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Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 155–156

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Introduction http://www.pharmacyteaching.com

What do you want to be?

With many junior faculty joining the academy’s ranks annually, and with many career transitions taking place with even greater frequency, the Editorial Board of Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning has decided to feature an article submitted by a prominent academy member in each issue. The theme for these contributions is focused on an- swering the question “How did I get here?” with the hope that academy members will gain a better appreciation for “what it takes” to become an academy leader. Our first contribution was submitted by Dr. Cynthia Boyle, AACP Speaker of the House.

Respectfully Submitted, Robin M. Zavod, PhD., Editor- in-Chief.

In pharmacy education, students are often asked to reflect on experiences to achieve higher levels of learning. Reflection is also a valuable tool for pharmacists to explore not only what happened during a given experience, but also what that expe- rience meant. In other words, we search for meaning in expe- riences. As I reminisce and reflect on my pharmacy career, my thoughts center on the question we have been asked since childhood: “What do you want to be?”

I want to be a pharmacist. I arrived at this decision intellectually. While attending high school in Norman, Oklahoma, I was introduced to two faculty members from the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. Like many students, I was good at math and science, and I yearned to work with people. At that point, I had not been fully exposed to the patient-care aspects of pharmacy prac- tice because the profession was still centered on chemistry and formulations. Ironically, in the early 1970s about the time I was interning after graduation (because those hours could not be earned while in college), my previous school, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, was im- plementing the Professional Experience Program that sup- plied experiential learning that counted fully toward aca- demic credit and licensure.

As a young Navy wife, I found myself transplanted to Florida while my husband completed Navy flight training in

Corresponding author: Cynthia J. Boyle, PharmD, Chair De- partment of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy and Health Profes- sions, 109 Somerset Hall, Princess Anne, MD 21853.

E-mail address: [email protected]

877-1297/12/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserve ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2012.04.012

Pensacola. I took yet another board examination, because there were no reciprocation agreements between states at that time, and became a pharmacist at an apothecary that was owned by several brothers. I worked with a pharmacist who placed his burning cigarette precariously on the phar- macy counter with the ash falling onto the floor. I learned that I wanted to create a healthier workplace. Those early years offered a chance for me to develop my professional confidence and competence even though there was not gen- eral acceptance of female pharmacists. When patients ap- proached the pharmacy counter and asked for the pharma- cist, I eagerly replied, “I am the pharmacist.” My budding confidence withered with their response: “I want the man pharmacist.” In time, I found that I enjoyed interacting with patients and advising them how to appropriately use their prescriptions. Despite a somewhat difficult transi- tion into practice, I had definitely found an important role in community pharmacy and it meant a lot to be valued, consulted, and admired.

I want to be a Maryland pharmacist. The Navy moved us to Patuxent River Naval Air Station, and this time I was able to reciprocate my license. In a remote area of Mary- land, a Lexington Park pharmacist was literally waiting to retire until he could find his replacement. I was the answer to his prayers, because I was his retirement. At this chain pharmacy, site management duties came along with the pharmacy responsibilities. Under the deluge of triplicate third party forms (and claims rejections) in a noncomputer- ized environment, I spent an increasing amount of time on nonpatient care activities that did not always yield profes- sional satisfaction. It is absurd by today’s standards that I elected to take minimal time off when my first daughter was born because I knew that it was not guaranteed that I could return to my position and that I could be replaced. The rural setting worked in my favor and I was able to resume work, but there was no sick leave coverage for my maternity leave. A promotion within the company sent me to a northern Maryland location, where I connected with other pharma- cists in our local Upper Bay Pharmaceutical Association. We met very late at night in backrooms of pharmacies or in small restaurants after all the pharmacies had closed. I learned it is very hard to be professionally transplanted into a new state where laws are unfamiliar and professional norms uncertain. Gradually I was accepted as I became

more involved. Although we still have a highly mobile

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156 C.J. Boyle / Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 4 (2012) 155–156

workforce, state professional associations and affiliations with national associations can help pharmacists assimilate more quickly.

I want to be more involved in patient care. Through an pen forum at the state association, I learned that University f Maryland would be offering a nontraditional PharmD egree. There would be no grandfathering which meant that e needed to earn the degree. The first nontraditional harmD class graduated in 1996. This cohort included no-

ables in the profession, including the president of the Mary- and Board of Pharmacy, as well as leaders in associations, ducation, and business. We knew we were not the “real harmDs” who completed two years alongside medical stu- ents after their baccalaureate degree, but we were fully ngaged and enthusiastic about a second chance to create ur careers. We were a demanding cohort who thrived on he challenges of working full-time and learning the new anguage of pharmaceutical care plans and patient-related ariables. Our official graduate education happened simul- aneously while we were precepting students who would lso earn their Doctor of Pharmacy degree with us. I have a recious memory of my classmate and Board President eorge Voxakis leading the graduates in the Oath of the harmacist and then receiving his own olive green doctoral ood.

I want to be a mentor, advocate, and leader. I am not ure I ever formalized this statement, but these roles hap- ened because I stepped into the new paradigm of phar- acy. I increased the numbers of students I precepted as I

reated a diabetes care center in my pharmacy. After a orporate merger, I sought new opportunities in consulting nd health system practice before eventually becoming a aculty member and an experiential director. My profes- ional experience has come full circle from my awkward ntrance into practice to now being able to design rigorous nd innovative experiential courses that aid students’ pro- essional progression throughout their four professional ears and into residencies, fellowships, and practice. As a entor who cares about students, faculty peers, and precep-

ors, I try to live my personal mission to link individuals to

pportunities. Sometimes that means writing many person- lized, detailed letters of reference or awards nominations, nd other times my mission guides me to mentor students ho are having difficulties. Advocacy and leadership were robably engrained in me from activities in high school and ollege, but for professional students and practitioners I now the skills to lead and advocate are essential for them o be successful. Not only do I teach leadership and advo- acy, but I “wrote the book” with colleagues. What a priv- lege.

What does this mean as I reflect on a career that now pans decades? Often when we occupy ourselves with a ultitude of daily tasks and activities, we are so involved ith the immediate that we do not dream the possible. We ay not take time to ensure we are true to our essential

ense of being in our profession. This is another way of aying we are so busy doing that we forget what we want to e. This is true in practice and in academia. Although my aculty colleagues recently extolled the benefits of life bal- nce to the graduates attending the “Last Lecture” spon- ored by our Phi Lambda Sigma chapter, few of us can laim to have achieved such balance. Even with work de- ands, stress, and uncertainty in health care, I find no

reater professional satisfaction than advocating with other harmacists to advance practice opportunities, preparing ew graduates for a career growing into its potential, and oicing solutions to issues that flourish only if we remain ilent, ignorant, or passive. By fully being people of integ- ity and professional presence, we create our future built on xperience and traditions and transformed by being caring, onnected, and committed. What do you want to be? Re- ardless of your academic rank or tenure status, nearly all aculty have benefited from a mentor or adviser at some oint.

Cynthia J. Boyle, PharmD University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of

Pharmacy and Health Professions,

Princess Anne, MD