Gus El Assaad - Pharmacist and Entrepreneur, Founder of PharmacyDownUnder

Ghassoub El Assaad is a dedicated and innovative pharmacist committed to advancing professional education and career development. With a robust background in community pharmacy, he empowers peers and future pharmacists to achieve their fullest potential both inside and outside of the dispensary.

In his current role, founder of “PharmacyDownUnder”, he creates and delivers high-impact educational programs that equip pharmacists with the skills necessary to navigate the evolving healthcare landscape.

“PharmacyDownUnder” hosts a community and training sessions addressing contemporary healthcare challenges, fostering critical thinking, innovation, and leadership among the next generation of pharmacists in Australia.

They also offer mentorship and guidance, facilitating connections and opportunities that drive pharmacy career growth. If you are interested in learning more about “PharmacyDownUnder”, then click the links below and join the community TODAY!

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pharmacydownunder/
• Newsletter: https://pharmacydownunder.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pharmacydownunder
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pharmacy.down.under/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pharmacydownunder

You can find Gus El Assaad on LinkedIn.

Do you have questions about your pharmacy career? Then contact us or meet our team.

Transcript

0:00

Your Pharmacy Career podcast proudly

0:02

brought to you by Raven's Recruitment

0:04

Australia's Pharmacy recruitment agency

0:06

spotlights the myriad of career paths

0:08

available to pharmacist your host

0:10

Kristi Lee Patterson and her esteemed guest

0:13

will be sharing invaluable career advice

0:16

that you can Implement at any stage of

0:18

your career Journey welcome back to

0:20

another episode of your Pharmacy career

0:22

podcast I'm your host Kristi Lee

0:24

Patterson and today I am here with a

0:28

amazing pharmacist and on entrepreneur

0:30

who is doing some amazing things in this

0:34

space of education for interns and

0:37

pharmacists so we have Gus El Assaad here and I

0:41

hope I said that right but he's also

0:43

known as Gus so welcome to the show

0:46

thank you so much for having me the

0:47

Fantastic pronunciation as well that was

0:49

awesome thank you so much for yeah

0:51

agreeing to be on the show I'd like to

0:54

start with getting to know you so if you

0:57

could give us a little bit of background

0:59

on yourself and what yeah LED you to do

1:02

Pharmacy 100% yeah absolutely so I think

1:05

my path is a little bit unconventional

1:07

in the sense I would I don't have any

1:09

specific sort of story in the sense that

1:11

like I was born for pharmacy so to speak

1:13

I would say you know sort of my life

1:15

sort of led me to Pharmacy in one way or

1:17

another essentially always had a passion

1:19

for healthcare and Medicine in general

1:22

and I've always had a passion for

1:23

helping people and and asking questions

1:25

and being a conversationalist so to

1:27

speak so I'd always love to have a chat

1:29

in general so I think Fusion of those

1:32

two sort of Realms of being someone

1:33

that's very outgoing and at the same

1:35

time someone that's very um sort of

1:37

dedicated and interested in learning

1:39

everything about medicine and

1:41

pharmacology and everything clinical as

1:43

well sort of led me down that path

1:45

indirectly but a more direct influence

1:47

would have been um a lot of my biggest

1:50

influences in my life at family to be

1:51

honest I have a few family members that

1:53

have gone down this path Pharmacy and

1:56

through them I was really introduced to

1:58

what pharmacy actually is because

1:59

Testament be my my first cousin she's uh

2:02

she's one of the most amazing pharmacist

2:04

you ever meet and I've had the blessing

2:05

of working with her and she really

2:07

showed me sort of you know the beauty of

2:09

being a pharmacist and the real

2:10

contribution of Pharmacy has not just on

2:12

me as the pharmacist but on the public

2:14

that we're you know serving and treating

2:16

on a daily basis so she was a huge huge

2:18

influence for sure that led me to sort

2:20

of do what I do and working in the

2:22

pharmacy for industry for like what

2:25

almost 10 years at this point from the

2:26

days of student to intern to pharmacist

2:29

you know it's um it's fascinating to see

2:30

where Pharmacy is going and it just

2:32

makes you more enthusiastic and more

2:33

energized and excited about what's to

2:35

come so it's sort of Addicting that sort

2:37

of Sensation that you know Pharmacy's

2:39

evolving and growing and that sensation

2:41

of the us being at the Forefront of

2:42

healthcare it's it's really exciting and

2:44

