Why pharmacists love their career
ACCORDING to PwC’s Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022, 59% of Malaysian employees are satisfied with their job.
However, 17% are extremely or very likely to switch to a new employer in the next 12 months.
Needless to say, job satisfaction plays a high role in higher productivity and allows employees to handle pressure effectively.
One of the most obvious reasons to love one’s career is the nature of the job itself. A common way for people to find a sense of fulfilment at work is to care for others or to be involved in helping another in some way.
This includes careers in the healthcare system including nursing, psychology and one that’s least talked about, pharmacy.
Pharmacists are responsible for the quality of medicines supplied to patients, ensuring the supply is within the law and are essentially drug experts who help people get the best results from their prescriptions.
Thanks to the diverse career options available, pharmacists are spoilt for choice when choosing a pathway. Some of the options pharmacists can choose to work at include hospitals, community pharmacies, primary care clinics, enforcement/regulatory bodies, research institutions, universities, pharmaceutical industries and even the military.
A pharmacist does not merely dispense medication alone. The evolving career also allows them to dabble in multiple roles including quality control/assurance, marketing, regulating, research and development and more.
Aside from that, pharmacists are content with their jobs due to their ability to improve patient outcomes. Clinical pharmacists are involved in patient education which helps to improve compliance to medications aside from avoiding administration errors.
Pharmacists also have a high job satisfaction due to their integral role in the community.
The Ipsos Veracity Index 2022, which is the longest-running poll on trust in professions in Ireland, recently reported that pharmacists are top two on the list.
At University of Cyberjaya (UoC), pharmacy students are taught from the start to serve the community with their projects and society events. They are exposed to numerous activities which include international mobility programmes taking place at the United States, Indonesia and Thailand, as well as public health programmes such as Karnival Mesra Ubat (KaMU) that educate and create awareness among the local community on the various aspects of health, especially in the proper management of medicine handling.
“Pharmacists are one of the frontliners, they are an important member of the community. Here in UoC, we introduce community services right from the very beginning. Every year, our students choose a community to conduct health-related activities such as home medication review, disease prevention campaigns, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol monitoring, medication counselling and many more. By the time they graduate, they are able to communicate with the community while serving their role as a pharmacist effectively. It’s important to note that you don’t have to be a doctor to save lives, a pharmacist can too,” said Dr Shairyzah Ahmad Hisham, Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs from the Faculty of Pharmacy, UoC.
Pharmacists are also happy with their jobs because of its career stability. Despite the high inflation, pharmacists are still needed in the workforce to attend to the steadily increasing worldwide population. Moreover, as Internet users increase, online pharmacy stores are more in demand today. With that, ecommerce pharmacists will soon become the next career option to look out for.
“I enjoy being a pharmacist because of the various career opportunities available in different sectors that I can explore to help patients. UoC helped to build my soft skills and confidence with its extensive coursework aside from providing a platform to encourage participation in workshops and extracurricular activities,” said Sharon Ding Wensze, Pharmacist/ Assistant Manager, Quality Assurance Compliance at Duopharma Biotech Berhad, Pharmacy Graduate, Class of 2011.
“As a military pharmacist, I am able to challenge myself to do the extraordinary that other pharmacists might not be able to experience. We are deemed to do things beyond what a regular pharmacist does. Throughout my study years, UoC has provided me with various extracurricular activities and courses such as Disaster Relief Medicine (DRM), Professional Pharmacy Development (PPD) and public health events to enhance my leadership skills so I could become more confident and resilient in my working environment,” said Captain Muhammad Amir Ehsan Zamri, Military Pharmacist at the Institute of Aviation Medicine, Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia, Pharmacy Graduate, Class of 2013.
Captain Muhammad is the first and only pharmacist with the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
“I enjoy being a pharmacist because I am passionate about making patients’ lives better. Pharmacists play a vital role in the healthcare provider chain and have a close relationship with patients. The programme at UoC is structured in such a way that it gives students exposure to clinical, retail and industrial aspects. With this exposure, I was able to smoothly manoeuvre from hospital to retail before landing in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Sharmila Gunasekaran, Marketing and Strategy Lead at GSK Pharmaceutical, Pharmacy Graduate, Class of 2008.
Explore the many career opportunities as a pharmacist. The October 2022 intake is now open for applications.