APhA 2025: Embracing Change and Passion in Pharmacy Practice

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Emlah Tubuo, PharmD, owner of Powell Pharmacy, CEO and founder of Intentional Living with Emlah, on her presentation at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Tubuo discusses the fundamental similarities across pharmacy practice pathways, emphasizing that all pharmacists share the goal of patient care and better outcomes. She highlights the critical importance of soft skills in career transitions, arguing that while clinical aptitude is strong, human skills are what truly enable pharmacists to excel in different settings. The conversation explores the value of embracing change, maintaining an open mindset, and pursuing certifications in areas of genuine passion. Tubuo also offers advice to new graduates, encouraging them to view emerging career possibilities as opportunities and to continuously learn, grow, and give back to the profession.

Pharmacy Times

Can you describe a key similarity between community pharmacy and health-system pharmacy that you've observed or experienced.

Emlah Tubuo

Well, I love a quote by Maya Angelou, and this quote is, 'we are more alike than unalike my friends'. I probably misquoted that, but that's kind of what she says. There is so much similarity between all the pharmacy practice pathways that I when I see providers segregating or niching too much, it bothers me, because we are all the same. Our ultimate goal is patient care. Our ultimate goal is better outcomes for the patient. When we talk about switching career pathways, it starts with your mind. It starts with you. As long as we have fulfilled pharmacists behind those patient care systems, in the community pharmacy, in the health system pharmacy. As long as we have a fulfilled pharmacist who's passionate about their job, that's a similarity, right there. The patient care, the outcomes, and how much effort every pharmacist puts in to get that outcome. I think that that's usually where it is.

Pharmacy Times

What specific knowledge do you believe is essential for a pharmacist transitioning from community to a specialized health-system role?

Tubuo

I read an article by Amy Edmondson; she's a Harvard business professor. She said soft skills are the hard skills. We talk about the hard skills, we talk about all the certifications, the certificates, and we talk about the soft skills, which basically are the human skills. How personable are you? How human are you? Looking at the those transferring skills, I think as pharmacists, we are often subconsciously taught to downplay our soft skills, because the clinical aptitude is usually not a problem for pharmacists. Clinical aptitude is usually almost 100% for almost every pharmacist that I've encountered, but the part that is difficult for us to transfer are the soft skills. That's really what it is. I say, hard skills get you in the door, and soft skills take you further. If we focus on our soft skills, we can be able to transition from any career pathway to the other and be effective and competent in all those.

Pharmacy Times

If you were transitioning from a retail pharmacy to a hospital inpatient setting, what strategies would you employ to quickly adapt to the new workflow and patient care model?

Tubuo

It's interesting you asked me that question, because I have gone both ways. I left community, went into the hospital, left the hospital, came back to community. I believe you have to find what works for you. You have to find what lights your fire, what makes you passionate about practicing. That changes depending on the time of life and your space in which you are in life.I just feel like it's really important. What is most important is your mindset and your ability to acknowledge and embrace change because most people fear change. We just transitioned to a new software system at a pharmacy, and one of my pharmacists came in, and within 2 hours, she goes, I like this new software, and everybody gave her the look because that's really not something you hear. Everybody's like, oh my gosh we have to learn a new software. We have to learn this new EHR and everything. But if you come with that attitude, like, I love this new software, look at the things that I can do that we were not able to do before. It really changes how you embrace those changes, and it changes how your day goes at work. So, I think it's really important to just have an open mindset and the ability to learn new things. In the past, 5 years of my life, I have learned more things than the past 20 put together. If you open your mind there is always something I can learn from a new software, a new work environment, a new person at work, I think our day goes much better and I think that is related.

Pharmacy Times

Can you share an experience where you had to adapt to a new pharmacy setting or role? What was the biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?

Tubuo

At my pharmacy, I have a sign that says, 'the deadline for complaints was yesterday' and I really adhere by that. As pharmacists, we spend a lot of time complaining. We find people who will listen to all our complaints and all our problems, and we spend majority of our time complaining, and we know that that's really not going to get us anywhere. Complaining is different from advocating. So, you want to find people who are working on solutions. You want to find people who are putting solutions on the table, who are working to get a positive change. I talk about positive social connections as a pillar of intentional living. One way to make me happier as a pharmacist is to spend time with you if you love your job. If I find another pharmacist like you and your passionate about what you do, I spend more time with you. It's going to increase my level of passion. So moving from community pharmacy to hospital or academia or health systems anywhere, you just have to be passionate one about what you do.I was talking to pharmacists earlier about certifications. I say, do not do a certificate or a certification in an area that you're not passionate about. You have to be very passionate about it in order to do a certificate on it. Don't do a certificate because it's going to look good on paper or it's going to help you get a promotion. No, don't do it. Save yourself the time, effort, energy, and money and do a certification in an area of practice that lights your heart. That's really what propels your career, because that minimizes all the stresses and strains that go through the changes when you move from one place to another. Augment those soft skills, because that's really what helps us to move from one space to another as a pharmacist.

Pharmacy Times

What 'soft skills' do you think are most important for successfully transitioning between different pharmacy environments?

Tubuo

It's interesting that you asked me that question, because I was just chatting with other pharmacists. If you put a bunch of pharmacists in a room, you can tell because they will gravitate to each other. The people in a residency, they will go together; the community pharmacists will stand together; the health system pharmacists, they just gravitate with their groups. I have a 13-year-old daughter, and that age is the friend group thing where you spend time with the people who are doing just exactly what you're doing, and you don't want to venture out of your workspace. You don't want to venture out of what you know already. But I challenge pharmacists — I say, get out. Make friends with non-pharmacists, make friends with pharmacists in different workspaces. Not because you want to transition there, because when we talk about transitions in pharmacy careers is not just about moving from where I currently work. It could really be about helping me find fulfillment where I am right now so I can elevate myself and elevate the people that are around me. So that's really how I look at it. It's really important to step outside of your current practice to embrace new ideas from new people, learn from them and get inspiration from them. That way, I'll bring it back and elevate everybody around me.

Pharmacy Times

What advice would you give to a new grad transitioning from hospital to community?

Tubuo

New grads in this day and age, reminds me my son is a 15-year-old sophomore, and they had a talk that where a career coach came and talked to them. He said about 50% of the jobs that they will be doing are not yet existent. So, you could look at that one of 2 ways. You could look at that and say, oh, my goodness, that's scary. Or you can look at it and go, wow, the possibilities. And I prefer to take the second option. The possibilities are endless. As a new grad, you have everything in front of you, multiple pathways, different branches. I could say I've been in several different spaces in pharmacy, as somebody who has transitioned quite a bit myself, I have learned I am the pharmacist I am today because of the different people that I met along the way. The pharmacies that have helped train me, and what I've learned from the different spaces, when I was in community pharmacy, when I was in hospital, when I came back, when I'm consulting as an IT pharmacist. All the different spaces that I've have contributed to who I am today. Who hires me next, or who I work for next gets all of that experience that comes with me. So, as you go on, you carry more, you take more, and you give more. It's about giving and growing and learning and giving. I think that's really pharmacy practice, and it only gets better. That's really my advice for new grads — it only gets better. Don't limit yourself.