Raised in a Chemical Environment

Coming from Stuyvesant, a specialized science high school, I became naturally drawn to math and science, particularly chemistry. It wasn't long before I started taking extra chemistry classes and before I knew it, I finished high school having taken chem 3 out of the 4 years in high school, even nailing hard courses like AP chem and organic chem. Moreover, I volunteered at the pharmacy at the Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan for two summers in high school, and I absolutely loved my experiences there. I love the close networking between all the health care professionals that exist in a hospital, and I love the idea of having a career that saves lives and betters society.
St. John's is perfect in that the pharmacy program is very well-known in the metropolitan area, and the very structured curriculum is tailored to develop some of the most skilled pharmacists. Also, staying in New York can keep me close to friends and family, while being accessible to all the resources that can help me along my college and future career.

My Pre-Professional Experience

Pharmacy is basically a profession that is based on bridging the gap between outsiders not in the field and the technical terms that experts use in the field itself. Therefore, entering this field as a student, I feel really welcome when it comes to getting accustomed to the cultural, organization, and technical savvy that any profession has. When I volunteered at the pharmacy at the Beth Israel Medical Center two years ago, I wasn't kept out of any secrets that the organization had. I performed tasks any professional pharmacy assistants (technicians) did, and I gained the "real world experience" that all students crave for when we're still in school. I learned about a huge variety of things, such as how a hospital pharmacy is run and what particular responsibilities pharmacists have, in addition to the usual ensuring of the safety of the interaction of drugs. When I worked in a community pharmacy, my job was to provide the link between the complicated medical world and just regular English. 
An outsider would simply need to have passion to help patients and to break that "outsider" barrier.  Even though not all pharmacists share the passion of their profession (it gets tedious after a while), they all do share the passion of helping others.  Moreover, there really isn't any culture or organizational savvy that separates this department from all the rest, just six years of a school like STJ would fit anyone into the practice of pharmacy.

Job Description of a Pharmacist

Clinical pharmacists, ones who work in a hospital setting, have one main responsibility: make sure that all the prescriptions that are being dispensed are compatible with the patient, and the other medications that the patient may be taking along with each other.  Although many people think that this is an easy job, pharmacists do have to sit at the computer all day looking at the same chemicals and drug interaction charts.  They also have to keep track of ones that come out of the machine that have to be delivered to rooms as soon as possible.  These pharmacists work very closely with the doctors in the hospital; as soon as they see two drugs that should not be combined together, they must page the prescribing doctor or give him/her a call and ask him for a replacement prescription.
Retail pharmacists, ones who work at retail stores like Rite Aid, CVS, and WalGreens, have the same responsibility.  However, these professionals deal with patients much more directly.  When people come in with prescriptions, they are the ones who have to explain how many times a day the drugs should be taken, what you can and can't do while on the drug, and many other minute details that we overlook as the consumers.  As opposed to sitting at a computer all day, these pharmacists have to deal with many other aspects, such as the inventory of drugs that come in everyday, which drugs need to be ordered, and all the new drugs out on the market that doctors still don't know about yet.

Job Description of a Pharmacy Manager

Here is where business meets health care.  Pharmacy managers have an immense amount of responsibilities in the clinical field.  From my experience working with Robert Bosakowski, RPh, MBA, pharmacy manager at Beth Israel Medical Center, pharmacy managers have to keep track of all the drugs that are being imported into the hospital and all the drugs that are currently being used by the whole pharmacy department.  There is the main pharmacy in which the managers have their offices and the main site of dispensing.  Inside the hospital, there are several other sites of dispensing called satellite pharmacies in which all the commonly used drugs are stocked and can be easily brought out to patient floors.  Moreover, there is a new wave of technology called Pixis machines, that act as a vending machines for common drugs such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) and others.  However, many nurses take a bunch of other drugs for their convenience; consequently, there is always a shortage of prescriptions.  Managers have to keep track of those as well.
Of course, there is always a need for that Master of Business Administration degree when it comes to being a pharmacy manager.  New drugs are always being developed, and marketers push very hard for their drugs to be sold to the hospital.  These people target hospitals and other large institutions because these are the places that buy the most products.  Several times a week, marketers often come in with their new line from their company, and they treat the entire pharmacy staff with an expensive lunch.  After they get on the managers' good side, they work their magic and try to sell their product, giving elaborate PowerPoint presentations and long binders-worth of material that need to be looked over.  Managers usually hold long meetings and debates on which new drugs should be bought, which ones those new ones  replace, and which ones can be ignored for the time being.

Social Justice Aspects of Pharmacy & Business

Both pharmacy and business share the fact that the opportunities in these fields aren't easily accessible.  Let's start with pharmacy.  Here at St. John's, pharmacy is marked by privilege.  Many admission officers say that pharmacy is the hardest major to get into.  Because it is a 6-year program, and the courses are already locked in the moment that you accept your acceptance into the school, officers look for better grades and more well-rounded individuals.  Although 6 years may seem a long time, coming out with a professional degree and ready to work in a professional environment without training is much more than any other program at the school offers.  Moreover, the tuition for the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions is more expensive than the usual liberal arts and science college.
In the professional world, pharmacists come to the table more equally and they are pretty much on par with one another.  All of them have a base of a six-year education at a pharmacy school, and they all have the same responsibilities as each other.  According to pharmacy manager Bob Bosakowski, hiring one pharmacist over another really depends on the manager's choice.

Business is a profession also very much marked by privilege.  Business schools are pretty tough to get into, and unlike pharmacy, which school you call your alma mater really does make a difference on whether you get hired later on.  Business majors often head into liberal arts curriculum for four years and go to graduate school after, racking up those student loans higher than most other students.  Money is one of the major reasons why many business-savvy students have no choice but to elect a different major and go to a different school.
In the professional world, managers are hired based on experience, another quality of privilege.  As for pharmacy managers, these individuals usually start as pharmacists, and when the time is right, meaning the institution needs more managers, they are sent back to school to learn about business.  For Bob Bosakowski, he graduated St. John's University with his Pharm D. degree and he worked in several retail and clinical positions before an employer sent him back to STJ for his MBA degree.  Along with pharmacy, business is a very detail-oriented profession and but to its variety of positions, it can be a diverse community when looked upon as a whole, but when it comes down to high-ranking positions, it is still an area marked by privilege.

Self-Assessment/Meta-text

Although I wasn't as excited to start this unit of exploring our major as exploring our home, I got into it after I realized that I could go beyond discovering what immediately laid before me.  When most people, myself included, think of majoring in pharmacy, they imagine themselves working in Rite Aid, CVS, and all the other retail pharmacies out there.  And it's true.  About 80% of students who graduate from pharmacy school head into retail and stay working in that area for a good amount of their careers.  However, I already know that I wouldn't be interested in going into standing behind the counter at Duane Reade and explaining prescriptions to patients all day.  Having enjoyed my experiences in a hospital, I know I would aim starting my career there.
I think I was very thorough in exploring the responsibilities that being a pharmacist and a pharmacy manager entails.  My experience from working closely with a professional really helped me understand these aspects, and this blog took what I learned from him and my knowledge of the major as it stands here at STJ and extended to a social justice perspective. Much of the information on the page I didn't have to research further than a phone call to my friend Bob; however, I never thought about being a manager in terms of social justice.  Tying business into pharmacy does look enticing, and it's fair to predict that I may just aim to stretch out my career to this end (although it certainly doesn't beat being a point guard on the New York Knicks, doesn't it, Dr. Denny?)