My Journey as a Pharmacy Student: Exploring Clinical Pharmacy & Advancing Health Care

Introduction

As I reflect on my profession exploration as a pharmacist, particularly on my career development as a pharmacy student, my main focus has often been the practice of clinical pharmacy. Additionally, my primary personal interests and goals in the profession of pharmacy are founded on my aspiration to advance other people's health, to possess skills for exploring my utmost potential and become knowledgeable in diverse topics associated with health care delivery. Through working at St. Joseph's Health Care, I discovered my passion for clinical pharmacy in addition to the pharmaceutical knowledge and skills I possess. Therefore, I believe I can positively impact the health outcomes of patients with complex needs.

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Pharmacists working in hospitals have the prospect to acknowledge all the needs of the patients concerning their specific conditions through the information provided by other health care workers. Therefore, I value the opportunity of being able to critically analyze blood works, imaging results and nursing notes, which will enable me to work up patient cases thoroughly. Such an opportunity will allow me to provide the most accurate pharmacotherapy recommendations and to be truly responsible for my patients who put their trust in my professional judgments. Moreover, in a hospital setting that involves a residency program, pharmacists work alongside nurses, physicians, as well as other health care professionals to offer quality health care the patients. Such a collaborative environment involving multidisciplinary teams enhances the sharing of information, facilitates patient advocacy and promotes the execution of best practices. These practices align with my primary career objectives, and as such, I believe the residency program will transition me into becoming a well-prepared hospital pharmacist.

From my past experiences, I have developed leadership and team-work skills, learned to advocate for patient needs, and proved to be a self-directed learner. For instance, as the campus representative of Friends of the Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF) - U of T Chapter, I was responsible for organizing the Mock Refugee Camp for the MSF. The camp raised awareness of the living conditions of 42 million refugees across the world. I hired and interviewed the volunteers for the refugee camp to understand their strengths, weaknesses and personal goals. Based on the interviews and volunteers' preferences, I delegated the most suitable responsibilities to the volunteers to ensure they would put in their best efforts into hosting the refugee camp. I also invited nursing students to demonstrate intubation and suturing procedures to the participants from the camp in exchange for activity points. Through participating in MSF activities, I have primarily learned the significance of team-work and collaboration skills through working with students from different programs. I also acquired new knowledge and perspectives from them while achieving a common goal.

Additionally, as I worked as a pharmacy student at the Shoppers Drug Mart, I had the opportunity to advocate for patients' needs where I took on the responsibility of hosting MedsCheck clinic for patients with complicated medication therapies. I conducted a review of the prescriptions which had concerns and sent fax messages to the respective doctors who successfully resolved the issues. For instance, one of the patients who took rosuvastatin expressed concerns about bothersome muscle pain on her legs, arms and back. She was frustrated since she thought if she stopped using naproxen as prescribed to her, the pain would recur and impair her ability to do house works. My action of notifying her family physician regarding the potential for myopathy caused by rosuvastatin resulted in her reassessment, which resulted in the diagnosis of mild hypocalcemia. Her family doctor switched her to atorvastatin, and consequently, myalgia did not recur. Therefore I intend to continue practising patient advocacy through the residency program in addition to facilitating efficient communication with the physicians to ensure quality healthcare.

Finally, I am driven to learn and research new medications and conditions concerning clinical pharmacy, which will assist me in applying my skills to any challenging patient cases. One of the life experiences that have prepared me for the residency program involves working as a pharmacy technician at St. Joseph's Health Care during my second-year clinical rotation program. During the program, I gained insight regarding practical aspects of pharmacy operation mechanisms as well as how to work both independently and within a team to resolve therapeutic issues. I had an opportunity to perform a BPMH for a patient who had severe renal impairment, multiple comorbidities and was on warfarin due to prior mechanical heart valve replacement.

The patients INR was incredibly high on admission, and his medication history indicated multiple medications that not only interacted with each other but interacted with warfarin. After completing the BPMH, I took the initiative to advance my knowledge about INR monitoring, warfarin dosing and the effective therapeutic management of each medication prescribed for renal impairment based on the patients'specific needs. Consequently, I was able to work with the attending pharmacist and we adjusted the correct doses for his medications. Additionally, we successfully stabilized his INR after two weeks of admission. Such an experience thought me how to resolve challenging patient cases as a self-directed learner in addition to making sure patients are safely and effectively treated.

Based on the experiences I have had during my career development, I believe I've gained valuable lessons and skills that will benefit me in my pursuit of practising the profession of clinical pharmacy. Moreover, the residency program will further advance my clinical knowledge and skills, which are required to provide the best possible care for patients with complex needs.

