opinions please

[helster]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello,

I was preparing for my pharmacy school interview, and I ran across some questions which i was not really sure how to answer, I was wondering if someone could help me with the following:

1) what is the leading factor of ailments in todays society?

2)What is your vision as a pharmacist?

3)should/ should not alcohol and tobacco products be sold at a retail/community pharmacy.

I have an idea how to answer it...but i wanted to know other people's opinion. For the ailments question I was thinking obesity/lifestyle for highblood pressure or diabetes..

In anycase thanks for your input.

 

[Farmercyst]

Hello,

I was preparing for my pharmacy school interview, and I ran across some questions which i was not really sure how to answer, I was wondering if someone could help me with the following:

1) what is the leading factor of ailments in todays society?

2)What is your vision as a pharmacist?

3)should/ should not alcohol and tobacco products be sold at a retail/community pharmacy.

I have an idea how to answer it...but i wanted to know other people's opinion. For the ailments question I was thinking obesity/lifestyle for highblood pressure or diabetes..

In anycase thanks for your input.

1. No single answer here. Overmedication, Environmental Effects: smog, water pollution, particulate. Demoralization (social ailments: crime, alcoholism) pick anything, just make sure you can back it up.

2. Only you (can prevent forest fires) can answer this one. Personally I envision myself assisting young kids, possibly infants in an NICU, possibly going global on service type sabbaticals.( though I'm not sure if it's done with pharmacists like they do with doctors,dentists, optometrists, etc)

3. I would say not just because it seems oxymoronic, but since I don't intend to work retail, the question isn't something I have,nor expect to have, experience in.

 

[Gilmore2B]

I love the third question. I would say that alcohol and tobacco most certainly should be sold in a pharmacy setting. I don't see how someone could argue that these products should not be sold in a community pharmacy. The patient will only buy them somewhere else. So this provides an opportune moment for the pharmacist to counsel and encourage a healthy lifestyle. I'm not saying everyone needs to change thier habits, but I have observed some customers in my experience that needed the encouragement. I remember one woman that needed help to stop drinking so much soda pop. Her physician and the pharmacist talked to her about it all the time, not that it did much good. She bought 5 Liters of Pepsi every week!

 

[helster]

thanks for your input...🙂 As for the third question i was thinking that I would argue that the products should not be sold at a community pharmacy/independent pharmacy, but also mention that in retail the pharmacy is a different section of the store so as a business it could sell hte products if they wish. I do not know if i am being contradictory here though? Anyways thanks again.

 

[djg06]

I agree with Gilmores answer with the third question, well put.

 

[wonderwoman569]

Hey helster, I was wondering if you found a website with some suggested interview questions. How can I prepare for the interviews?

 

[airen]

Hey helster, I was wondering if you found a website with some suggested interview questions. How can I prepare for the interviews?

wonderwoman, you could find interview questions on this website. Navigate to Pharmacy -> Pharmacy Interview Question Feedback -> Browse Feedback.

Good luck!

 

[helster]

yah, I got my questions for the particular school from the feedback, go thru the schools and it will help a lot good luck

 

[HarcourtMonopol]

I love the third question. I would say that alcohol and tobacco most certainly should be sold in a pharmacy setting. I don't see how someone could argue that these products should not be sold in a community pharmacy. The patient will only buy them somewhere else. So this provides an opportune moment for the pharmacist to counsel and encourage a healthy lifestyle. I'm not saying everyone needs to change thier habits, but I have observed some customers in my experience that needed the encouragement. I remember one woman that needed help to stop drinking so much soda pop. Her physician and the pharmacist talked to her about it all the time, not that it did much good. She bought 5 Liters of Pepsi every week!

Ummm, are you serious? So I guess a pharmacy should sell heroin, marijuana, cocaine, steroids, food absurdly high in trans fat, and even pornography, because (using your logic) “the patient will only buy them somewhere else” and it “provides an opportune moment for the pharmacist to counsel and encourage a healthy lifestyle.”


Selling alcohol/tobacco products is contradictory to the message a public health facility works so hard to promote. The pharmacy is a setting where patients can go to help mitigate and overcome addictions, not a place to go to foster them. It’s not just the pharmacist that needs to represent and promote a lifestyle of health and well-being; the pharmacy’s image is just as important in reinforcing the pharmacist’s message and selling alcohol/tobacco products severely damages that image and, consequently, the message a pharmacist promotes.


Lastly, I just don’t understand the purpose of your Pepsi guzzling woman example at the end. If you’re going to make the argument you're making, at least provide an example where a pharmacist’s encouragement/counseling played a significant role in mitigating or overcoming an alcohol/tobacco/sugar addiction, and not, as in your argument, an instance where the encouragement proved futile. Sorry if I seem harsh, but you wrote that you "don't see how someone could argue that these products should not be sold in a community pharmacy." I hope you can see that now. And for some reason, I doubt I’m alone in my stance.

 

[Mentis]

I definitely agree with monopol. A pharmacy's image as a health care facility is far more important than an occassional circumstance which might call for counselling by the pharmacist. And even if you were to attempt to sell these in a pharmacy, I seriously doubt it would be realistic to assume you would go to each person that buys a pack of cigarettes and tell them "you should really quit, you know." I'm more than sure their doctor already plays that role.

 

[Gilmore2B]

True, my Pepsi example does not relate to the issue we are discussing and the pharmacists attempt was unsuccessful. However, I am not advocating the Pharmacy should sell illegal products. Alcohol and Tobacco are legal products for consumption, which depending on the patient’s circumstances, may not be best to combine with their medication. As pharmacists, we are drug specialists and I feel it is my duty to help the patient get the most benefit from their therapy as possible. I simply feel I must inform. I am not sitting on some high pedestal telling them you should do this, you should do that. My main concern as a pharmacist is helping the patient. If anything, superior patient caring may elevate customer’s perception of the store.