Patricia Slattum’s 10 lessons for young pharmacists
At her keynote speech at the White Coat Ceremony for the Class of 2022, Patricia Slattum, Pharm.D., the 2018 Preceptor of the Year, offered 10 lessons drawn from her 35-year career in pharmacy:
- Patients always come first.
- There is always room for improvement!
- Learn to listen.
- Watch for assumptions — your own, and others’.
- Collaboration is key.
- Don’t be afraid to dive in.
- Be willing to invest in others. It pays off.
- Play to strengths — your own as well as your patients’ and colleagues’: “Focus on what people have, not what they don’t.”
- Carers must practice self-care.
- Pharmacy is a small world. This means that doing the right thing can be hard sometimes, but do it anyway.