that's what's keeping me going for sure

2:46

I wanted to touch on something you just

2:48

mentioned about what pharmacy actually

2:50

is and what do you mean by that yeah

2:53

absolutely so I think um Pharmacy is

2:56

something that's such a special such a

2:59

special discipline when it comes to

3:00

medicine and Healthcare sort of sits in

3:01

a very very particular Niche or a

3:03

particular sort of Gap in the healthcare

3:05

market so to speak where you have you

3:07

know your doctors and your hospital side

3:08

of things where they are more of your

3:11

diagnosis pathophysiology and things

3:13

like that Pharmacy more you know they

3:15

used to teach us in uni you know we're

3:16

the medicine experts not just medicine

3:19

experts as an extension of that we're

3:20

really just a health care expert and a

3:22

primary care experts so to speak so

3:24

especially nowadays 20 years ago if

3:26

someone asked you about what pharmacy is

3:28

most people just think of more less like

3:30

a vending machine for medication at that

3:31

point and no no disrespect to the

3:33

pharmacist of beyond the years but

3:35

nowadays hopefully the public

3:37

perceptions changing and coming out of

3:39

Co and how Pharmacy was pretty much the

3:41

backbone of Australia's vaccination Pro

3:43

like program in general I think the

3:45

public is starting to finally sort of

3:47

understand potential of Pharmacy in

3:49

terms of delivering Healthcare of being

3:50

a point of contact of being sort of I

3:52

always say this analogy you know that

3:54

barber shop of the community where it's

3:56

considered like a safe space or a

3:58

non-judgment free space where anyone can

4:00

come in and have a chat or you're not

4:01

going to get judged or no one's going to

4:03

be think of you in an odd way if you had

4:05

something particular or something

4:06

private that you want to raise the

4:07

pharmacy's place to be so I think that

4:09

is what separates us from like a

4:11

doctor's like place or a dentist or a

4:13

physio or you know any other outed

4:15

Health don't get me wrong they have

4:16

their place but I think Pharmacy is the

4:18

glue that sort of connects everyone

4:20

together I wonder though if maybe some

4:23

of the places that you worked earlier in

4:25

your career maybe had a bit of an impact

4:28

on how you see what pharmacy actually is

4:32

yeah absolutely absolutely I think um

4:33

yeah I've been through how do I say my

4:36

my opinions and my perspective of

4:37

Pharmacy has changed multiple times

4:39

during this whole journey from being

4:41

just a regular like floor staff member

4:43

to becoming University Student Pharmacy

4:44

student intern and an actual registered

4:46

pharmacist and I've worked in like

4:48

mainly my experiences in community so

4:50

I'm not super confident when it comes to

4:52

the hospital sort aspect of Pharmacy but

4:53

when it comes to Community Pharmacy it's

4:55

my bread and butter I've worked in all

4:57

different types of sort of Pharmacy

4:58

structures and Community where it' be

5:00

your big box retailer or your boutique

5:03

Pharmacy or even I've had the pleasure

5:05

of working at some 24-hour chemists so

5:07

they have really really interesting

5:08

experiences all very very different and

5:11

the pharmacy that I've now sort of

5:12

established myself in or settled myself

5:14

in is a fantastic Community Pharmacy and

5:16

it's really sort of the reason why I've

5:17

decided to stay there at this point is

5:19

because it's really what I currently

5:21

expect of a pharmacy where it has that

5:23

combination of you know clinical and

5:25

professional and pharmacological sort of

5:27

aspects but at the same time you're

5:28

melding it with being a Community member

5:31

and being a prominent member of the

5:33

community where people come to you and

5:34

know you and you know them on a first

5:36

name basis where they can rely on you

5:38

for you know advice and help and just

5:40

having a chat now looking back when I

5:42

was younger back in you know Pharmacy

5:44

student days my perspective was a little

5:45

bit different there was a period of time

5:47

I'm not sure exactly and when but I'm

5:49

not sure that's happened to you as well

5:50

but that maybe in the mid 2010s is

5:54

before Co there's a bit of that sense of

5:56

like Dread when it comes to Pharmacy and

5:58

what pharmacy was and things a lot of

5:59

students and myself included had that

6:01

sort of um how do I say unsure of

6:03

ourselves in terms of where we're going

6:05

to go in our careers especially because

6:07

there was such negative Doom and Gloom

6:08

surrounding the the environmental

6:10

Pharmacy but I think through Co and

6:13

things like that where there's major

6:14

major sort of Health scares where it's

6:16

really forced us or forced Pharmacy in

