Month: May 2025

The various tests and surveys reaffirmed what I already knew about myself. I am in an extremely stressful season of life- finishing up both degrees, moving to a new state, and studying for board exams. Regardless of the season of life, I always feel a little stressed due to my type A nature. I always strive to do more whether that it is in school, work, extracurricular activities or in my personal life. As I get older, I am starting to dial this back a little.

Having experience with high stress situations and stress being a constant in my life that ebbs and flows, I am relieved that the Coping and Stress Management Skills Test showed that I have a problem-focused coping approach. This is an approach I continue to refine as I grow and face new challenges. Personally, when I am under a lot of stress, I get overwhelmed, which fuels my next steps. I make lists and plan how I will overcome all of my tasks or challenges and implement said plan. It is not always easy, but my personal motivation and discipline keep me on track.

Throughout my pharmacy school experience, I have learned that though stress is part of the process, I do not want to let it define me nor impact my relationships with others. I strive to balance all of the things that I would like to do, including time for myself, family and friends, and the hobbies that I enjoy. Some weeks this balance can be harder to achieve than others, and it is not always possible, but prioritizing it most weeks is important to me.

Exercise has proven to be an excellent stress reliver that promotes several health benefits including boosting mental health. I have definitely turned to physical activity during times of stress, but I could improve prioritizing exercise even on busy days because it helps me recharge and become more cognitively focused.

Companies also see the benefit of wellness and implement programs that extend beyond physical health. Such programs include physical and financial wellness resources as well as mindfulness and meditation trainings.

Mallori.bontrager@uprisehealth.com. (2025, January 6). How companies are addressing employee stress in the modern workplace. Uprise Health. https://uprisehealth.com/resources/how-companies-are-addressing-employee-stress-in-the-modern-workplace/

Recently, I was offered a retail pharmacist position for after my upcoming graduation. The company was offering excellent compensation for this position. Not only was the pay good, but I was also offered the opportunity to get my student loans paid off in return for a three-year service commitment. Truthfully, it pained me to turn down this amazing opportunity, especially since pharmacy school is costly and $100,000 worth of student loans is terrifying.

Ultimately, I decided to turn down this offer because I know that I want to pursue a clinical position and this requires residency training. I went through a rigorous residency Match process and ended up at my top choice. Though I will be receiving financial compensation in this position, less than half of what I would in the retail position, I will also be receiving additional training in a clinical setting. The experience that I will gain during this additional year of training will be equivalent to three years in the field. The learning opportunities will be abundant and residency training will be full of invaluable experiences.

So, while I would be earning more than double and getting my student loans paid in full at the retail position, it would mean that I would not be able to pursue additional training to obtain the clinical position that I see myself practicing in. And for me, this instant gratification is not worth sacrificing the career I have spent so much time pursuing, for initial higher pay and student loan repayment. The compensation, in the form of career development, is far more valuable to me than the monetary compensation.

A training that I found especially beneficial was medication counseling. During the first two years of pharmacy school, I received in depth instruction on how to effectively counsel patients about their medications, which included the entire process. Counseling requires various components: highlighting key information about the medication therapy, adjusting communication to the patients’ literacy level, effectively answering any questions that the patient may have. During pharmacy practice lab, I was able to implement the knowledge I had acquired about counseling and the various medications through hands-on practice with lab groups. I also had various closeout exams in which I completed counseling sessions with standardized patients.

Relating to what I have learned about training in Management 553, the training I received for counseling was beneficial because I had weekly opportunities to practice during lab sessions and the training was absolutely relevant to my future practice, which made the content more meaningful. Additionally, my performance was informally assessed by lab instructors and lab mates periodically and prior to the final closeout exams. This ensured that I was properly trained and given enough practice before being formally assessed and prior to starting counseling on rotations in the real world.

Another training that I have completed during pharmacy school is vaccine administration training. This training consisted of various online modules and quizzes, followed by a couple of in-person sessions that highlighted key details from the modules, and a single lab session to practice vaccinations on a partner. The limited hands-on practice reminded me much of UPS’s previous style of training, which emphasized more of a lecture style approach. While it is important to learn about vaccines and the related policies and techniques, administering vaccinations can be nerve-racking and stressful, especially when the vaccinator lacks sufficient practice. Thus, I would recommend additional practice in vaccination administration prior to becoming certified and encountering real-world interactions. Implementing a technology-based approach as done in the UPS case could be an innovative way to better prepare students to vaccinate.

References:

Hira, N. A. (n.d.). The making of a UPS driver. CNNMoney. https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/11/12/101008310/
Training. (n.d.). Lecture.

I recently went through the pharmacy residency Match process, which included an extensive interview journey. I participated in nine interviews over the course of six weeks and these interviews consisted of various formats including prescreening telephone and Zoom interviews, and final in-person and virtual interviews.

Residency interviews utilized mostly situational and clinical questions. The “tell me about a time when” questions were utilized in every interview to assess candidates’ past experiences and abilities to work in a team, prevail during stressful situations, and overcome failures, all of which are essential for residency. The clinical portions examined candidate knowledge, also critical for the position. These clinical portions served as work-sample tests, evaluating applicability of clinical knowledge to patient care. This improves both reliability and utility and is critical for the interview process as mentioned in the articles by Bohnet and Knight.

While I am unsure if applications were reviewed in a blind systematic method, this would be an excellent way to reduce bias and focus on the candidate’s specific qualifications instead of demographic qualities, thereby increasing validity and applicability (Knight, 2018).

Although it is unclear whether programs had a “likability score” as mentioned in Knight’s article, how much I liked the interview and panel influenced how I ranked each program.

The interview that I liked least, was one that felt unstructured. Multiple panels asked the same questions repeatedly without much variation. It felt repetitive and unorganized. This repetition reduced the utility of the interview process and I left thinking that the interview could have been condensed. There was also a time in which candidates could ask current residents any questions. This was a very unstructured period and while I appreciated the freedom, it made for an awkward time where I felt that I needed to continuously ask questions to fill the time.

I would recommend that this program better coordinate its questions and structure of various interview panels. Repetition of essential questions like “why this residency” is understandable, but it is a better use of everyone’s time if different or less questions are asked. The resident portion could benefit from organized structure.

References:

• Bohnet , I. (2018) How to Take the Bias out of Interviews
• Knight, R. (2018) 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Processes