Experts Discuss Pharmacists' Roles in Addressing Over Prescribing

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Public Health Matters with me, your host, Dr. Christina Madison, also known as the Public Health Pharmacist. This podcast series is part of Pharmacy Times’ Pharmacy Focus podcast series, and today I have another incredible guest. His social media persona is The Phit Pharmacist, but I will let Walter introduce himself. I don't know if everyone knows you but I'm really excited to have you come on, especially after we had the pleasure of meeting in person at the recent APhA meeting. So, without further ado, Walter, please introduce yourself. Tell the audience a little bit about yourself and about your background.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Hey, thank you, Christina. Thanks for having me on your podcast and it's been a scheduled time thing, so I'm glad to finally have a chance to have me on. Excited to be here. My name is Walter Oronsaye, pharmacist, I work in the community setting. I've been a pharmacist for about 6 years now, or more than 5 years now. So, my platform I created is called My Phit Pharmacist. It is a social media platform. I make content and health related content on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, everything. So, I'm on everywhere. I make health-related content, talking about pharmacy issues, pharmacy-related topics, health care-related topics, but I always try to keep it light and engaging.

I also do sponsored posts, I do collaborations with other health entities, health agencies, constantly shed light on a lot of issues that affect pharmacy and the health care team. So, I’ve got a platform.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Yeah, for sure. So, your name is very descriptive, right? So, Phit with the P. I will say, meeting you in person, that the name is fitting. You are quite fit. So, I just wanted to mention, you know, that you do have this passion around fitness and around health. And so, I just wanted to maybe talk a little bit about where that comes from and if you always had fitness as part of your daily routine. And maybe just talk a little bit about, you know, where that comes from?

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, thank you. Well, yeah, fitness has always been important to me. I mean, I work out daily, I guess, or try workout daily. You could call me a gym rat. I feel as pharmacists, we always counsel patients on lifestyle modifications, you know, take your medicine, take it on time, watch what you eat, you know. So, I feel like it'd be hypocritical if I'm not practicing what I preach. So, I tried to implement fitness in my lifestyle. It helps, you know, with stress, exercise, and gives you mental clarity. It's a good way to just, you know, maintain your weight. So, I work out daily, I think that people should always incorporate fitness in their lifestyle.

We see a lot of patients, there are a lot of these metabolic diseases that we can deal with in the pharmacy setting. If not prevented, it can be managed with implementing fitness in their lifestyle. So, I feel like it's a very, very important thing. Plus, you know, you look good, feel good. Fitness is good. So, I just think that it's very important to implement in your lifestyle.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: So, any chance you would divulge your fitness plan with us? I don't know how you are able to get your muscles. I mean, not everybody wants muscles, but I definitely agree with the health aspect. What is the cardiovascular recommendation—30 minutes at least 5 times a week? So, whether that's 30 minutes individually or, you know, put in an hour, but I think it's 120 minutes per week. I don't know if everybody can do daily, but if you want to divulge what your exercise plan is so that we can all aspire to be as fit as you.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: I get asked this question a lot—how do I stay fit? How do I manage? What do I do with my workout regimen? The thing is, the American Heart Association recommends about 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, that's, you know, just regular walking. That's if you calculate about 20 minutes, 25 minutes a day. Most people can divide that time, you know, just to get a nice little brisk workout in. You don't need a gym membership. I know some gym membership is very, very cheap now and very, very affordable. I won't say cheap, but very, very affordable. But you don't need a gym to work out. You can work out at home. When I was an undergrad, I started when I was an undergrad, my favorite person in the world was Wendy's. Not the person, but the restaurant named Wendy’s. So, I always got the double stack and frosty, that was like my go-to meal. So, for the double stack and the frosty, I would pay $3 maximum for 3 days. I don't know, a double stack now is like $5, so I couldn't even afford that lifestyle right now. But I was addicted to double stacks and a frosty, every single day, I always got it. And so, I've got to catch my summer, hey, I was gaining a lot of weight, you know, I was starting to feel different. Starting to check myself and say, “Hey, let me just, you know, chill on these double stacks.” And you know, I started to focus more, be more intentional with my fitness and I found out that you don't really need too much. You don't need too much to actually stay fit. You could work out in the comfort of your own home, you're probably in a chair, you could use a weight if you want to. But you could use your home, you could use your own body to help for resistance training, you could bike to work. So, you don't need much, you know, to work out and that's the magic in it.