6:18

general to step up to another level I

6:20

think everyone's looking at it a little

6:21

bit more positively and I think that's

6:23

my Outlook has changed as well like I

6:24

used to be very very pessimistic in

6:26

general when it comes to the trend of

6:29

where Farm is going as a career and my

6:31

place in Pharmacy over the last few

6:33

years my perspective has changed

6:34

completely to be honest with you and I

6:36

feel a lot more optimistic and it's a

6:37

lot more positive in terms of where

6:39

we're going um and what's expected and

6:41

how we're going to hopefully confront

6:43

that and sort of uh rise to the occasion

6:45

so to speak and sort of become better so

6:47

I think um working those different types

6:49

of community pharmacies was able to show

6:51

me the different wayes changing how it's

6:54

evolving and how pharmacists can provide

6:56

for the community because the different

6:57

phes that can play different services

6:59

and different of structure dispensary

7:00

wise and Shopwise so I was able to see

7:02

it all and able to see you know what

7:04

works and what doesn't work and you know

7:06

what makes the best pharmacy in Hound

7:08

yes I have definitely felt the same as

7:10

you over the years there was that time

7:12

where I think just after my internship I

7:16

did become quite disillusioned with

7:18

Community Pharmacy and I think it's

7:21

because I had worked in a number of

7:25

really great Community pharmacies in

7:28

local rural areas that had that really

7:31

sense of community and they were the

7:33

place to go when everyone knew them by

7:36

name so I was I guess very privileged in

7:39

the fact that I saw that first yeah and

7:42

then once I moved and did uni and worked

7:45

and got some experience different types

7:47

of community pharmacies I realized oh

7:49

this is very different to what I thought

7:51

it was going to be but it wasn't I don't

7:55

regret working in all those different

7:58

types of pharmacies and there's a place

8:00

for all different types ofes as well at

8:03

the end of the day the consumer customer

8:06

dictates where they want to go and

8:07

there's absolutely a place for all

8:09

different types ofes but I think getting

8:12

exposure and working in different

8:14

Community settings different locations

8:17

different areas really does allow you to

8:20

make that decision for yourself what you

8:22

think is right and what is maybe not

8:24

right for you yeah

8:27

100% get those experiences from the

8:28

different phes every Pharmacy operates

8:30

in a like a slightly different way and

8:33

good or bad you still Emer from each

8:34

experience right exactly and I think too

8:37

you also can't I was going to use

8:40

discount but you can't put some Pharmacy

8:43

chains or some brands in a certain

8:48

perception of what it actually is and

8:51

what I mean by that is I've worked in so

8:54

many different pharmacies and sometimes

8:57

people say oh I don't work for this

8:59

Pharmacy or or whatever because of

9:02

whatever reason but then I've actually

9:04

just got and done it myself and you can

9:07

have these really amazing experiences

9:09

and then yeah that perception actually

9:11

isn't reality and you talked about the

9:14

pharmacy where you work now and that s

9:17

of community and I've had the privilege

9:19

to work at the same F Pharmacy as for a

9:22

couple that's right couple of loc ships

9:24

so that's actually where I met G and

9:27

yeah I definitely see that like I I will

9:30

be honest I thought oh it's it's um a

9:32

what's branded is a perceiv to be a

9:35

discount pharmacy and you open really

9:38

long hours and you do a lot of scripts

9:41

but I was so surprised that you has a

9:44

level of that Community engagement and

9:46

people coming in and asking you by name

9:48

and honestly one of the best pharmacies

9:51

I've loed at because not only do you

9:53

have that Community feeling but your

9:56

staff are just so well trained and it's

10:00

just kind of hum so everyone knows what

10:02

they're doing and I think that's a

10:03

testament to your leadership style as

10:05

well yeah he's interested in doing maybe

10:07

some work at this Pharmacy yeah she does

10:10

I'm not sure if if you want me to plug

10:12

it I think

10:15

can kemist in Blacktown yeah come on

10:18

down come on down nobody is yeah

10:22

Blacktown is a very different area

10:23

especially if you're in Sydney but it's

10:26

um yeah culturally as well but I

10:28

absolutely absolutely loved it and I

10:30

think getting that exposure to different

10:33

culture cultures and different

10:36

experiences in in Community Pharmacy is

10:38

really important and one thing I learned

10:41

very quickly there was how good Google

10:44

translate can be oh yeah absolutely best

