Guardians of Health:
The Life of a Pharmacist
An exclusive interview with a Pharmacist in Melbourne, Australia
Lydia Law Ngiik Shiew
- Tell us about yourself!
A legal drug dealer (also known as a Pharmacist), still being positive and passionate about both work and life!
My favourite motto is: don’t worry, be happy! Because life is too short and nothing is permanent. Outside work, I would love to live life to the fullest and travel!!!
2. What motivated you to pursue a career as a pharmacist?
One of my favourite subjects back in high school was chemistry. So I faced a bit of a dilemma in choosing between medicine, pharmacy, and chemical engineering. And I thought I wanted to look pretty when I work too! Hence, I narrowed it down to medicine or pharmacy because I just love their white uniforms. Besides, I want a job that could help other people and spread kindness to society. Moreover, I’m also quite interested in an occupation that could have more human interactions too! Also, come to think of it, selling drugs legally is kind of cool. So altogether, pharmacy suits the description best, and therefore, pharmacy it is!
3. From your perspective, what is the primary role of a pharmacist?
Some people may think of a pharmacist solely as a professionally licensed retail drug seller. This isn’t wrong, however, as a pharmacist, the roles that we play are in fact more than just selling medications. Pharmacists are healthcare professionals specially trained to ensure the safe, quality, and effective use of medicines in the community. This isn’t solely confined to community retail settings but also in industries, hospitals, education, academic/research, public health and more!
4. Where did you complete your pharmacy studies? How did the university help you in your career?
Monash University. Monash plays a vital role along my pathway towards achieving my ambition of being a pharmacist. Monash is a member of the Group of Eight, a public research university based in Melbourne and ranked number one in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022 for Pharmacy and Pharmacology. Monash provides good guidance with the curriculum they’ve offered throughout the bachelor of pharmacy degree. They also offered professional experience placements for students to experience work life as a pharmacist and get to understand the roles pharmacists play. Moreover, the summer research project provided by Monash also allows students a chance to experience research field as a pharmacist and learn how pharmacists can contribute to research.
5. What are your tips for becoming a good pharmacist?
For me, pharmacists are lifelong learners. There are always new emerging research and discoveries on drugs and medical conditions. Hence, we always learn and improve ourselves in order to ensure the best possible patient care and treatment outcome we can offer. Time management is one of the essential traits pharmacists should possess. Being able to multitask and prioritize not only urgent but important tasks will strongly affect the outcomes. Critical thinking skills also add points to being a successful pharmacist, as pharmacists are usually problem solvers. Last but not least, communication is the key, and therefore communication skills play an important role in the daily life of a pharmacist to ensure the best possible care is delivered to patients. This includes verbal and non-verbal communication between patients or healthcare professionals. These are not the comprehensive list of features of a successful pharmacist. In my opinion, ultimately, as a pharmacist, we want to minimize patient harm and ensure the safe and best possible care is provided to a patient to achieve the best treatment outcome.
6. What do you like best about being a pharmacist?
For my five years of experience as a registered pharmacist, I think the best thing as a pharmacist is job satisfaction. This comes in all forms, including customers’ gratitude, job promotion, being a problem solver etc. I think being able to help others and work simultaneously is the best!
7. Would you like to share some of your most memorable experiences as a pharmacist?
There are lots of interesting incidents that could happen in community and hospital settings. Long story short, I remember once there was a patient who was discharged from the hospital with an antibiotic script. At that time, I was the sole pharmacist working in a community pharmacy. I realized the doctor had prescribed an incorrect antibiotic dosage, so I rang the hospital. The doctor was quite confident that he was correct on the dose, although I’ve given him the references. It’s a potential overdosage, so I was quite concerned, but the doctor insisted on that dose. Hence, I counselled and informed the patient’s father about it after the conversation with the doctor (the patient is a child). The patient and his father were at the tills when the doctor called back to agree that the wrong dose was prescribed and wanted me to change it over to the dose that I’ve suggested. I remember myself dashing to the tills just to get the patient and his father before they leave the pharmacy to correct the antibiotic dose. That adrenaline rush is no joke, haha! I am glad the issue has been rectified.
8. Does becoming a member of the AMBeR network help you in your career?
Through the AMBeR network, I get to participate in zoom meetings (e.g., Journal clubs) to learn about recent research topics. Also, I have the opportunity to do some networking to gain external connections. I’m very grateful to join this network as this is a stepping stone for me to get to know more prominent researchers. Through this network, I had the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from Monash University on some writing projects with my expertise and gain recognition through publications.
9. Would you like to share any additional comments?
My family, teachers, supervisors, seniors, and work colleagues have helped a lot throughout my pathway from being a student to becoming a registered pharmacist. Without them, I wouldn’t have come this far to where I am now. I’m really grateful for everyone’s support throughout my journey, especially the love and care from my family, as that’s the main support for my inner strength to be this perseverant after all the hardships before I could achieve what I have today. Undeniably there’s still a lot for me to learn and improve, and I’m sure their support will help me gain more and become a better pharmacist!
Customer’s friendly pet.
In the pharmacy with my colleagues: pharmacy assistant – Ms. Huong (left) and pharmacy owner – Mr. Alvin (right).