I do not belong to a well-to-do family. I grew up in a poor village in Vietnam where everybody had to work hard to make both ends meet. I can still remember, as a child, that my mom would find herbal medicines to cure sicknesses. The use of traditional remedies is common to us. The fact that my older sister died of stomachache because we do not have money to take her to a bigger hospital out of town fascinated me on the use of herbals and everything that can cures illness.
These experieneces have compelled me to pursue a degree in pharmacy. Currently, I work as a pharmacy technician in a pharmacy hospital. As a pharmacy technician, I usually assist a licensed pharmacist every time he prepares medications for the patients. Pharmacy technicians are also called pharmacy assistants or pharmacy aides. Basically, what most pharmacy technicians do is to fill orders and prescriptions with the supervision and direction of a pharmacist. This type of work is often subject to the state’s law.
It limits certain actions to be performed by a licensed pharmacist. Pharmacy technicians have other responsibilities such as reading patients’ charts and preparing the right medication in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. A Pharmacy technician can do just everything that a pharmacist does as long as he/she is under the supervision of a pharmacist. They are not allowed to do consultations on a certain medications or take new prescriptions over the phone. But they can do anything as far as all other work is concerned.
The Essay on Pharmacy Technician Professionalism
... pharmacy technicians has been instructed to assist the pharmacist in nearly all of the clerical and administrative work in the pharmacy or the hospitals, ... inventory count for all the medications in the clinic, pharmacy or the hospital so as to get to ... medications to the patients until the identity and the volume of the diluents are checked by the pharmacists accordingly. 10. A Pharmacy Technician ...
The restrictions stated made me realize that in order to fully achieve my goals, it is imperative to have a degree in pharmacy. A Doctor of Pharmacy is a general pharmacy practitioner, and I wish to be able to help others suitable and coherent pharmacist directed patient care and services to various populations and improve patient outcomes in a variety of health care settings, either as an independent or a joint practitioner / professional. In particular, the graduate should be a self-directed learner.
This means that they accurately and efficiently carry out the following: acquire and apply pharmaceutical sciences knowledge; enable pharmacist directed patient care; observe a pharmacy and health care environment; promote public health; manifest professionalism, communication & interaction capability and solve problems critically; and learn continuously. After my pharmacy degree I intend to become a professor and plan to go to third world countries to offer a helping hand and spread my knowledge in the pharmaceutical field.
I would like to authentically alleviate poverty and suffering in these regions. As a person who grew up in a poor village, I know how it feels to suffer from different kind of illnesses and do not have any way of curing it or any means of bringing them to a hospital because of the lack of finances. With the knowledge and experiences that I will be equipped with through education and practical exposure in this field, I will be ready to pursue my goals. I believe that as long as one puts one’s dreams to heart, anything is achievable.