10:46

friend absolutely so yeah you go no I

10:50

was just saying yeah you know what we

10:52

use it almost on a daily basis it's

10:53

almost one of our staff members Google

10:55

translate um it's I like to call our

10:58

shop more or less the UN or Pharmacy

11:00

where you know we have uh someone from

11:02

every country come in on one day so

11:04

we've had people from Burma from Sudan

11:06

from Turkey from the Middle East you

11:08

name it any country that we have a

11:10

customer that's from there so I think

11:12

I'm I'm very proud to say that because

11:14

the black Town um is one of the most

11:15

unique places in Sydney which I think is

11:18

so underrated and it's going to become

11:20

one of the biggest cvds in the next you

11:21

know five to 10 years uh right now it's

11:23

it's the population's booming the city's

11:25

booming it's one of the most amazing

11:27

communities you can ever encounter and

11:29

like you said before look the staff

11:31

honestly are an extension of that staff

11:33

are a fantastic group and we're so lucky

11:36

to have them they all know everyone by

11:38

name they know how everyone you know

11:40

thinks what their personalities are like

11:42

they know how to handle each person as

11:43

an individual as opposed to some other

11:45

experiences that might be a little bit

11:47

less uh how do I say culturally

11:49

accepting or culturally sort of um like

11:52

flexible so I think we're very fortunate

11:54

to have that sort of mentality and

11:55

culture running in the shop for sure you

11:57

probably saw it first absolutely oh and

11:59

I could definitely see that when I was

12:01

there and another good thing about black

12:03

toown is all the amazing different types

12:05

of food you can get there as well so

12:07

absolutely absolutely love try you no

12:10

short there I um would now love to chat

12:13

to you about Pharmacy down under so if

12:16

you haven't heard of Pharmacy down under

12:19

yet maybe Gus could you give us a bit of

12:21

an overview on what pharmacy down under

12:24

is and absolutely absolutely so Pharmacy

12:27

down under if you don't know about it

12:28

then um we have some other problems to

12:30

deal

12:32

with so Pharmacy down under is a little

12:35

sort of passion project that I started

12:37

in the last year um and the whole sort

12:40

of thesis behind it or the Magnus Ops

12:42

about it is to fill in that Gap that

12:44

we've all been through as pharmacists as

12:46

interns as students we've always had

12:48

that that feeling of how do I say I

12:50

wouldn't say isolation but you know

12:52

you're studying you're grinding you're

12:54

going to a uni course you're doing your

12:55

intern training program you're working

12:57

full-time life's hard I get it um it's

13:00

hard to manage as it is now I know in

13:02

some situations a lot of students and

13:04

even myself included back when I was an

13:06

intern never had that sort of um that

13:08

Community or like a big brother approach

13:10

where you had sort of a family or a con

13:12

community of like-minded individuals

13:14

that you could sort of bounce off uh and

13:16

sort of learn and rehash yourself and

13:18

get yourself in a mindset of success and

13:20

launching your career in the right way

13:22

so the whole idea is farmy down under

13:23

initially started as a newsletter which

13:25

still is at the moment um a Weekly

13:27

Newsletter just to you know get yourself

13:29

involved in terms of the pharmacy World

13:31

anything changing in Pharmacy but now

13:33

it's sort of branched out into more of

13:34

like a sort of social media sort of

13:36

presence in a sense where it's got an

13:37

Instagram a Tik Tok a YouTube and

13:39

hopefully over time grow into something

13:41

more but right now it's more about

13:43

education Community sort of refocusing

13:47

and sort of getting yourself in the

13:48

right mindset and preparing yourself for

13:49

your Pharmacy journey and hopefully the

13:51

most optimal way well yeah I think if

13:53

anyone hasn't heard a pharmacy down

13:55

under they obviously must be living

13:57

under a rock

13:59

or something like that it's definitely

14:00

all over yeah my socials and I've

14:03

definitely signed up and yeah I think

14:05

you're right like when you're in intern

14:07

or even an early career pharmacist can

14:09

can almost feel a little bit isolating

14:11

so I know I definitely felt like that at

14:14

times and I think we're really lucky now

14:17

in 2024 and postco as you said I think

14:21

we're so much more engaged online which

14:23

is such a powerful thing so people that

14:27

you couldn't normally connect with can

14:29

now connect with a different way and so

14:31

you said that it started as a newsletter

14:34

and it's now kind of Taken on its own