So, I always tell people you don't really need too much. If you're consistent, try and have some consistency with it and be more intentional in your health and your fitness. And you can always find a way to stay fit.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: No, no, go on telling us your secret sauce of how you stay fit.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Cardio. Cardio is number one. I mean, when I'm able to go to the gym, I do the Stairmaster for about 20 minutes. And then I do core workouts for about 10 to 15 minutes. And now, later, I'll lift weights, either resistance bands or I'll do some free weights, free dumbbells if I'm working out in the gym. But if I'm at home, I have a pull up bar. So, I do sit ups, crunches, you know, there you go. Yeah, so it's not too much, not too much. But, you know, just consistency.

And then diet is the number one thing. What you eat is the most important thing. You can work out as much as you can. You can work out as much as you want to, but if you're not eating right, then it all just goes away.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: All right, well tell us about the diet then, friend, let us know. What is the thing that we should all be eating? I personally love food and I think maybe sometimes I love food too much because it doesn't love you back. I don't do the double stacks, but like my big thing is I really like salty foods. And I'm getting older—I know I look young, but I'm getting older—and so I have to worry about my blood pressure and so I can't add salt to things. I really love savory foods and so I know that's hard. I like things that are spicy, and I have horrible GERD, so I really can't eat that. I know I just need a whole, like, redo of my diet, I'm sure. So, tell me a little bit about what you're eating. Like, are you eating just like white rice and vegetables and chicken breasts all the time? Or what do you eat over there?

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: My weakness is bread. I love bread. I can eat a whole loaf of bread in just one sitting, so I try my best to stay away from bread, especially if it's like a sweet, soft, you know, fresh off the oven bread. Just so good. So, I try to avoid bread. The thing with diet for me is mainly what you don't eat more than what you do eat. I know when I when I started my fitness journey, I actually had a few things I had to cut off. I knew it was sugary drinks, sodas. And you don't have to cut things off, per se, if you're able to just reduce it. You know, do less of it. You know, drink these things more occasionally. Sugary drinks are number one. Carbs like bread, processed foods. A lot of those processed foods, you know…We tell hypertensive patients to reduce those processed foods because they're full of preservatives and salts. And things like that can always raise the blood pressure. So, I said carbs, salty foods, sugary drinks, a lot of snacking on candies, and you know, things like that can also mess up your diet.

One main thing, too, is what times you eat and the time you stop eating. Like, in pharmacy school, we study that if you're able to stop eating, if you don't eat at the time when you're least active, that that can help you manage your weight. So, if you're eating late at night and you fall asleep, you could easily gain a few pounds very, very easily. So, it is more about things that you avoid, more than things that you actually eat. So, that's what I'm trying to implement in my fitness journey.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Have you ever thought about looking at and working with a nutritionist? Or have you ever worked with a nutritionist before? I'm just curious, because it's something that I tend to recommend for my patients, especially having challenges with, like, food allergies or just having stomach upset. A lot of times, it's just because they truly have an allergy to the food, or it doesn't go well with their biology. So, I know there's certain vegetables and certain fruits that some people can't eat, like some people are unable to eat avocados because it can strain their digestion. So, just little things like that. I mean, I know there's certain things that I talk with my patients, just to help them with their journey. But I think part of the thing that I really like about you is that you call it a journey, and that it's a lifestyle, and it's not a diet, right? So, when you change your eating habits or you change your exercise or you're increasing your physical activity, it's a lifestyle change. And it's really about the development of a new habit. So, do you know about how long it took you to get to the point where you were able to exercise every day and have this very disciplined approach? Did it take you overnight? Or did it take some time?

