallow large dosage forms?
- Stepping up during a crisis or disaster?
- Solving Problems through Pharmacology?
- Inventing or Finding New Therapies to To Treat Diseases?
- Preventing through Education Diseases from Happening in the First Place?
- Being a Swiss Army Knife of ideals, tools, and wisdom for all of the above?
- Giving great vaccines?
- Being a Great Entrepreneur?
My friend and I couldn’t figure it out.
Maybe you can…?
Here’s another way I’ve been thinking about it — who is the Fred Astaire or Cary Grant or Sammy Davis Jr. of Pharmacy for you? (If you need sports — Michael Jordan then.) What skills did they have that very few did — or just when you watched them in practice, it literally took your breath away? (Like watching Cary act or Fred dance or Sammy sing?)
Maybe that’s one of the problems with our profession — we’ve lost the Art of being a Pharmacist?
I don’t know. But I’ll keep pondering this…if you’re in pharmacy, you should too.
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Erin L. Albert is a pharmacist, lawyer, and former high school singer/actor. She is NOT, however, a dancer. Opinions are her own and not necessarily those of any of her employers or affiliates. If you’d like to provide your thoughts as a pharmacist on what you believe to be the ‘trifecta’ of a great pharmacist, head on over to the LinkedIn Pharmacy MTMS group and take the 2022 Pharmacy Rebellion Survey, ongoing through September 2022.
