My name is Darcy Scherle. I'm a community pharmacist. I've been involved in pharmacy since I graduated in ' 73 from the University of Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy and have been with the same pharmacy since that very time. We're an independent community pharmacy in Regina. The store itself has been in operation since ' 69.

[Decision To Enter This Particular Occupation:]

I've always had sort of an interest in the science end of education and I enjoy working with people and found that pharmacy was a good meld of the two.

[Courses Taken:]

The basic education in pharmacy has changed over the years a bit. Now, I believe it's a one-year pre-Arts course followed by a four-year program and some internship.

[Job Description:]

Pharmacy entails a lot of things. I imagine a lot of people think of pharmacy as mainly just going into the pharmacy and getting your medication and leaving. But basically pharmacy has evolved over the years to incorporate a lot of information.

[Skills Needed:]

communication skills are probably still the number one thing
the ability to work well with people
a good knowledge of your sciences
an inquisitive mind because you are always dealing with questions.
Besides providers of medication, we’ve become providers of information (educating people on diseases and that type of thing).

[Teamwork Skills:]

Over the years, I've found that teamwork is the number one thing in pharmacy. As a Pharmacist, in order to do your job properly, you have to have time to sit down and chat with your patient and often that's difficult in a busy situation. You have to make use of your staff (pharmacy texts and other pharmacists) so that you can co-ordinate your efforts so that you have the time to deal with your patients. In order to have a person take control of their health, they need to have a lot of encouragement and a lot of reinforcement. Positive thinking is also paramount in providing that. If the patients don't feel that you're too enthused or too happy with what you're doing, you're certainly not lending yourself to their health. That's for sure.

[Change In This Particular Occupation:]

Since I've been involved in the pharmacy, probably the only thing that's stayed constant is that it is changing all the time whether it's technology, as far as computers, or the rapid onslaught of information on new medications and technology.

[Leadership Skills:]

In pharmacy, each Pharmacist in his own area will have a lot of on-site decisions that he'll have to make. Those are things you'll have to develop over time. Leadership itself, in our situation, deals as a team and we tend to work through things as a team and do the leadership that way.

[Ongoing Training:]

It's very important to always use as many outlets as you can and to keep current. Over the years our association has developed a lot of good programs. We have everything from weekend seminars to evening seminars, home video courses and also self-learning home questionnaires. There isn’t a day that goes by where you don't come across something new.

[Typical Work Day:]

Basically, on a day to day basis you're dealing with patient care and patient outcome so you're dealing with patients coming in to get refills on their prescriptions and that sort of thing. Even when a patient is getting refills, it is important to touch base with them and see how they're doing. If it's a blood pressure medication, to check and see that they're taking it on a regular basis. If it's a blood sugar medication, to see how they're doing. Chat with them on their blood sugar and see how they're doing.

Then you're usually dealing with questions and answers from both patients as far as their medications, also from doctors phoning in asking for some information on some particular drug.

[Most Challenging Aspect:]

Pharmacy itself, on a day to day basis, is fairly challenging but probably the biggest thing is to remember that each person's an individual and no two situations are the same and what set of circumstances and decisions would be good for one situation don't necessarily follow for the next. Being able to relate with a patient on a long term basis and being able to actually help (as far as either finding a better way for their medication to be used or in consultation with a doctor or maybe finding a better medication for a particular patient and then seeing the change and seeing that things are working) better entails a lot of satisfaction.

[Advice For Someone Entering This Field Of Work:]

I think I would encourage people to interact with their local Pharmacist, see how they're doing and book a time with them where they could maybe go for coffee with them and sit down and have a one-and-one chat. As far as information on things like education and that type of necessity, the college pharmacy in Saskatoon is very good at sending out information and pamphlets.

[Personal Characteristics & Attitudes:]

It's very important for a person to be outgoing and I think if you don't feel comfortable in that and don't feel comfortable in dealing one on one with patients or people on a regular basis, then pharmacy may not be the cup of tea for you. But if you do enjoy working with people and seeing positive outcomes with patients then it's a worthwhile profession.