Pharmacist Feature Friday: A Pharmacist's Compassion Inspired Me to Attend Pharmacy School

For more information about Pharmacist Feature Friday and how to participate, click here.

I was a pharmacy technician for 9 years before pharmacy school. I loved it, but I had no intention of going to pharmacy school at the time. As a technician, I worked in a hospital, felt very respected, and I just genuinely loved what I did.

I ended up developing bilateral pulmonary embolisms and bilateral deep vein thrombosis in both my femoral arteries after a drive to Florida for a brief vacation with my then boyfriend and now husband. During my inpatient stay at the hospital I worked at, one of my pharmacist co-workers told me that he felt it was caused by birth control.

He was visiting me in my hospital room and explained that he called to report it to the manufacturer and was trying to get more information for me. I had never seen a pharmacist act so compassionately towards a patient and I got a different perspective.

So, after I got home and recovered, that same pharmacist and a few others really encouraged me to go to pharmacy school. They said I had the stuff that can't be taught. They saw something in me that I didn't see. I needed the push in my self-confidence to go.

I went to Clemson for undergrad and worked on my pre-pharmacy requirements. I did really well and on my second try, I got into Wingate for pharmacy school. I say all this because I feel a great passion for the profession. I knew what I was getting into and I knew I would love it.

There are so many negative pharmacists who really don't give the best representation of what it can be. I have made it my career goal to repay the profession and to pay back the kindness that those pharmacists did for me. I precept all levels of students all year-round and we talk deeply and passionately about what they want to do after graduation. Sometimes, I feel like the only thing they learn from me is to just make the best of things and love your job and our profession.

Another way that I give back is by a side job that I have helping pharmacists write resumes. I have always been naturally good at writing resumes and curriculum vitae. I'm detail and perfection-oriented, so it just aligns with my strengths.

I started a business and now I help pharmacists express their hard work and put it down in writing. It's just amazing how intelligent and educated pharmacists are but they cannot write a resume.

It’s a service that is greatly needed, especially with the oversupply of pharmacists and the need to stand out; I love it.

It's not a crazy interesting story, but it's all true and I just love being a pharmacist and I want others to fall in love with our profession as well.

E. Ashley Gulyas, PharmD, is a Pharmacy Manager at Walgreens in Greenville, SC, as well as an owner and editor for Academy & Apothecary Professional Resume Service.