Why should pharmacists wear blue spandex tights, a red cape, and boots with a P in the center of their outfit?
Because this might be the only way you are prepared to unleash your actual superpowers!
Faheem Ahmed, Award-winning pharmacist
Yes, you do. Please don’t deny it. If you are a pharmacist and reading this, believe it or not, you can dress like a vigilante if you wanted to.
If you don’t believe me visit Amazon, and you can find a suit that will fit!
Jokes aside, my point is pharmacists have superpowers, and maybe we need to wear a costume and act like vigilantes to show the world?
By the way, if you do decide to become a vigilante, just remember vigilantes tend to operate outside the law, and you may get a visit from the GPHC if they realize you are the face in the spandex, even if you change your hairstyle and remove your glasses.
You have superpowers
So, if you are still confused with the superman theme, I am trying to say is; you have the potential to build a better world, but you just have not realized it!
Honestly, you have the potential to make a difference in your lives and those around you because you possess the superpowers to solve this ”access to healthcare crisis” that most have tried and failed.
At this point, I want you to answer the following questions; (1) what is the most significant intervention in healthcare?…… you guessed it, medicine, now tell me; (2) who is the expert in medicines? (hint: it’s a person who spent over 4 years studying drugs).
So, now that we have established who the expert in medicines is, imagine if we worked backward and this character also developed their skillset in identifying those diseases that the medication was intended to treat?
Think about this, if we’re given a diagnosis then I believe there is no one more capable of recommending the most appropriate treatment regime based on evidence and outcomes, but imagine if we also developed ourselves such that we were the ones making the diagnosis? Just imagine that for a moment, if you had the skills to diagnose a group of commonly seen conditions and you coupled that with your existing knowledge, wouldn’t you be a super clinician in your own right? In my opinion, you would be.
Benefits of unlocking our potential
Before we discuss how to develop your skills to become a super clinician, I want to remind you by unlocking your potential, we can position ourselves as competent clinicians within our scope, thus providing a solution to the healthcare sector.
The key is to remember that the existing skills which come naturally to you, ie. being an expert in medicines and I hate to say it dispensing prescriptions can be better serviced by technology, and so you need to diversify into other fields such as managing, diagnosing, and treating a range of commonly seen diseases because there is a gap here that needs servicing.
My promise to you is by doing so, you can improve access to healthcare, allow GPs to better utilize their skills, strengthen our position within the market, and if your run a pharmacy business, then you can increase your sales and profits.
How to unlock this potential
Take responsibility for your future. Once you take ownership of ourself, then the rest will fall into place.
So, start off by investing in your skillset and, more specifically, focus on how to diagnose, manage and treat disease. I have spoken in-depth about how to develop your clinical skills in other articles but will summarise the key points (1) revisit your anatomy and physiology; (2) select a group of commonly seen conditions such as those recommended by the GP CPCS service that you are expected should be able to treat and learn the cause, clinical features, and management of these conditions ; (3) find a mentor willing to support your learning and practice how to take a medical history and undertake a physical examination; (5) last but not least, practice, practice, and practice.
The moral of the story
You can develop yourself to unleash your true capabilities if you are willing to. The question is, do you want to keep doing the same things in the hope of a different result? Or do you think it’s the responsibility of others to invest in you if you won’t first invest in yourself? I will let you decide because you have the powers to do that.
If you want to develop your clinical skills as a pharmacist you can contact us or fill out the form.