14:36

kind of yeah yeah Ballo on its own

14:40

initially it was a newsletter just

14:41

weekly just post updates and then

14:44

recently I've had people reach out and

14:45

doing you know guest posts so I've had a

14:47

few people reaching out and then you

14:49

know writing little articles here and

14:50

there and it's been really good because

14:52

it's cool it's like bringing sort of

14:53

everyone from Pharmacy together to one

14:54

place which is awesome and makes the

14:56

small world of pharmacy even more homely

14:59

and more wholesome uh because sort of

15:01

seeing all these people from the

15:02

Australian Pharmacy Community pitching

15:04

in you know giving up their ideas

15:06

spreading some information that you know

15:08

you might not otherwise learned about so

15:10

I think it's something that's quite

15:11

unique and I'm looking forward to see

15:13

where it's going to sort of go from here

15:14

yeah absolutely I'm really excited to

15:16

see um yeah how it all plays out do you

15:19

have any ideas as to where you want to

15:22

take it or at this point in time you're

15:24

just yeah happy sticking with creating

15:27

the content that you do have now now or

15:29

have you got any grander plans for the

15:32

future yeah look ultimately I do like

15:35

right now at this point because it's

15:36

still in its infancy my my main sort of

15:38

purpose here is just to sort of um

15:40

establish that presence that you're not

15:41

alone as a pharmacy student or as an

15:43

intern you know you have you know places

15:45

like Pharmacy down under either on

15:46

LinkedIn or on Instagram Tik Tok even on

15:48

YouTube to connect and you know input

15:51

into quizzes or you know participate and

15:53

be part of the community and sort of

15:56

fuel the way the the pharmacy D sort of

15:58

name is going now ultimately I do my

16:01

goal is to always Branch out into some

16:02

sort of Education pathway so I've always

16:04

wanted to do something in terms of

16:05

teaching or in terms of running courses

16:07

or even do some sort of like um even

16:09

one-onone or as group like mentoring

16:12

just to sort of guide these young sort

16:14

of Pharmacists in the right direction um

16:16

because I definitely needed something

16:17

like that when I was then like that that

16:19

age or that that experience level I had

16:21

no idea what I was doing when I came out

16:23

of internship I didn't have a plan I

16:25

didn't have a goal so I think something

16:27

like Pharmacy down under if when I was

16:29

an intern would have been instrumental

16:30

so my ultimate goal is some sort of

16:32

Education whether it be a course or

16:34

tutoring or even just through YouTube as

16:37

by classes and stuff like that that's

16:38

that's definitely my ultimate goal yeah

16:40

so I think with the pharmacy down under

16:44

kind of community that you're creating I

16:46

can definitely see that it's going to go

16:49

in that direction that you would like to

16:51

see uh because it's creating that sense

16:54

of community and educating others and

16:57

yeah I really think that you'll be able

16:59

to achieve that which is is really

17:01

exciting um I guess for me and some of

17:05

our listeners if they were wanting to

17:09

maybe engage with you and they don't

17:11

really know how um how could they

17:13

actually reach out to you yeah it's a

17:16

very good question to be honest well the

17:17

number one way will always be to

17:19

actually sign up to the newsletter it's

17:20

literally free risk- free there's no

17:23

sort of downside to it the whole idea is

17:26

that by signing up to the newsletter you

17:27

can have that constant sort of

17:28

connection with the pharmacy down under

17:30

sort of a group Community you can reach

17:33

out interact with the forums usually for

17:35

a lot of the students that are

17:36

interacted with the majority of them

17:38

prefer to go through Instagram and Tik

17:40

Tok so there is we also have Instagram

17:43

page and a Tik Tok page which are all

17:45

active and communicating running quizzes

17:48

almost a couple times a week quizzing

17:50

students and sort of um putting the

17:51

students to the test and really getting

17:53

those interns prepped for the actual

17:56

intern exam coming up so that's usually

17:57

the main two ways so usually through the

17:59

actual newsletter itself and interacting

18:01

through our socials and thirdly if you

18:03

even want to interact directly with me

18:05

just give me a follow LinkedIn and DM me

18:07

and more happy to happy to chat with

18:09

anyone that's you know interested that

18:11

sounds so fun about um the stuff that

18:13

you're doing on Tik Tok and Instagram

18:15

that um that would have been really

18:17

valuable absolutely when we were yeah

18:19