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, it definitely took some time. It definitely wasn't overnight. I know when I was in, like I said before, when I was an undergrad, I came to a moment where I was looking at myself [saying], “Okay, I'm eating too much, eating too much junk food. Let me kind of just chill a little bit.” But yeah, it was a journey. And like I always tell people, when you start a fitness or wellness journey, don't do it just to lose a couple pounds here and there. You have to make sure it's implemented in your lifestyle, then it becomes easier if you make it a habit. There was some research that said that, okay, to make something a habit, you need at least 21 days of doing something consistently. The more recent ones say that you need about 59 to 70 days of more consistency, which doesn't mean you're doing it every single day. It just means that you can miss a few days here and there, but you're being intentional. You know, say, “Hey, this is for the long term, not just for short term gain.” So just, you know, just making it a habit and then being intentional with it.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I've read, you know, The Power of Habits, so I definitely know that it takes quite a bit of effort in order to incorporate new habits and new skills into your lifestyle.

With that being said, one of the things I wanted to talk with you about is your social media presence and your social media influence. I know that you briefly mentioned it during your introduction, but for those of our audience who haven't heard of the Phit Pharmacist and are not familiar with your social media presence, can you talk about sort of the rationale for starting it? And, you know, some of the things that you're most proud about that you have been able to bring attention and awareness to?

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Thank you, Doctor Madison. So, I started my platform after I graduated pharmacy school. I was always interested in making creating videos when I was in pharmacy school; even before that I was always making videos about, you know, anything I learned, like making content. So, when I was on social media when I was in pharmacy school, I frequent social media a lot. And I would see that there's a lot of medical professionals on social media, but pharmacists were probably the least represented on social media. But in the real world, we’re the most accessible health care professional. For good or for bad, you know, it's in a community setting, like the pharmacies are just wide open for the public to see. So, why wouldn't I want to, you know, extend that to the social media platforms. I believe that pharmacists are probably the easiest health care professional to talk to, we see patients every day. They, you know, just pour their hearts out about what they can’t tell their prescribers or their providers in their setting. I feel like people feel more comfortable in speaking to pharmacists.

So, with that, I created this platform, kind of to help bring that kind of relationship and engagement, you know, on a social media platform. I create content, health-related content, pharmacy-related content, things that affect health care professionals, things that affect a lot of my patients that we see every day. But my style is very, very different. It's very non-formal; I keep it engaging and keep it funny. There’s a lot of humor, sarcasm. You know, I add some levity to some topics and issues that we deal with a lot in our setting. So, I know that you do a lot of public health and stuff, you do a great job, of course.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: I don't have the same level of influence that you have, but I’m very grateful to have another fellow pharmacist that is putting themselves out there. Because let's be honest, you know, most pharmacists don't really like to be in the public eye. So, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the exposure and I want to shout it from the rooftops, you know, that we're one of the most underutilized resources within the health care system. And I go around singing our praises. I'm like, did you know a pharmacist could do this? Did you know pharmacists could do this? I love your levity. I love it. I think it's great. And it's funny, because, you know, for those who will be watching this on YouTube, you can see you're very, like, you smile all the time. This conversation has been great. But when you're on social media, you have this like very stern look on your face, and it's so funny, because like, I would never know that until we had this conversation. That's like your persona, right? You know, because you do the green screen stuff. You're always like pointing, looking at that. I'm like, man, he's so dramatic.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, I mean, the drama is definitely something I like to do on social media. I mean, with health information, it is hard to make health information exciting, you know? Most times it's very formal and very proper, but in order to affect public health and to have an effect on people and to have people share your content, you know, to share informative content, you have to make it somewhat engaging. But, you know, also factual and make sure that you crossed all the I's and dot the T’s. But yeah, make it engaging. Making engaging content is a challenge, but so far, I think it's doing okay. I'm doing okay with it, but I just hope to continue what I'm doing with it in order to help affect people, you know, and have people share the content.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: I would say it is a skill and an art and you have mastered it.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Christina Madison, PharmD, BCACP, AAHIVP: So, with that being said, I know one of the things—because obviously we want to talk a little bit about public health and sort of some of the things that have come up recently within public health. One of the biggest things that I know we talked about, in particular, because it affects so many different aspects of the health care system, is challenges with the opioid crisis, and sort of someone who is historically marginalized versus maybe somebody who traditionally may not have been seen as somebody who may have challenges with substance use. And how you see the community pharmacist, you know, stepping up, especially now that we know that Narcan is going over the counter. And I know this is something that you've talked about a little bit on your platform, but I sort of wanted to have you discuss a bit about how you educate your patients and how you deal with people maybe needing test strips or needing to know where harm reduction resources are.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, yeah. So good that you brought that up. So, I recently made a video on Narcan after it was becoming over the counter, which I think is a great thing. Of course, you know, I think that having given people access to the Narcan, data on the life-saving medication is a good thing for public health. Right? In the community settings, we deal with a lot of opioids, you know, as we see some prescribers over prescribing opioids, even for acute reasons. A lot of pharmacists are going through a lot right now, with the opioid crisis in America. We’re trying to help patients understand that, you know, these opioid drugs are very, very dangerous, very, very harmful. Like, they can be very, very dangerous if not utilized correctly. So, I think that, you know, with my platform, I'm able to educate patients on over prescribing. I know these aren’t related, but I had one video that I made, it was about ibuprofen—

