Is pharmacy ready for love?

When you read the title of this post, the song that may come to mind is Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love got to do with it?’ Well, it has a lot to do with the current state of the profession. This is not the cheerleader woo-woo idea of love. It is love that brings pharmacists with different interests together, it is love that unites the profession. Before I lose you here I want to use the concept of First Principles to distill why people do what they do. Much of the decision-making matrix people unconsciously use in their lives is based on the sum of their life experiences and conditioning. As a result of both of these factors, we develop a sense of self that serves to keep us safe. We know this from the interplay between our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. When we are scared or stressed we enter protection mode and shift to our sympathetic nervous system state. This goal to keep us safe is driven by 2 fundamental feelings - love and fear. Choose either of the images belowLet's explore how these powerful forces impact our work, daily operations, and relationships and contribute to the divide we sometimes experience among community pharmacists.How does the word ‘Love’ make you feel?Is this a pharmacy blog post or a romance novel? If you feel the word ‘love’ is ill-suited in this context, let me ask you why it makes you feel uncomfortable. I'm not speaking about the romantic type of love most of us are accustomed to. The love I am talking about is being pulled towards a greater cause. As a result, it serves as a reminder that we have more things in common than we do apart. As we approach situations through this lens, we begin to reframe them and see them as gifts or opportunities for growth. If a member of your staff resigns, consider how you can improve the culture of your team. When a customer voices their displeasure with a store policy, see what part of their comments hold truth and what you can do to improve future client experiences. When a colleague questions your authority, think about what you can learn from this interaction. We can take this feeling of being pulled and use it to be curious while looking for other options that are more aligned with our values. With love, we go the extra mile for our patients, work collaboratively with colleagues, and stay up-to-date on the latest best practices. Shifting towards love also helps us find purpose in what we do and even use it to move towards action. A feeling of love can be felt when you deliver something home after your store closes for a client or spend time talking with a senior who wants to connect. What fear makes us doFear likely determines the majority of your decisions. A fear of failure may prevent you from changing jobs or changing careers. Fear of a dispensing error may lead to excessive double-checking, slowing down workflow. Anxiety about dealing with difficult patients can create tension in your pharmacy team. Fear culminates in death fear as the ultimate threat. When we become fearful, we often do things that harm ourselves and negatively impact others in an attempt to protect ourselves. The next time you are feeling stressed/angry/frustrated ask yourself ‘What is the underlying fear I am feeling at this moment?' Then choose love.Some practical examples:How do you react when you have an upcoming visit from head office? Do you feel fear or love? How do you answer their questions about how things are going? Do you only discuss metrics and programs that are working? This is something I've seen too often. It is actually more important for you, your store, and the network to develop a sense of what is not working so resources can be allocated to solve it. Fear-based cultures stifle creativity, discovery and improvement. When you learn that a drug monograph information sheet has been included in another patient’s bag, what do you do? Out of fear of having to deal with a privacy breach, do you hope the other patient won't notice and will do nothing? Or do you proactively call the patient and let them know what happened and how you intend to prevent another such instance? The latter comes from love and maintains trust between you and your clients. Over the long term, your staff respect this action because in most cases, it is in alignment with their own values.Embrace mentorship through the PACE, EPE or APPE programs. Experienced pharmacists can share their wisdom, while new graduates can bring fresh perspectives and technological skills. This can ease tension between more seasoned pharmacists who are resistant to change and may feel threatened by being replaced by newer grads. Celebrate diversity and welcome the contributions that each team member brings to the workplace. We can create a stronger profession when we recognize each other's different experiences.Remember, we're all in this together. By acknowledging our shared love for pharmacy and addressing our fears collectively, we can bridge the divides and create a stronger, more supportive community of pharmacists.Manjit Hansra is the founder of Rx for Renewal (www.rx-renewal.ca). Through keynote speaking, 1:1 coaching, corporate wellness programs and curated retreats, he shares evidence-based and practical tools to help pharmacy organizations and pharmacists prevent and manage burnout. Subscribe to his weekly newsletter HERE.

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