Career Pharmacists Aim to Develop Skills, Businesses

What do working pharmacists aspire to do next? Five pharmacists share their short-term and long-term goals.

Bhavana Mutha, RPh, BCMAS

Staff Pharmacist, CVS: Woodstock, Georgia

Short-Term Goals: Bhavana enjoys patient education and strives to continue educating patients on immunizations, including influenza and expanded vaccines. She also aims to consult with patients on the national opioid crisis epidemic through education on pain management strategies and use of Narcan in an emergency crisis. Additionally, she plans to continue volunteering her time to teach middle and high school students about the opioid epidemic.

Long-Term Goals: Bhavana will continue to develop leadership and management skills and hopes to make a positive impact in health care with new technology and innovations. She would like to be a role model liason in connection with industrial leadership, and is also planning to become a Certified Geriatric Pharmacist.

Bryan Piskadlo, RPh

Owner, Plymouth Park Pharmacy, Fair Lawn, New Jersey

Short-Term Goals: Bryan plans to focus on patient outreach, through social media and word of mouth. By continuing to maintain high standards for his pharmacy and helping people with their medications and saving money, he hopes to continue to develop patient relationships while reaching new patients in the community. Because dealing with reimbursements is a difficult issue right now, Bryan strives to choose buying groups carefully and will take the extra time to price shop among vendors. Another big focus is creating accessibility—Bryan wants the pharmacy to be easy to use for people on the go.

Long-Term Goals: Bryan plans to grow the business and have the ability to hire additional staff where needed. He would also like to work towards a remodel, where he can refresh the store and the brand.

Lynne Spiegel, PharmD, BCGP, CCP

Consultant Medication Therapy Management Pharmacist, Princeton, New Jersey

Short-Term Goals: Lynne plans to obtain MTM board certification to continue to build on her credibility and confidence. She has been providing MTM services for 4 years (partnering with independent pharmacies and MTM consulting companies), and hopes to grown her own consulting services.

Long-Term Goals: Lynne’s vision is to expand past the telephone and develop Collaborative Practice Agreements with physicians to include chronic disease management. Combining her past pharmaceutical industry experience with her current MTM clinical expertise, she hopes to advance her pharmacy career in a unique way.

Arun Tandon, RPh

Owner, Advanced Health Pharmacy, Portage, Michigan

Short-Term Goals: Arun hopes to help more patients in his community by expanding and invigorating his marketing efforts. He plans to use various channels to meet these goals—TV, Internet, in-person networking, and social media.

Long-Term Goals: Arun plans to create new programs in his pharmacy for his patients to stay healthier by taking less medications and learning to take charge of their health.

Ashley Gulyas, PharmD

Pharmacist in Charge for a national specialty pharmacy

Short-Term Goals: Ashley strives to increase foot traffic to the retail program by expanding local clinical services such as MTM, immunization, and adherence programs. She would like to be more active in the community by hosting events such as informational or educational sessions at assisted living facilities. Ashley will strive to provide more personalized service to distance patients to gain trust and loyalty. She hopes to move into a higher managerial role in 2019.

Long-Term Goals: Ashley will create a clinical program to educate pharmacists in the company. She would like to update the adjudication software for a more streamlined, transparent process. Working with corporate, she plans to design and implement a best practice guideline for expired/return medications to maximize profit, minimize carrying costs, and reduce waste. She also plans to establish corporate-wide collaborative practice agreements and standing orders to increase the autonomy of pharmacists and propel our profession into working at the top of our degree. She also plans to learn more about the business side, such as analyzing the profits & losses statement, which she also expects will impress her husband.

What are your short-term and long-term goals? Let us know on Facebook (Facebook.com/PharmacyTimes) and Twitter (@Pharmacy_Times).