In this episode of Pharmacy View Podcast’s Pharmacy Career, Resource & Training stream, host Kavita Nadan, Pharmacist and Founder at Locumate is joined by Ghassoub El Assaad, a Community Pharmacist and Founder of PharmacyDownUnder. Listen in as the episode seamlessly weaves Ghassoub’s journey, insights into the challenges and growth within the Pharmacy profession, and a forward-looking vision for the transformative future of Pharmacy services.
Ghassoub starts the conversation by reflecting on their transformative journey within the Pharmacy profession, shedding light on the evolving perception of the role over the past five years. Initially viewing Pharmacy as centered around routine tasks, Ghassoub now emphasizes its multifaceted nature, advocating for a broader understanding beyond dispensing and customer interactions.
The narrative delves into Ghassoub’s personal and professional growth, shaped by a family deeply ingrained in healthcare and a mentoring experience that significantly impacted their career trajectory. Expressing gratitude for the impactful guidance received during their internship, Gus highlights the rarity of such supportive mentorship in the Pharmacy field, culminating in the creation of Pharmacy DownUnder—a platform aimed at filling the void in mentorship and knowledge-sharing for Pharmacy interns. COVID-19’s impact on the Pharmacy profession becomes a focal point, with Ghassoub addressing the challenges faced by new graduates during the pandemic. The discussion pivots towards bridging the gap between clinical knowledge and effective communication, emphasizing the importance of balancing high-level clinical thinking with accessible language for community engagement.
Ghassoub then unfolds the intricacies of adapting to online platforms, sharing insights into content creation for Pharmacy interns and early career Pharmacists on platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube. The importance of maintaining a growth mindset and the power of delayed gratification is emphasized, offering practical advice for personal and professional development.
The episode concludes with Ghassoub’s forward-looking perspective on the rapid evolution of Pharmacy, anticipating expanded prescribing rights and increased service accessibility. The overarching theme underscores the Pharmacist’s role as a health professional, promoting a community-centric approach and positioning Pharmacies as pivotal contributors to healthcare services.
Topics Covered
- Evolution of Pharmacy Profession for Ghassoub
- Creation of Pharmacy DownUnder
- Impact of COVID-19 on Pharmacy
- Balancing Clinical Knowledge and Communication
- Adapting to Online Platforms
- Key Aspects for Pharmacists’ Development
- Rapid Evolution of Pharmacy
- Community-Centric Approach
Key Quotes (Time Stamps)
- “When I first started, I thought Pharmacy was just dispensing, computers, labeling, and things like that. But then, thankfully, over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that there’s a lot more to Pharmacy than just dispensing and labeling and saying hi and bye to people.” (4:23 – 4:39)
- “My first cousin was a Pharmacist as well, and she was really my mentor, so to speak, throughout my whole journey in Pharmacy.” (5:33 – 5:40)
- “I am settled in Blacktown at the moment. And this is where I felt flourished the most, I’ll be honest with you. So, I really, really enjoyed Blacktown a lot. It’s been a really good experience there, and I made good connections, not just with my colleagues, but proper connections with the patients and the community at large.” (7:20 – 7:37)
- “I was really fortunate to have an internship that was really supportive in the sense that I had a lot of really good Pharmacists that were with me and molding me, pushing me through, and trying to get me to the right direction, which is really fantastic.” (8:40 – 8:51)
- “Those Pharmacists that were guiding me across two or three Pharmacies that I have been working in until now have really been instrumental in getting me to the mindset of where I am now and giving me the reason why I have started Pharmacy DownUnder just to help fill that void that I feel is still pretty there at the moment.” (9:15 – 9:34)
- “I understand there’s a reason why it’s not really practical to constantly sit your preceptor down and interrogate them and ask some questions and things like that where they probably have 16,000 things going on. So, that’s where I was like, we need something, we need a community.” (11:27 – 11:43)
- “The whole goal is to be a crowdsourcing Pharmacy internship, an older sibling approach where you have someone that’s already been through it or done everything, and they are passing on knowledge, giving out tips, and breaking things down.” (11:59 – 12:14)
- “In a community, your communication skills need to be to a level where you can balance out the high-level clinical thinking, terminology, jargon, and mindset with a regular delivery of information to John and Jane on the street to get them to better understand their health. So, that’s the biggest difficulty that I feel a lot of students are suffering with.” (16:21 – 16:41)
- “We’re their healthcare cheerleaders. We are trying to make sure they’re on a straight path.” (19:09 – 19:17)
- “In Pharmacy, it’s always about fast thinking, forward-thinking as well, and making sure that you are covered, customers are covered, and patients taken care of—they have their medications and their situations sorted, and you have your dispensaries sorted as well. There’s always going to be problems in the Pharmacy; it’s just a matter of existing.” (20:03 – 20:18)
- “I need to put myself in a position of growth and a mindset of growth and development as opposed to a mindset of complacency. If feel like if you become complacent in any field, it is just downhill from there, to be honest, because your standard of care will just suffer. And then, at the end of the day, if your standard of care suffers, ultimately, your patient suffers too.” (25:08 – 25:26)
- “The second thing I think would be really important for all Pharmacists or even interns and students is the concept of delayed gratification.” (30:09 – 30:17)
- “I can confidently say now that I generally think there’s going to be a huge push and a huge change. And the reason why I’m so confident is because of the whole extended scope of practice idea.” (35:20 – 35:25)
Social Media Clips (Time Stamps)
- Redefining Pharmacy: Beyond the Dispensary (3:47 – 4:47)
- Prescriptions & Connections: How Blacktown Reshaped Pharmacy for Ghassoub (5:01 – 7:58)
- Beyond the Counter: Nurturing Future Pharmacists with Ghassoub (8:36 – 9:35)
- Rx Revolution: Building a Community for Future Pharmacists (9:36 – 12:45)
- From Chaos to Clarity: Redefining Community Pharmacy (13:07 – 16:53)
- Healthcare Cheerleading: Adapting to Blacktown’s Diversity (18:01 – 19:17)
- Breaking the Mold: Pharmacy DownUnder’s Online Learning Journey (19:23 – 24:12)
- From Lists to Action: Ghassoub El Assaad’s Guide to Professional Development (24:17 – 26:36)
- Beyond Instant Wins: The Power of Delayed Gratification in Pharmacy (28:20 – 33:26)
- Prescribing Power: Ghassoub’s Vision for Pharmacists (34:40 – 37:25)
