Shaylee Mills - Inspiring the Next Generation of Rural Pharmacists: My Mission

Shaylee Mills is an ECP working across community pharmacy and an Aboriginal Health Service in the Pilbara region of WA. Through her experience working in remote communities and multi-disciplinary teams, Shaylee has found her passion for the exciting world of rural pharmacy.

Shaylee shares her day-to-day life as a pharmacist through social media, known as The Rural Pharmacist. Through her platforms, she has created a community of ECPs across Australia and around the world, intending to empower pharmacists to join the rural health workforce through educational content and authentic rural pharmacy insight.

Shaylee has been published in Australian Pharmacist, highlighting diverse rural internships across Australia. She was also PSA's National Intern Pharmacist of the Year 2022 for her efforts working in the Kimberley region. She hopes to continue utilising her platforms to show that rural pharmacy careers have unlimited potential and increase the industry exposure to working as a rural pharmacist.

You can find Shaylee Mills on LinkedIn.

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

Transcript

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Your Pharmacy Career podcast proudly brought to you by Raven's Recruitment Australia's Pharmacy recruitment agency

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spotlights the myriad of career paths available to pharmacists your host Kristi Lee Patterson and her esteemed guests

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will be sharing invaluable career advice that you can Implement at any stage of your career Journey I'm Kristi Lee

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Patterson and today we're exploring the world of rural Pharmacy with a very special guest Shaylee Mills Shaylee is a

0:28

early career pharmacist who has worked across Community Pharmacy and Aboriginal Health Services in some of the most

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remote regions of Australia she's also the creator of the rural pharmacists a social media platform where she shares

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her day-to-day life and empowers other pharmacists to join the rural Health Workforce Shaylee is also the PSA's

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national intern pharmacist of the year for 2022 Shaylee welcome to the show I'm

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so excited to have you here no I'm just as excited to be here thank you so much for inviting me no problem now let's

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just start at the beginning you very much like myself actually grew up in a rural town and so I imagine that's

1:08

played a big role in shaping your passion for Rural health so yeah I'd love if you could tell us a little bit

1:15

about what that was like and has that actually influenced your career path at all of course so I grew up in a wheat

1:23

belt town in Western Australia so anybody that doesn't know what the wheat belt is it's a strip of farming land

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that sort of spand up from around about calbar and then go all the way down to esperence so it's this big farming

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region and I grew up in a little town called quing so my parents are farmers like most of the people that live there

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it's a very small town about a thousand people in my primary school like that my class of 14 and that was it so very tiny

1:48

little community and it meant that there was also no high school so I had to go to boarding school to complete year 12

1:55

and interestingly it was that move to Perth where I was like I'm not going back like I've done my time there like

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I'm happier in the city now this is where all the opportunities are like this is where my people are now so I thought I was going to stay and I think

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it wasn't until I got a little bit older and I was going through the pharmacy degree I had the opportunities to travel

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wa mostly up north especially during covid when we couldn't leave the state we everyone was going up north and

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student placements as well and I realized that I actually absolutely loved it it was a new experience

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compared to what I'd grown up with but it still remind Ed me of that Community sense and yeah that feeling of belonging

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and it was like it felt like home away from home so I think in the end that's how it's encouraged me to go back rural

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but yeah that's my story there I guess I can definitely relate to that it's funny yeah growing up in different Rural and

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Regional areas I couldn't kind of wait to get out and then yeah yeah after I

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did like let me leave let me Branch out yeah exactly and then yeah I ended up

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actually deciding to do you University in um at Char university cuz it was close to to my hometown and my parents'

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property so I can also relate to that but I cannot relate to the boarding school part I always wondered what that

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would be like attending boarding school yes yes now I guess moving go from

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boarding school to choosing Pharmacy a degree and then moving to that kimy

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region after your University was there something that actually triggered you to

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say yes I actually want to head back there or was it just that just happened to be where a intern position was what

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actually made you make that decision yeah so I guess it's a bit of a mixture of different things I definitely valued

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the like really Valu the Independence that I got going through boarding school because you know I I went there and your

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seven so I was 13 and that's a big that's a big adjustment at 13 years of age all of a sudden you're not with your

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parents anymore you're also living you know I'd never lived in a city I've been to Perth but obviously I'd never lived

4:04

there so completely different and that's a huge shift and you learn a lot of things as well as growing up at the same

