ONE thing leads to another and can "land you up in a place you love", was PSA National President Fei Sim's message to aspiring and current pharmacists, who attended the Pharmacy Daily and Raven's Pharmacy Careers Summit held virtually on 07 Jul (PD 11 Jul).
With 1,200 people attending the event, Sim said she thought she wanted to do medicine when she was in school but "I liked chemistry and I liked helping people and I thought I don't want to be a doctor, maybe I want to be a pharmacist".
"I also hadn't realised the amount of patient interaction, the amount of social responsibility, and just real meaningful contribution and impact that a pharmacist can make on a person's life and their health, it really made me very excited, as today pharmacists are doing much more across any settings where meds are used," Sim said.
"When I did pharmacy 20 years ago with my limited drug knowledge, on my first day I was selling a box of Cindo painkillers.
"It's a big deal as I had never used it before and was selling it as a transaction at the till or just as a sale with no idea it was unsafe.
"Today the supply of medicines is all about medicine safety, and I feel my role as a pharmacist has become very important when it comes to the safety of patients.
"We offer vaccinations, have access to My Health Record, and Real-Time Monitoring which means we have so much more information on our patients," Sim added.
"This means we make a judgement if a medicine is safe for a patient."
Fei shared she never thought she would be the PSA President.
"It's been a journey, I put my hand up, one thing led to another.
"If I am not happy about something, I say do something about it, don't sit back and do nothing.
"So by being driven by passion, a lot of small incremental changes all add up to where you are going in life," Sim concluded.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 19 Jul 23
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 19 Jul 23