earlier on in our careers to to practice

18:22

and and cor correct I think it's

18:24

something a bit different you know just

18:25

to keep the students on their you know

18:27

on their toes and keep them fresh and

18:29

you know keep them how do I say in that

18:31

growing or that learning mindset so they

18:32

don't sort of get complacent I know a

18:35

lot of us you know even as a registered

18:36

pharmacist I still Endeavor or you know

18:39

regular pharmacist are already

18:40

registered and been working for years

18:42

just you know have a sit down and have a

18:43

bit of a refresher because we can't

18:44

remember everything we're not perfect we

18:46

need to remember things and refresh and

18:48

you know learn up on the new materials

18:50

and new resources that have being

18:51

released almost every day there there's

18:52

always new therapies out there we could

18:54

always be better and learn about better

18:56

options for our patients definitely yeah

18:58

absolutely I think that's a great advice

19:00

and yeah I think too with Pharmacy it's

19:04

yeah we have to do our 40 CPD credits

19:06

but it is a continual Learning Journey

19:09

with Pharmacy there's just so much

19:11

change whether it as you said just the

19:14

new medications that are coming onto the

19:16

market or different ways of practice the

19:18

school scope coming yeah there's I think

19:20

the future of Pharmacy is is going to

19:23

probably look quite different to when we

19:25

first started in Pharmacy but I think

19:26

it's going to be really exciting 5 10

19:29

years from now it's going to be

19:30

unrecognizable I reckon yeah I

19:33

think yeah but I'm excited I think it'll

19:35

be I think it'll be a good thing though

19:37

absolutely 100% finally they'll be able

19:40

to have that strike that balance between

19:42

that long age long sort of battle

19:43

between phist and doctors which not

19:45

really a battle to be honest it's more

19:47

of a media thing we love to work with

19:49

doctors that's that's our bread and

19:50

butter the thing is um we can finally

19:52

have that distinction and sort of ease

19:54

the burden off medical centers and

19:55

hospitals and actually sort of

19:57

contribute and sort of line this load

19:59

that we have right now in Australia got

20:01

a massive issue in terms of um you know

20:03

emergency rooms being filled with people

20:05

that don't need to be there and so

20:06

hopefully we can sort of mitigate that

20:08

issue and that toll on the Healthcare

20:10

System soon oh yeah that's definitely an

20:13

issue um just recently my mom was in had

20:17

to go to Ed and she had to sit in the

20:20

ambulance in the queue for quite an

20:22

number of hours before she even got into

20:25

the pharmacy into the hospital sorry

20:29

like think in some ways like oh well if

20:31

you didn't get in straight away then

20:33

obviously mean it's you think it's not

20:35

that bad but still it's yeah it's really

20:38

quite sad that yeah a country like

20:40

Australia is having this problem so

20:42

absolutely Pharmacy can help relieve

20:44

that that pressure yeah I just it's

20:47

really going to change the health of our

20:49

local communities which isut important

20:51

absolutely the last thing I wanted to

20:54

chat to you about is you maybe

20:57

reflecting on your career journey and

21:02

maybe asking yourself if you had to give

21:05

advice to a younger self what advice

21:09

would you actually give to yourself yeah

21:12

absolutely you know that's actually a

21:13

really good question to be honest

21:14

because the thing is I think a lot of

21:15

Pharmacy interns or anyone in the

21:17

healthcare industry when they leave that

21:20

sort of phase of being a trainee or

21:22

being a students or being sort of

21:23

learning and you know always feeling

21:25

that they're shadowing someone else as

21:27

soon as they get registered they might

21:28

have that sensation of being overwhelmed

21:30

or having that imposter syndrome that

21:31

settles in don't get me wrong that's

21:33

expected and normal very very normal to

21:36

experience that but I think the biggest

21:37

issue I've noticed with a lot of

21:38

Pharmacy students especially the new

21:40

batches that are coming out nowadays is

21:42

that I feel like they don't really have

21:45

a sense of purpose in the sense that

21:47

they don't really know what to do with

21:49

themselves once they're registered so I

21:51

think that is sort of a combination of a

21:53

few things it could be they weren't

21:55

potentially having the best experience

21:57

as an intern or the best Pres

21:58

potentially or maybe they have that

22:00

impulse syndrome is sort of making them

22:02

feel inadequate or maybe they feel like

22:04

they don't have the ability to make any

22:06

