By Meryam Gharbi, PharmD
“Congratulations!” my oncology professor beamed at me. A colorful array of emotions flooded my mind as the olive hood went over my head and my professor rested it upon my shoulders. I was finally a pharmacist. I was excited, in disbelief, nervous, and over the moon all at the same time. All my hard work culminated to this moment, and it was time to embark on a journey of new opportunities and challenges!
For many of you reading this right now, you may be experiencing the rigorous rotations of final year, or you may be a few years away from graduating. Either way, the road to your olive-hooding glory is a stressful, yet fulfilling, one. Your final year of pharmacy school is absolutely the year when you will grow the most as a professional, and for those of you already in the midst of your rotations, I would like to share a few helpful words of wisdom with you as you count down the days to that fateful moment!
Strive for exceptionalism
You constantly hear from professors and upperclassmen “no one expects you to know everything, just make sure you are engaged and learning.” While I agree 100%, I also like to add an important piece of advice that a mentor gave me in the middle of my final year: “Strive to be exceptional. Be so good, your patients and your preceptors will never forget you.”
How can you be exceptional? It is not just showing up on time and reading up on everything you are assigned. It is going the extra mile. It is staying a couple of hours after rotation to offer your preceptor help with their progress notes. It is taking initiative on your responsibilities without being prompted by your preceptor. It is following up with your patients in the afternoon to make sure they are doing well.
A little extra goes a very long way. After implementing my mentor’s advice in my later rotations, I was able to build a strong rapport with my patients. At the same time, I developed trusting relationships with my preceptors, and some have gone as far as to offer to write me recommendation letters for future opportunities, or even offer employment.
Put in your daily 1%
I met two kinds of people in pharmacy school—those who despise procrastination and those who live it. It is difficult to admit, but without strong self-control, I tended to fall into that second bucket. This habit made preparing my CV and gathering people to write my recommendation letters difficult, and with the ASHP Midyear Meeting and the Career Day interviews at my school approaching fast, time was of the essence to prepare for future employment.
Searching for motivation to defeat my procrastination once and for all, I came across a concept by author James Clear, called the “1% Rule.” The concept is simple: break down your large goal into smaller daily goals to increase your productivity. Breaking down the huge task of putting together an application into little daily goals allowed me not to feel frozen and helplessly fall into procrastination.
Whether you are pursuing postgraduate training or employment following graduation, it is extremely important to start preparing as soon as possible. Even sending an e-mail today to a potential recommendation writer is a step forward in the right direction. If you put in your 1% every day, you will be 100% ready to chase those opportunities in no time!
Say YES to yourself
I want to have a real talk here. Many of you ventured into final year with the idea of what kind of pharmacist you want to be. For the longest time, I was inspired by one of my highly successful mentors to become a cardiology clinical pharmacist and work in a hospital. I decided to pursue residency training to realize this.
The hard truth is, some of you will match to your dream postgraduate opportunity or be hired to your dream job, some of you will end up with an opportunity that wasn’t quite your first choice, and some of you will have trouble finding employment until well after graduation. Let me be the first to tell you that regardless of what befalls you, your circumstances speak nothing to your qualifications and your capabilities as a future pharmacist.
I always urge student pharmacists to look at individuals who have achieved great success in their lives and careers. Almost always, they have had to overcome some sort of overwhelming adversity. I was no exception.
It was an incredibly sad day when I tried not to sob in my cubicle during my management rotation, after receiving 12 out of 13 rejections for PGY1 residency interviews and having my only interview not be a good fit for me. It is so easy for your mind to question if you were good enough or not. However, it is important to note that rejection is, at its simplest form, an opinion. My favorite lesson that I learned early on in pharmacy school stemmed from a quote by motivational speaker, Les Brown: “Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.”
