National Pharmacy Week 2022

National Pharmacy Week is about acknowledging and celebrating the crucial impact pharmacy professionals make on their patients. At freeCE, we’re taking this week as an opportunity to support pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, nurses and by providing practical resources to support them in this critical work.

We asked Janan Sarwar, medical resource manager at CME Outfitters, to discuss self-care tips for pharmacy professionals. Self-care is important for all people, but it’s particularly vital for frontline workers with complex jobs. We hope you pick up some useful tips you can apply to your everyday life.

Mental Health Tips For Pharmacy Professionals from Janan Sarwar, PharmD - Pharmacy Week 2022

Hello, my name is Janan Sarwar. I’m a pharmacist at CME Outfitters and I work as a medical resource manager. I’m here today to address some self-care tips for American Pharmacists month and National Pharmacy Week.

 

Thank Yourself

There’s so much good that you are doing day in and day out. Take a moment to thank yourself. As a frontline worker, people come to you and trust pharmacists and the pharmacy to get their medications to them. Every day, you are part of a team that’s making a direct impact. Thank yourself for showing up every time. 

 

Remember Why You Entered This Field

Now try to remember, why did you enter this field? Often for many, it’s because they wanted to help others. How often are you able to do that in a day when you’re working in the pharmacy? Honestly, you have a real opportunity to do this. Now if your purpose is to help people, the irony is you can’t truly appreciate it when you feel stressed or pressured. 

 

Take Time For Self-Care

If you feel that you’ve forgotten what it feels like to be happy from fulfilling this, you may need to take some time for self-care. That involves things like meditating, taking time off, doing things that you love, deep breathing exercises, anything that helps center yourself to try to have a moment to remember why you chose this field. The other ideas I’ll share today will help you as well. 

 

Recognize Your Strengths

See your strengths. When you work in the pharmacy, you are leading business results. You are directly delivering customer service by helping or delivering on a product. 

 

Pharmacy Professionals Have Complex Jobs

Your job is complex. It leverages different skill sets, you’re directly interfacing with customers, you’re helping people. Now when you have long lines and the phone’s ringing, you’re talking to providers, people in the drive thru, you’re actually very much triaging. You’re innovative. You’re developing skill sets that you will carry with you to every facet of life that you have. Remember how amazingly dynamic you are, because it is easy to forget. 

 

How To Practice Gratitude as a Pharmacy Professional

There’s a study by Duke University for health care workers. It’s called the WISER study, and it encourages individuals to cultivate gratitude. How do you do that? 

You take time to take stock of the good things in your life, and practice gratitude. As an example, think of someone who’s ever done something amazing for you in your life. Whether or not you send it to them, take a moment to write a note to reflect on what they did and how it impacted you. You will be surprised, if you make this a daily practice, how much it helps you. 

 

Remember Your Impact in Patients’ Lives

Remember your impact. Pharmacists and technicians have a huge opportunity to impact and show kindness and empathy. Do you know, people go home and talk about you at dinner? I know it’s a huge responsibility, but remember that patients look up to you. You’re a source of knowledge and an accessible one at that. One of your acts of kindness can greatly impact that one patient’s day. Remind yourself that you have the power to impact others. 

 

A Mindset Shift – Focus On The Positive Interactions

And speaking of power, recognize that we have that power and ability to interpret how our own days go. The unfortunate thing is that people don’t remember the good things that you do, or don’t often praise you for it. A lot of times the feedback we actually receive from others seems kind of negative. A mindset shift will help you go back and inventory all the positive things that you have going on.

 

Better Self Talk – Rewire Your Brain To Be Happier

If you see your day or pharmacy experience negatively, you will wallow in it. So if you can, choose to view the positive. For example, if 90% of your day was good, but you have those one or two really bad events, we are wired to remember that bad and we turn on ourselves when we do that. An important skill to have is to try to stop that negative self-talk. Anytime your mind goes to that 10% of that bad day, actively try to redirect it. 

I hope these help you in conclusion, see your strengths, practice gratitude daily, and have a mindset shift. Whatever you believe in will be what you think and that will impact how you feel. Thank you so much and good luck.

 

Why Choose freeCE for Continuing Education?

A career as a pharmacist, pharmacy technician, or nurse requires continuous learning. While you don’t have a choice when it comes to whether to earn continuing education credits, you do have a choice when it comes to the provider you turn to.

Our learning management system makes finding and taking our courses easy and intuitive. We design our content to be mobile-friendly so our learners can access their materials on their phones. Have 20 minutes on the train? Waiting at the doctor’s office? Now, you can use that time to check continuing education off your list. Finally, you can get CE that fits into your busy schedule.

freeCE makes meeting continuing education requirements easy, affordable, and flexible. Sign up for a freeCE membership today to get your free time back.

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