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: It's not out of the realm of possibility, because as somebody who has a violent, horrible allergy to ibuprofen, I wish more people talked about the dangers of ibuprofen.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yes, yeah. So, there was one prescription that was floating around on the internet, Twitter. And it was one prescription about ibuprofen 800 milligrams, and they wrote down, the person wrote down 2 tablets. Well, it was 10 tablets. I think it was 10 tablets every like 8 hours, which is a crazy amount. So that's just a little snippet of what pharmacists deal with, what we see. I know, it's a problem.

But we also see a lot of the opioids that are being overprescribed, too. So, I kind of shed some light on, you know, what pharmacists kind of have to deal with, things that we have to catch on a daily basis. And if you're dealing with the opioid crisis, you know, a lot of these drugs are—I mean, luckily, now with Narcan you can actually reverse some of those effects—but a lot of those opioid drugs that we see, we have to make interventions with the prescribers, you know, get things organized, educate some prescribers that aren't very aware of what we're monitoring. You know, DEA gets involved if you see some pharmacies pushing out, you know, more and more and more opioids. You see pill mills, you know, here and there. So, you know, it's a very stressful situation, you don't want to dispense medication that can harm a patient. But I'm glad that Narcan is out and available to most people now and they can actually get the help that they need. So that's a very, very positive thing in our communities right now.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: So, I think that it's great that you're bringing attention to those prescriptions that are like, what was this person thinking? Right? It's been a hot minute since I've worked in a community [pharmacy]. I think it's been, oh my gosh, like 16 years since I've worked—no, 17 years since I've worked at a community [pharmacy]. So, I've been a pharmacist for almost 20 years. Yeah, so I've been I've been a pharmacist since 2004. And so, I practiced for a little bit in community and then obviously, I was doing residency. And it's scary to me, all of the things that community pharmacists have to deal with now that I did not have to deal with when I was first practicing. And I'm curious, you know, if you have advice for people who are burnt out or, you know, concerned about the pharmacy profession and like ways that you can enhance your job, and your quality of your job. Because I know, like, because of the fact that you have this platform and because you are doing all this content, you have something that you love, and you have something that you're passionate about, not to mention that you're good at, that's offsetting and sort of supplementing what you're doing in pharmacy. And so, I'm just curious, is that something that you would advise others to do? Or, I don't know, what's your like pearls of wisdom that you would want to leave us with as a fairly new pharmacist, but also somebody who's making a really big impact?

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, I would advise if a pharmacist wanted to get into the social media content space, if that's for you—I mean, it’s not for everybody— but if that's something that you want to do, you can just start it. Because the beauty about social media is that you can make it whatever you want it to be. So, if you want to create that same type of impact that you're having in your pharmacy setting, you're going to create that for the world to see, you can create that on social media. You can, you know, make content, inform the public about different topics or issues on social media. It doesn't take much; they know what to do. I mean, for me, all I have is a green screen, I just record, I record on my phone. So, it doesn't take much to make an impact on social media.