They were words I told myself when an upperclassman said that I would never be a leader in this profession. They were words I told myself when I decided to run for APhA–ASP National Member-at-large and some people told me I had very little chance of winning. Now, they are words I continue to tell myself when I know that I will be an exceptional pharmacist and I will make a positive difference in this profession.
And you will, too. No matter where your pharmacist journey starts out, you have to remember that you always have the choice to do great things in our profession. If they tell you “no,” you have to have the courage to tell yourself “yes,” and seek out the next opportunity to realize your dreams.
You may believe that there is only one path to becoming a certain pharmacist. This is absolutely not true. Seek out other ways to get to your goals if a door closes on you. Whether that is reapplying for residency next year or expanding your network to get that job you have always wanted, make sure you are constantly seeking honest feedback so you can improve yourself in the process. Uncertainty is certain, but given time, your reality will be everything you imagined!
The guidance within
If you don’t practice weekly self-reflection already, I highly encourage you do so. It is an insightful and therapeutic way for you to truly assess yourself at different stages throughout your life. This is especially important during your rotations, when you are growing so much in a brief period of time.
Aside from your daily rotation notes, document your journey during your rotations. Make sure you record how your day or week went, any important events or interactions you had, what you learned, what you did well, what you need to improve on, and most importantly, how you feel.
Self-reflection gives you insight on how to make yourself better and can even help provide guidance by organizing your thoughts. It definitely helped me when I was in a rut after what happened with my residency interviews, when I least expected it.
In an ironic turn of events, the mentor who inspired me in the first place mentioned that despite his success, he continues to strive to find happiness. Feeling a little shaken by this, it got me thinking: would I be happy? Would I feel fulfilled chasing what is perceived by others as success, rather than what I truly wanted? Honestly, no.
Looking back on my self-reflection journal, I read how absolutely miserable I felt during my cardiology hospital rotation. I was numb to the tear-smudged markings that stained those pages because I had convinced myself that becoming a cardiology pharmacist in a hospital is what defines success, and that I would be a failure of a pharmacist if I didn’t achieve this.
As I flipped through further, I smiled as I read my reflections on my leadership and management rotation during my third block. It was a rotation I felt excited to wake up early for every day. It gave me the opportunity to be creative and make systems better for others, which in turn made me feel fulfilled. Self-reflection provided me guidance to see what was clearly not my calling and a potential path that could lead to my happiness. Knowing this, I did the unthinkable and withdrew myself from the residency match completely. I accepted a job offer I received several weeks prior and I plan on working toward a career that involves my passions—leadership and management.
There will be times during your rotations when you feel like you won’t be sure what your calling is, and that is okay. Just make sure you are taking the time to document what makes you feel fulfilled and what doesn’t, and that can give you hints as to what path is best for you to take in the future.
Loved ones have your back
Through the whirlwind of rotations, applications, and other responsibilities, nothing kept me sane like my family and friends did. It is important to talk to someone on a regular basis, especially when you are going through a tumultuous time in your life.
Whether it was calling my parents every evening to tell them about my day, or sharing an ice cream and dancing in our pajamas to Whitney Houston with my best friend, Jenny, my loved ones were always there to remind me that everything will work out fine in the end, to take care of myself, and enjoy the precious moments we share together.
It’s easy to say “I’m busy” and shut others out, but your family and friends are there for you and want to support you, so let them have your back. You are not alone on this journey.
Celebrate you
In what feels like a blink of an eye, you will graduate with a PharmD degree. The lives of patients will be in your hands and student pharmacists will be looking up to you for guidance. Your story is something you should be proud of. Take time to celebrate it and share it with others.
Take the lessons you learn during your final year with you. I continue to strive for exceptionalism with my patients and co-workers, and I still practice the 1% rule as I work toward advancement in my career. You will be surprised how these lessons will be an integral part of your daily work ethic.
You worked hard to get to this point and no matter what, you will be an exceptional professional and will inspire many. Never forget that as you step onto the stage. The impact you will make on others for the rest of your life will be your olive-hooding glory.