Leaving Clinical Pharmacy Practice isn’t a Failure
As a pharmacist who works in a non-traditional pharmacy role, I know what it feels like to make the shift from a traditional clinical role (staffing at a hospital) to an area that is considered non-clinical (investigational drug service pharmacy). For this reason, when I happened upon the article, I love clinical pharmacy practice…and had to leave it, in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy it grabbed my attention. This article discusses an emergency medicine pharmacist’s experience with slowly moving out of clinical practice and into her current role as a research health scientist. While many things are cited in this article that contributed to her burnout and eventual attrition out of clinical practice such as constant interruptions, the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the better pay and benefits offered in her new role, I want to discuss the guilt that comes with leaving clinical practice behind and why it needs to end.
Pharmacy school often prepares you for taking care of patients, but it does a poor job of exposing you to non-traditional pharmacy roles. While some school do better than others in providing this exposure, most pharmacy students graduate without having a complete understanding of what career paths their degree has to offer. This was the case for me as I entered my residency. I didn’t know much about industry roles or how to get a fellowship for one. I knew I wasn’t built to work in a retail setting and be happy doing so, therefore, I went the only route I knew about: residency. I don’t regret this path as it eventually landed me on the investigational drug service rotation, but it is disheartening knowing how many students don’t get the opportunity to see the different ways to use their degree.
During my residency I discovered that clinical care wasn’t my favorite. In fact, you could find me practically skipping down the halls of the hospital on my medication safety rotation and I couldn’t wait to share with my husband what I was doing on my investigational drug service rotation. Even on the management rotation, I found that I enjoyed the projects I was given and the challenges that came along with it. When I thought back even further, the same was true during pharmacy school. While there were aspects of clinical practice I truly enjoyed, like seeing my NICU patients go home after a long stay, I quickly figured out it wasn’t going to make me happy long term.
I was 2 years out of residency when the investigational drug service pharmacist role became available at my hospital. At first, I immediately said, “not for me”, and moved on. Why? Because I convinced myself it was too early in my career to leave clinical practice behind. I felt guilty for moving into a role where I wasn’t providing direct patient care. As someone with a small online following that had heard me talk about my clinical job, I feared what they would think if I stepped away from clinical practice (which seems incredibly silly to me now, but those feelings were real at the time).
Weeks later, the position was still available so I started to think about applying. I made a list of pros and cons and realized that it was likely a better fit for me than my current role so I applied and got the job. Shortly after accepting the role, I had people where I worked saying it was a shame that I was leaving a clinical role because I was a good pharmacist as if I wasn’t going to bring value to patients by working in research. Looking back, I know these individuals didn’t know what happened in an investigational drug service pharmacy, but it didn’t feel good hearing those words at the time.
Today, I don’t feel guilty for leaving a traditional role. In fact, I think it was a great decision to find a place in pharmacy where I could capitalize on my strengths and interests. So, if you are reading this and begin to realize that clinical pharmacy may not be for you, it is okay. You can be a great pharmacist without providing direct patient care. You did not waste your degree if you take a non-traditional career path and if you find yourself wanting to go back to clinical care in the future, that’s okay too. There is no “right way” to utilize your pharmacy degree. Don’t be afraid to explore your options to find a place where you can thrive.
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