Social media is a big, big platform, and because it is a big platform, it has a very, very huge tool that we as pharmacists can use to make a change. You know, since the pandemic, since when everything shut down, everything was going crazy. Everybody was buying all the toilet paper in the world. That's when I realized, hey, you know, social media is actually a good tool to create content because during the pandemic, you saw a lot of misinformation being spread via random people. You know, there was one post that was once posted about the syringes or the needles they were using for COVID-19 vaccines. They have one, I think it was about a 10-inch needle.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: And don’t get me started on the supplies that we got from the Strategic National Stockpile. I was like, these look like they were left over from the H1N1 pandemic. They were crazy, those needles! And I was like, oh, these little old people. I was scrambling to try to get things that were [better]. But yes, I agree. I mean, that is a perfect example of how social media can be used for good and you can bring awareness to something that people are struggling with but may not know how to get the word out correctly.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, and it's very easy to get the word out on social media. You make content, if people like it, they will share it. You know, one post can go from 5 views to 1 million views if you're able to make content that people want to share. I mean, there's always things you have to do behind the scenes, you know, working the algorithm, you can learn which platform you want to post on, the type of content you want to post. And knowing the algorithm for every single web product, platforms you want to post on. So, I think for pharmacists, if you don't feel like you're making the change—which you're already making a big difference in the pharmacy setting—but you can always go to social media and make more of an impact. Because you could definitely reach more people on social media. So, that's the beauty of social media to reach a lot more people and make a lot more changes and progress, too.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: And I would also add, too, that I think for some pharmacist that may be a little bit gun shy with being on camera, you don't actually have to be on camera to make an impact. You can do social media posts with static photos. You can do blog posts, you can do op-eds, you can write. I know there's a lot of areas that they're looking for content from pharmacists. There's this service called HARO, where you basically get alerts when there are reporters that are looking for health care professionals to comment on stories or give quotes. So, there's lots of different places that you can engage and get, you know, a broader audience that don't necessarily require you to create video content. And so, I do want to make sure that I point that out as well because I know there are some people who don't necessarily want to be on camera, or don't want to always have to be camera ready. I know that is something I also struggle with.

So, I started during the beginning of the pandemic, when I was still doing in-person interviews before everything shut down. I started keeping a media bag in my car, so I'd have like an extra change of clothes and like makeup so that if I got asked to do any in-person or in studio, I would have something ready to go. Because the media cycle is so quick, you know. If I get asked to do a media hit, I usually have anywhere from an hour to maybe 2-hour lead before I have to do the interview. For bigger appearances, like national stuff, sometimes I'll have a couple of weeks, but like, that's the luxury. But yeah, I mean, again, it's not for the faint of heart. If anybody's been on Twitter lately, they know that Twitter can sometimes not be super kind.

If this is something that you want to do or something that you want to enter into, just know when you’re public, the better you get, the more haters you may have. Right? So, like, people say the not nicest things on social media, so just be prepared. You know, I was reading this book by Amy Porterfield. It's called Two Weeks’ Notice, and she has a chapter that's called “Boo You Ain’t For Everybody.” And I just think that it's such good advice, right? So, like, you can't measure your back end on someone else's front end, right? So, like, what we're seeing on social media is people's perfect day, right? Like you're not seeing all of the behind the scenes and all of the stuff that they had to do to get to that point. So, try not to do the comparison game and really just do what you love, and what fills your cup up and what you're passionate about. And I always talk about this, like, what is your zone of genius? Which is like the thing that you're innately good at, that you're better at than anybody else, and that you just like lose all track of time because you're so engrossed in it, and it brings you joy. And that's the thing I want more pharmacists to be able to do, is to live in their passion and to be able to make a meaningful and lasting change in the world.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, yeah, that's very well put together. Definitely some good pearls for social media because it is. Social media is a crazy, crazy—especially Twitter—is a crazy place where you can start to compare yourself to other people. It's very easy to do that. Because when you open your app, all you see is other pages and other channels, they’re doing great. So, I mean, it's good to kind of stay in your own lane and stay in your space. And, you know, just keep your head clear. And just do what you love. Do what you like to do, and post what you would want other people to see. Of course, post what you want other people to see from you. So yeah, it does make it a lot easier for you. But how are you able to manage? Like with your plan? How are you going to manage all these? You know, because I'm going to see your interview on TV, on Good Morning America, like how are you able to manage that and still be a pharmacist? You know, and still do what you're doing? How do you manage that?