like a name for themselves or make a

22:07

career for themselves necessarily so I

22:09

do think it's worthwhile to sit down

22:12

with yourself once you're registered and

22:13

think about it and actually ask yourself

22:15

what is my purpose as a pharmacist what

22:17

is my goals what are what's my 5year

22:19

plan 10e plan so not necessarily saying

22:22

in terms of business sake like you don't

22:24

necessarily say oh I want to buy x

22:26

amount ofes or so on so forth no I mean

22:29

like what is your plan as a individual

22:31

as a pharmacist do you want to sort of

22:33

navigate a different world of Pharmacy

22:35

do you want to hop over to hospital

22:37

industry um did you want to Lo them for

22:39

a bit did you want to go into hmrs or

22:41

compounding or uh H care when you're

22:44

young and your ear in your career you

22:45

have the time and you have the

22:46

flexibility to afford to do things like

22:48

that and find your path so I think a lot

22:51

of people settle and a lot of people get

22:53

complacent and I think that really just

22:55

kills the moral and kills the the career

22:58

completely from the beginning so I think

23:00

having a real reflection and taking like

23:03

literally a week or two to really just

23:04

think about it and give yourself a plan

23:07

like literally in front of your

23:08

handwritten that you know that in this P

23:10

of time I'm going to try X Y and Z if

23:12

that doesn't work I'm going to try ABC

23:14

and then I'll take it from there and

23:16

constantly reevaluating yourself is

23:18

really important so my best advice would

23:20

be give yourself a goal give yourself a

23:22

plan and don't become complacent and

23:24

constantly challenge yourself and

23:26

constantly revise yourself and revise

23:28

your actions and your sort of

23:29

progression to redirect yourself onto

23:31

the right path so I think that's a

23:33

really really important one for anyone

23:34

in any Healthcare stream be Pharmacy or

23:37

medicine or Dentistry so I think it's

23:40

really really important to S give

23:41

yourself goals and constantly reevaluate

23:43

yourself as you go yeah I think it's

23:46

just great life advice in general really

23:49

when you think about it yeah I know I

23:51

definitely have done that especially in

23:54

probably the last couple of years of my

23:56

life as well really getting down to

23:58

what's important to me and where do I

24:01

see myself as you said as an individual

24:04

and yeah doing things that yeah excites

24:08

you or pushes the boundaries makes you

24:12

yeah makes you grow and become a better

24:14

person yeah absolutely absolutely as

24:16

long as you have that sort of mindset

24:18

that you're willing to learn and willing

24:20

to grow and just to always fight

24:23

complacency complacency in anything in

24:25

life will put you to a halt so I I think

24:28

um trying to challenge yourself and make

24:30

yourself push yourself outside of your

24:31

comfort zone to the point where you can

24:33

grow and sort of succeed even in a small

24:36

victories is a win to me so if you're

24:39

learning to become you know um a better

24:41

Communicator in the pharmacy or you're

24:42

learning to become um more competent in

24:45

certain skills in Pharmacy or even

24:46

outside of Pharmacy I think that's a

24:48

that's a win in my book so as long as

24:50

you're constantly iterating on yourself

24:52

yeah great advice I think that's a great

24:54

way to yeah to end our conversation

24:56

we've been chatting now for almost half

24:58

an hour and I know I've gotten some

25:01

really good tips out of your yeah about

25:05

what you were chatting about and I think

25:07

the most important take-home message is

25:09

if you're not following or registered

25:11

for pharmacy down under make sure you

25:13

jump online and sign up we'll have the

25:16

link in our show notes as well as on

25:18

LinkedIn but guys thank you so much for

25:21

joining us today and as he mentioned if

25:25

you want to reach out to him on LinkedIn

25:28

social media um other avenues go for it

25:31

so thanks again Gus no absolutely

25:33

anytime yeah thanks for having me on I

25:35

really appreciate the opportunity it was

25:37

really really fun having a chat with you

25:38

yeah like you said you anyone is free to

25:40

have a chat with me looks I won't bite I

25:42

promise just DM me on LinkedIn and we're

25:44

more than happy to you know book a time

25:46

or just have a chat awesome sounds great

25:49

all right thank you so much you've been

25:51

listening to Your Pharmacy Career

25:53

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25:55

Recruitment don't miss our next episode

25:58

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25:59

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