Todd Conner (left) and Professor Ronald C. Reed, PharmD, present a poster at a recent medical specialty conference.
By Todd M. Conner
Pharmacy school is filled with vast amounts of information to learn and retain until graduation and beyond. This can make it hard to take time for activities that can enrich future pharmacists with experiences not obtainable in the classroom. Professional organizations, leadership positions, and working in pharmacies are great examples of vital out-of-classroom experiences to help students obtain the readiness needed before entering practice. But there is one more activity missing from that list.
Involvement in a research project has many advantages, but what is the translation to a career in pharmacy? Research experiences have been one of my greatest teachers and dramatically shaped my pharmacy school journey.
One of the most important lessons research provides is the ability to think critically and solve problems. Assessing patient cases and problems in school challenges our understanding of appropriate pharmacotherapy, but what can be done when the answer is unknown? Projects I have participated in start with a question that doesn’t have an answer yet, inviting an experience that creates new ways to think about information being given and collected.
You begin to think, “What is this data I have collected actually saying to me? Does it make sense? What do I need to change if it doesn’t?” This translates to pharmacy by preparing your mind to assess any problem and determine the appropriate action to overcome the barrier. This skill is essential to taking care of patients and providing the best care.
Managing your time
After establishing a research topic and hypothesis, research can become quite busy! Time management is key to identify and implement your methods of obtaining data so results can be analyzed and conclusions drawn. Assessing data collection at different stages of a project requires prioritizing tasks and setting deadlines. Similarly, when working in a pharmacy, it can be difficult to accomplish routine projects in addition to dispensing prescriptions. Research trains you to realize what is most important right now, and what can wait until later.
As a student pharmacist, your number one priority is education and learning what is needed for the future. However, taking even just a few hours a week outside of the classroom can make a difference.
Understanding failure
Failure is something no one wants to encounter, but inevitably, even pharmacists make mistakes and must recognize their own shortcomings. It is important to discover how to deal with failures, learn from them, and move on toward your goals. Research has been one of the greatest, and safest, places for me to understand failure. Many days while doing my undergraduate research I came home feeling discouraged and defeated; no data were collected and no apparent progress made. Those days were the ones that taught me the most about myself.
Even in the midst of failure, I evaluated my feelings on those mistakes and re-assessed what needed to be done differently. As a professional, it is key to know how to deal with your emotions when you make mistakes.
Becoming a life-long learner
I often hear from other health professionals that “keeping up” with the literature is a struggle. Pharmacy is an ever-expanding field and the amount of newly accrued information each year is staggering. Becoming a life-long learner is important to stay on the edge of what is happening in the profession.
What I have found helps me “keep up” is my curiosity, which is incited by discovery in research. Invoking a passion for learning is an invaluable attribute that research fosters outside the classroom, creating skills needed to stay current while building knowledge as a pharmacist.
Communicating ideas
Research has given me the opportunity to present my work to others and communicate what I know. This is different from classroom presentations because the emphasis is on novel information. Investigatory projects do not feel complete without bringing work from humble beginnings to a communicable entity, which provides very fulfilling moments. Communicating your ideas in writing or verbally, is directly related to the practice of pharmacy as you collaborate with other professionals and provide appropriate information to patients about medications.
Any project you choose will help shape you into becoming a good pharmacist. My advice for you is to find your passion. Take that which inspires you and seek opportunities in projects that will fulfill your curiosity and help you achieve your career goals.