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: It is challenging. First and foremost, I will acknowledge that some days, I may not do it well. Part of it is I'm very scheduled. So, I do my best to put everything on my calendar. The other thing, too, is that this year I hired a personal assistant, which has been like a game changer. So, I am a firm believer in hiring help. Like people will say, “Oh, you do a great job.” Girl, you had to hire somebody to hire somebody, right? So that's me. So, full disclosure, I hire help, like for all of the things that I need help with in my life. So, when you sit down and think about it, what is the thing in your life that you hate doing but could outsource? That thing is the thing you hire people for. Yes. For me? Calendars, scheduling organization, blech—right? Like, just give me time to do me. And what that is is me showing up as my best self, being around others, being on stage, being in front of people, being on TV, right? Like that is my happy place. So, for me to do that, I need somebody that's scheduled it to get it on the page. And so that's why I made the decision to hire somebody to help me. And in the beginning of the year, it was an investment and I had to think about, you know, what are some other things that maybe will have to take a backseat for me to be able to hire this help and looking at it as opportunity cost that I'm losing. Because I'm doing all of these things that is not my zone of genius that I can hire somebody else at $20 an hour to do. Right? Or you could hire a [virtual assistant], which is typically somebody from another country, and it's like even less. So, you're talking anywhere from like $10 to $15 an hour, in some cases even less than that. So, it depends. But I'm a firm believer in if you don't know how to do something, don't just try to figure it out on your own, because it's going to take you a lot longer. Hire help, hire somebody who's done it and has already figured out the bumps, and can give you their secret sauce. Right?

You know, there's so many things that I wish that I had known when I started this journey on being kind of like a public figure and being more in the media space. One is like protecting your intellectual property, when to trademark, when to hire an attorney, when to have somebody to review contracts, like all of these things are things that I wish somebody had told me, because nobody teaches that to you as a pharmacist, right? But on the back end of that, you also have to remember, like, I'm still a clinician, I'm still a pharmacist, I'm still working in my community, I'm still helping nonprofits. Like, that's still my passion, I'm just navigating it in a different space now that I'm able to make a bigger impact. So, instead of just helping my little bubble, I'm able to help more people. And I feel like that's kind of where you're coming from, too. And I don't want to say that it's easy and I don't want to say that it came naturally to me, because it didn’t.

And so again, that's why I want to be truly honest and transparent that it was a journey. It's still a journey, and I'm still learning, but I hired help. And that's, I think, really what it comes down to if you see something that you want to do, but don't know the path to get there. Find someone else who's doing it and is doing it well and ask them how they did it. A lot of times people will tell you and they won't even ask you to pay them. A lot of times it's a vanity thing, right? Like, appeal to people's vanity. They're like, “You think I'm amazing; I’ll tell you exactly how I did it.” Seriously, like, appeal to people's vanity. Talk to them.

I'm a big fan of LinkedIn. I don't know if you use LinkedIn, but LinkedIn, for me, LinkedIn is like, that's the platform that I definitely have the most engagement on. And I have reached out to people and, you know, cold called or cold messaged them. And I get way more of a response on LinkedIn than I do DM’ing people on Instagram or emailing people without any warm introduction. So, I again, follow people, comment, look and see what people are doing that you want to do, or you want to emulate. And ask how they did it. And a lot of times, people—like every coach that I know has a coach, everybody who I know that is doing super well has hired help. And I know it's kind of a dirty word because a lot of times I think pharmacists don't want to invest in themselves, but you need to invest in yourself regardless of if you're a pharmacist or not. You just need to invest in yourself. And that means continuous education, professional development, that may even be like getting a therapist and dealing with your childhood trauma. Because a lot of times that'll prevent you from being your best self, whatever it is. You may need to put an investment in and whether that's a money investment or a time and sweat, equity investment, just like your fitness journey. You had to do the work right to get to where you are, you have to put in the time.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, yeah, I definitely believe in hiring help. Recently, I was creating my website for pharmacists and the last time I worked on a website was in, like, middle school or middle high school. So, I got my computer, I'm like, okay, how am I going to build my website? And so, I stared at a computer for about an hour and I'm like, you know what, I'm not going to do this. Let me find someone that can make a website for me. I hired somebody and they did it in a day. So that time that I wasted, I could have wasted weeks, months making the website, but I hired somebody and outsourced. Always outsource help, outsource, you know, maybe I can make stuff for you. And you'd be surprised how much it might not be that expensive to pay someone to do something. Then the time you save, that you might waste trying to figure it out yourself. You could use that time for, you know, developing and working on yourself, making yourself a better a better person that you want to show to the world. So, definitely invest in yourself. It can be kind of scary, you know, when you're going to spend the money. But in the long run, it's worth it. It's worth it at the end because you're saving yourself a lot of time. A lot of headaches, too. So, I definitely believe in that. Did I answer your question?

