While Nickell's business practices do not normally involve his working one-on-one with the athletes but instead through team physicians, his experience as the first-ever pharmacist for the U.S. medical team at the Olympic Games in Athens last summer took on a much different tone. There he was on call nearly 24/7 and had the chance to interact with the athletes directly.
"My role is normally more to the medical staff than it is to the athletes, except when I was in Athens," said Nickell. "The biggest challenge was managing the venues. We had nine different venue locations with activities all going on at the same time. Each team had its own physician, so we had 15 or 20 physicians moving around the city, all needing drugs at the same time," he explained.
"We started by processing the athletes a couple of weeks in advance of the Games. They would go though physicals and we'd check for drug allergies, interactions, find out what they were taking, and make sure it was recorded on their chart. It's a high-stress atmosphere and was quite a challenge, but having a pharmacist on board certainly helped."
