The Importance of Experience

By: Jessica Macauda, PharmD ‘10

Today, many students in pharmacy school have little experience in pharmacy practice. As informative as our clerkships are, more experience is needed as a part of our preparation. Whether you are contemplating community, clinical, industry or other fields of pharmacy, there are opportunities available to you. Ask your friends, do some research on the Internet- you are bound to find something new. Take advantage of a part-time job at a local pharmacy- even if it is only a few hours every other weekend. Every hour spent in practice will only benefit you because one day you will be the pharmacist or the person in charge.

After six years of schooling, you do not want to be overwhelmed due to a lack of experience in practice. As crude as it sounds, knowledge is only half the job. The ability to apply that knowledge and understand your patients' concerns makes all the difference. Experience now can help you determine what field of pharmacy is right for you. There are hundreds of types of positions available to a PharmD today. Discover where you belong in this limitless field so that your time can be devoted to our main goal -- pharmaceutical care.

Pharmacy is not a perfect world. There will be instances in our careers where we just want to retaliate, but that is unprofessional. Without having experience with many different patients and situations, how can we apply our knowledge? During our sixth year rotations we will be confronted with multiple questions, issues and pharmacy settings. Why not create a simpler transition for yourself and experience pharmacy practice now? It will be a little taste of what is yet to come.