Question:
I'm currently on co-op and it's hard to say this - but I'm not really enjoying it. How did you guys know that pharmacy was for you? Right now, I don't know if I can see myself doing community pharmacy for the rest of my life.
Response 1:
I am sorry to hear that you’re not enjoying your co-op experience thus far. I know a lot of people rave about how amazing their co-op experience is, but there are definitely many others who feel the same way you do. In fact, I think it’s very honest for you to admit that your co-op experience hasn’t met your expectations. For me, the people I work with really impact how I feel about going into work everyday. Having people that I feel comfortable around can often make any job enjoyable. So I think a good first step is to think about why you’re not enjoying your co-op experience. Is it your position, your work environment or another factor? Perhaps you’re role involves a lot of counting and you feel unstimulated. Remember, that your tasks as a student will be different from the role you’ll play as a pharmacist. Observe the pharmacists and imagine yourself filling their role. You’ll be counselling and working through DTPs before you know it. Try and recognize why you are not enjoying your co-op and then make any changes that are within your control.
The great thing about pharmacy is that are a number of settings that you can work in. If you decide that community is definitely not the right fit for you, isn’t it great that you found out during co-op? There are many sectors within pharmacy such as government, hospital and industry. Next co-op, try a different setting and find your niche.
However, since you still have ¾ of your co-op term remaining, let’s try and find ways to improve your experience in the short term. If you can pin-point a reasonable change that will make impact on your experience, talk to your supervisor. You never know what people will do for you unless you ask. Finally, a change you can make yourself is to write down some goals with concrete timelines and ways you’ll achieve them. It’ll make you feel challenged and give you something to work toward everyday. Even if your co-op experience is being dampened by something that is out of your control, goals can be a positive distraction. Each goal you achieve will positively impact your mind-frame and hopefully make you feel more optimistic about your co-op. Best of luck!
Response 2:
I am so sorry that your co-op isn’t turning out how you expected. I would like to share my own co-op experiences with you in hopes what I have learned may help you too. When I was on my first co-op, I ended up in a community pharmacy that was very quiet, and it didn’t offer me as many opportunities to interact with patients as I had hoped. Business was slow, and at times I could see it negatively impacting my co-workers and their passion for pharmacy. I felt frustrated that I wasn’t able to gain the same experience in activities like counseling, MedsChecks and clinic days as my friends were in their work terms, and I started to wonder if pharmacy was truly the right path for me.
What really helped me in this situation was putting aside time at the end of the work days to reflect on what I enjoyed about community practice, and what I was disappointed by. What is it about your co-op that you do not find enjoyable? Is there any aspect of your co-op that you could potentially discuss with your supervisor during evaluations? I think the previous OPeN responder to your question made an excellent point in that the duties you may perform in co-op will be different from what you will do as a pharmacist. With time, and future opportunities, you will gradually take on more clinical roles and different responsibilities. Perhaps you can ask the pharmacists in your workplace for an opportunity to shadow or observe them in their clinical role. If this isn’t always possible, try writing down things you’ve seen the pharmacists do in practice that you would like to do in the future. If, by chance, you feel that the way community pharmacy is practiced at your location is not what you expected it to be, it can help to ask yourself how you would like to practice differently when you become a pharmacist. From my experiences, I found that surrounding myself with positive messages about pharmacy practice helped raise my spirits during co-op and helped me remember why I chose this profession. Reading pharmacy practice research through CPhA, the Blueprint for Pharmacy, and articles on the Canadian Healthcare Network may help you draw inspiration from leaders in pharmacy.
Remember, you will have two more work terms and clinical rotations to explore different practice settings and find what feels most right to you! There are many different paths you can take as a future pharmacist, such as hospital, long term care, education, advocacy, industry, head offices, etc., and it’s worth exploring different options during your time at UW and through networking events like pharmacy conferences. If you ever feel lost about what to try next, there are many pharmacy students and faculty that can give you different perspectives if you ask. Even if your first work term does not end up entirely as you wanted it to be, it can still be a valuable learning experience. You may find that this practice setting didn’t suit you, or it may even spark your passion to drive changes in the way community pharmacy is practiced! I sincerely wish you the best of luck in the remainder of your co-op term, and we are here for you if you need anything :)