Chris Wagner - Pharmacist

People or experiences that led me to where I am

My Dad instilled in me the importance of enjoying what you do with your life. He encouraged me to explore and pick a career that I would really like.

How I got into this field

When I was in high school, a friend of a friend suggested I check out Pharmacy. I wanted to go to college and get the education needed so that I would easily find a job. I knew I wanted to make decent money and I wanted to help people. I looked into being a pharmacist and decided to pursue this career.

What I like most about my work

I make a positive impact on patient care by working with physicians and nurses. I feel happy and respected because I am part of a family with my co-workers. We all work together to help our patients.

Volunteer or other experiences you might check out to learn about my field

There are many community pharmacies throughout the world. I think that local drug store pharmacists would probably be happy to share with you about their job, the training they had to do, and why they like their work. You can also check out the internet. Look at various colleges or schools of pharmacy. Ferris and U of M have pharmacy schools, and you could call and go on a tour and visit with people there. There is a lot of diversity in the kind of work you can do as a pharmacist or pharmacy tech.

Challenges and exciting changes I see in my field in the near future

There are always new medications and medical procedures to learn about. We have to be inquisitive and open-minded to evaluate new medicines and how they were discovered and researched. Then we examine what their place is in therapy for our patients. It is always important to learn about possible side effects and interactions with other medicines. Pharmacists do a lot of education and teaching for co-workers and patients and their families, too.

The kinds of training and education needed to keep up in my field

Every state requires 10 more hours of continuing education every year for licensure renewal. There are many seminars, workshops, articles and classes available for us to keep on learning about medicines, treatments, research and our jobs.

Other career fields where my skills could be put to use

Some pharmacists promote medications for drug companies. Some love research and work on new medications in the lab and with field studies with humans. Other pharmacists are “academicians” and love to teach in a school of pharmacy.

How my job impacts my family life

Pharmacists are needed all over the country and the world. There will always be work available for me no matter where I live. Pharmacists can also work part time and still make great pay. So, if I have children someday or just want to cut back on how much I work, I know I can find a job that lets me work part time. Right now, I work both day shifts and afternoons. That means I have to be flexible about my work schedules. This is pretty typical when working for a hospital.