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Yes, yes.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: The way I'm seeing you here and you're doing all these things, like, how do you do all this stuff? And then your secretary shot me an email, “Oh, she has 30 minutes.” That's pretty cool.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Which person? My PA? She's my personal assistant.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Yeah, so I'm sure that that definitely takes a big, big load off of you, that you can do your other things and, you know, have 100% commitment to those things, too, without worrying.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: [It’s] one of the best investments I made in 2023. She's delightful. So, with that being said, this has been such a wonderful conversation. And thank you so much, again, for your visibility and everything that you're doing for community pharmacists. I know that you bring a lot of levity to the situation, but you are bringing, you know, a lot of exposure to really important issues within pharmacy, especially things around medications that are on backorder and how that impacts you as a pharmacist and how that impacts your patients. So, I really want to just applaud you and say thank you for the work that you're doing. Because I do think that we need to have more pharmacists that are more visible because we are the most underutilized resource within the health care system. So, if people want to find you, follow you, figure out how you've been so successful in your life, how can they reach out to you? How can they find all of these really cool videos that we spoke of during today's interview?

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: So, thank you for that. Thank you for that. You can follow me on Instagram @myphitpharmacist. I just created a website that I'm launching soon; it's phitpharmacist.com. I'm also on TikTok @PhitPharmacist, I'm on YouTube at Phit Pharmacist, I'm on Reddit, I'm on Snapchat. I'm on everything, just Phit Pharmacist. If you want to watch the content, you know, I hope you are able to look at it and enjoy it and engage in and share with all your friends and all your colleagues. It's a lot of work that goes into it and behind the scenes, and I always try to make, you know, quality content that pharmacists and other health care professionals can enjoy and share it too. So, hopefully you guys can check it out.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Awesome. Well, thank you so much again for your time and I will be sure to add all of your social media handles to our show notes so that people can follow, like, comment, and share.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Thank you. Oh, you didn't see my office. If you watch The Office, if anybody watches The Office?

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Yes, I see that. That gentleman and his colleagues are in a Cheerios commercial now. Did you know that? I don't know if you watch regular TV.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Only YouTube for me. Only YouTube.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Yeah, exactly. My husband does the same thing. My husband's younger so he the YouTube life. So, with that being said, I hope we haven't like ruined anything for copyright infringement, because we just said like multiple brand names. We are not selling anything on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, any of those things. So, from a legal standpoint, I think we're covered. It is for informational purposes only.

But yes, again, I'm so happy that we had this conversation. It was a long time coming and I'm really grateful that you were able to spend the time with me this afternoon, and I wish you nothing but continued success. And I hope we get to collaborate and do something in the future.

Walter Oronsaye, PharmD: Most definitely. Thank you for having me on this, your wonderful platform. And thank you for doing what you're doing with the pharmacy profession. You're definitely holding up pharmacists at a higher platform and, you know, letting people know what pharmacists can do. So, kudos to you.

Christina Madison, PharmD, FCCP, AAHIVP: Again, this is the Public Health Matters podcast with me, your host, Dr. Cristina Madison, also known as the Public Health Pharmacist. You can find me on your social media du jour @thepublichealthpharmacist, and you can feel free to reach out to me if you have show ideas or if you just want me to answer some public health questions. This has been part of the Pharmacy Focus podcast series as part of Pharmacy Times and friendly reminder: Public Health Matters.