What do you see?
Cialis. Erectile dysfunction… While most people just see “dick pills”, I see so much more.
One of my patients came to my pharmacy after trying Viagra and Stendra… Nada. His sex life went to shit and his fiancee was about to leave him. Most of us laugh about not being able to get it up. We don’t take erectile dysfunction seriously, but let’s be real. Sex makes or breaks relationships. If I didn’t do something, my patient’s wedding going to be ALL fucked up.
The only type of ring at my wedding
He needed a serious pick me up… Literally.
Suddenly I had a flashback to therapeutics class in pharmacy school and I remembered when all else fails, use tadalafil… AKA Cialis. My professor used to always say “Tada! It’s magic“… and it was magic. We tried a free trial of Cialis… and it changed his life.
He was finally able to get it up. Fighting with his fiancee stopped. The wedding was still on. But most of all his relationship with his wife was more intimate and closer than ever. And then he told me something.
“Kevin, you saved my marriage. Thank you. I’ve never had a pharmacist take the time to help me out like that. Anything you want, let me know.“
And this really got me thinking.
So yes. Those are dick pills in my hand… but they’re so much more. Sometimes as pharmacists or health professionals, we forget about the real value of our services. We talk about “quality of life”… but what does that really mean?
Yes we dispense medications, but people never see the behind the scenes. When your insurance doesn’t cover something… or when a drug makes you feel funny (SMH), it’s typically us pharmacists that take the time to figure out what’s best both clinically and financially for you.
Pharmacy problems.
Pharmacists help their patients live out the human experience to their fullest potential. Maybe its helping patients become more intimate with their marriage. Maybe helping a student focus and bring out their true potential during a student’s SAT exam. Or maybe it’s just buying time for a dying grandparent so that they can spend their last few months building memories for their grandchildren. Whether we realize it or not, we do all of these things and more on a daily basis… without ever asking for additional compensation.
Spending time with my mudda grandmudda
So… what do you do?
Maybe you’re not a pharmacist, but my point is that there is value in all jobs. Sometimes we feel useless, undervalued, or unfulfilled with our jobs. We forget the problems we’re solving and how we make people feel with what we do. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and take a bigger look at things. At the end of the day, it’s REALLY about how we affect people’s lives with what we do.
So let me ask you one more time. What do you really do?
Comment below.
Kevin
PS… And yes do all this and count pills mudda ass.
Dem pills
Meaningful post man. I’m still on the grind in pharmacy school, trying to figure out what kind of pharmacy career/field I want to pursue.
Yessss. It’s always great when someone explains to the public that pharmacists do so much more than “counting pills, checking them, and handing them out”. It’s soo mudda exciting how the career as a pharmacist is exponentially growing! Early last year (or 2 years ago) in NZ, a handful of pharmacists have began prescribing!! I feel so privileged to have the public trust us that much more to give us these opportunities to make a significant contribution to their health!