Cover Letters

Kingston Health Science

I trust that the Kingston Health Science Centre (KHSC) is the ideal site to complete my residency program. The key reason is that the institution provides an individualized longitudinal teaching rotation design, which is a conducive environment for learning. This platform best suits my career goals of working as a clinical pharmacist and combining clinical practice with academic teaching experience.

Firstly, I appreciate that KHSC takes the students' learning objectives into considerations by developing an individualized plan for each resident. Such attention fosters an encouraging learning environment for broadening pharmaceutical knowledge and clinical skills. Therefore, the program will provide a platform that will allow me to set SMART career goals and interests. The goals will help me to define my key strengths and weaknesses accurately. By doing so, I hope to resolve my faults, polishing my depths, and ultimately advance my therapeutic knowledge and clinical skills.

Secondly, at the residency open house, the previous resident known as Lily praised KHSC for providing group learning opportunities and collaborations between preceptors and residents. Based on the fact that Lily never hesitated to ask questions, it is evident that the KHSC staff members are approachable and supportive. Since I learn best through discussions and through consolidating knowledge and skills with my colleagues, I trust your program is a good match for my learning styles.

Lastly, one of my crucial career interests includes the longitudinal teaching rotation program. A teaching experience motivates me to research and learn new knowledge in addition to understanding specific topics more thoroughly. Primarily, the rotation program will help me achieve my long term goal of giving didactic lectures and precepts to students.

In summary, the residency program at KHSC best aligns with my professional goals and learning styles, and I would highly appreciate an opportunity to attend the program.

St. Joseph

I am writing to express my sincere interest in the residency program at St. Joseph's Health Care (SJHH). I had the opportunity to complete my second-year rotation (EPE2) program at your institution in which I much appreciated a supportive learning environment. Therefore, I am highly interested in the residency program at the SJHH as I believe it will assist me in advancing my career objectives.

I appreciate the incredibly supportive pharmacy staff members whom I encountered during my learning experience at SJHH. For instance, Connie, who was my preceptor for EPE2, allowed me to participate in P&T meetings from which I learned how pharmacists work to bring certain medications into formulary. Furthermore, during my presentations, many pharmacists provided me with supportive and constructive feedback to improve my performance and critical appraisal skills. Therefore, I am eager to come back to SJHH and become part of the favourable and performing team of health care professionals.

One of my career goals includes evolving into a proficient and independent clinical practitioner, particularly in managing urinary tract infections. Necessarily, I am interested in advanced and comprehensive kidney care clinics at SJHH. Through my clinical rotation program at the multi-care kidney clinic, I had an opportunity to help patients with chronic kidney disease by managing medication regimens. I appreciated how kidney failure is interrelated with other comorbidities, including how it contributes to drastic changes with the use of different medications. Such experiences motivated me to learn the vital role of pharmacists in ensuring that patients receive the safest and effective regimes for preventing further deterioration of the renal function. Therefore, I am eager to advance my knowledge about pharmacotherapy in renal diseases at SJHH's pioneer kidney transplant and hemodialysis centre.

My other career goal is to acquire the skill of advocating for patients' needs as well as the pharmacists' professional practice requirements as a resident pharmacist. I have previously partnered with my peer Wendy Xiong, and together, we successfully developed the PharmPedia social networking platform. The platform empowers Chinese immigrants with knowledge about how to make informed decisions about their health. Therefore, I believe that during my journey to achieve an advocacy skill, I will also serve as a great asset to your pharmacy department as a resident.

During my EPE2 practice, I learned how to use the Dovetale dose system in addition to how to efficiently handle workflow at the in-patient pharmacy department through collaborating with other health care providers. During my studies in the school of pharmacy, I successfully led health promotion workshops for IMAGINE, an inter-professional, student-run community health initiative. I collaborated with students from the nursing and medicine disciplines to successfully initiate general health education on diabetes management and harm reduction workshops for the underserved population of Toronto.

During my undergraduate education program, I researched the safety and efficacy of sitagliptin versus evogliptin as an add-on regimen among patients in a tertiary hospital in Toronto. The research experience thought me essential critical thinking skills that I can apply in the residency program. I learned that vital clinical decision-making occurs after a clinical reasoning process. The decision-making process emphasizes on both compiling data as well as constructing an argument to provide treatment based on t evidence he clarity of the available. Therefore, I am confident that the leadership, team-work, and critical thinking skills I have learned from these exp...