Relative to the history of our profession, only more recently have pharmacists been pushed to invent from scratch through prescribing. This is a new mental model, where we use the same analysis but then move on to create the solution instead of select it from what is put in front of us.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is something pharmacists recommend. Scientific literature proves its place as a first-line therapy in mental health. The principle is that our thoughts influence our feelings, and our feelings influence our behaviours.

As pharmacists we can’t live like students in an adult world. We need to invest in life structure because life as a pharmacist is longer than a four-year degree. In order to show up for our patients, staff and business while managing life and family, we need to last.

At the stroke of 2023, Ontario pharmacists were capable of initiating prescription medications without patients seeing a prescriber beforehand. It is a major solution to a major ailment plaguing a complex and congested healthcare system.

Your job is to create the systems and structures paired with people and resources that shift the balance of your Rx count as far to the predictable side as possible.

The right succession plan isolates your strengths and weaknesses, or depth, while putting you in control of your destiny. Since you are in the driver’s seat, you will have confidence in knowing there is a plan that is onto paper and out of your head.

We love superheroes and villains because they are unique in their clear identity. We understand their strengths, their weaknesses and what makes them special. Why should you be any different?

In any given hour the always accessible, no-appointment needed, world’s number one trusted health care provider has phones ringing, patients in the aisles looking for recommendations, patients waiting in the counselling room for vaccines, deliveries arriving.

Yes, without genuine washroom breaks it’s true that pharmacists can hold water like camels, but there is a more important similarity: they can both carry significant loads on their backs.

From the first day I became a pharmacy manager 15 years ago now, I wondered what the difference was in flipping my nametag from Pharmacist yesterday to Pharmacy Manager today.