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time but in terms of moving to the Kimberly it was actually a holiday that I had taken to broom in particular with

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my partner and we hopped off the plane when we were visiting there and literally that same day we were like

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we're going to come back here someday and work like it's going to be this is fabulous we loved it I don't know just

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it was beautiful and then along my University journey I heard about this particular type of job that was very

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rotational you could go between Community Hospital they'd fly around to different locations if they needed to

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and it sounded awesome it sounded like the best parts of Pharmacy in all areas really so that's sort of when I had my

4:48

eye out on that job and I reached out to see if there was internships available which there were but yeah I think it's

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that whole experience of moving out of home early once I finished high school I had to live out of home on my own for a

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little bit to start University and so I think yeah that Independence that I gained the understanding of what it's

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like to be alone and to also I guess be a little bit homesick or miss your people and understanding how to manage

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that sort of really helped me to go on that Journey so yeah what you just described there with that intern

5:20

position that actually sounds amazing like wow so much F have had that experience like wow especially for an

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intern position that just sounds like an absolute dream yeah that was in Fitzroy

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Crossing yeah one of the locations that I got to was Fitzroy Crossing hospital and yeah I think still to this day the

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experience itself has to be one of my most favorite times working in rural farmacy so Fitz road crossing for

5:47

anybody that doesn't know is 4-Hour drive from broom and then broom again is a 2hour flight from Perth so it's

5:53

literally in the middle of nowhere so you're very isolated but because of that you come in to work in a little

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Healthcare setting which is the hospital and that acts as an emergency department a little Ward but it's also where people

6:06

come to see the GP they'll see Allied Health there's an Outreach component and there's also the Community Pharmacy and

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within that the Community Pharmacy works with the hospital on the ward side as well at the time that I was there so

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yeah you become a Community member like you're the new person in town people want to know who you are what you're

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doing they invite you out they get you involved because there's not much else otherwise but it was so much fun and I

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think there's there's this misconception that all the time in rural Pharmacy you're alone or you might be the only

6:36

pharmacist which definitely does happen but at the same time that's not always the case you know I actually got to have a lot of time in fits Ray Crossing with

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some of my best friends that I made working in the Kimberly so yeah it was just a really cool time working and

6:49

living with your best friends my partner was there we were just having a grand time out there yeah well that sounds

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awesome you mean I think sometimes yeah like rural Regional or even like remote

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actually places can be I guess a bit bit lonely but when I was working in a small

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town of Forbes there was actually a small community of other young health professionals there and yeah they kind

7:14

of the owner there at the pharmacy kind of connected us all together and it was really nice so there was like the

7:21

psychologist medical student and the pharmacist and we'd go and have dinner and stuff together which was really nice

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so I think to yeah connecting with other yeah Health Prof that's the beauty of it because you don't do that very often in

7:33

Pharmacy in like a metro area you know we are a little bit isolated I guess in the pharmacy and even in big tertiary

7:40

hospitals you know we've got your whole Pharmacy team so you stick together but in these rural places you work with everyone you see everyone socially so

7:47

yeah you all kind of become friends over a while yeah absolutely like you said it's a small area small town so everyone

7:55

gets to know everyone yeah so you've talked a lot about the area the community during your internship but I

8:02

know you've also mentioned you've been quite open I guess in the public Arena

8:07

around post internship burnout and so even if I reflect on my own internship

8:14

it is quite stressful and quite demanding you all of a sudden having to work full-time and study and I don't

8:20

know and just that pressure yeah I remember feeling like oh my gosh if I fail like my life is over you think it's

8:28

going to be over otherwise like this one five years up to one moment yeah so yeah

8:33

what was that experience like for you so when you talk about that internship burnout was that something that you

8:39

actually experienced personally yes yeah so that's why I talk about it or I try to talk about it on my socials because

8:46

it is something that I experienced personally and it went through after I left my internship and began working as

8:52

a pharmacist now in the pilra the triple 1 team so it sort of carried out for a

8:57

period of quite a few months and with sharing that experience online I've come

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to find that there's a lot of young pharmacists who are either who have either gone through the same thing currently going through the same thing

9:09

or worried that they might be getting to that point so it's actually a lot more common than a lot of us think it is or

9:15

we feel like we're going through it alone but we're actually not there's actually quite a few of us CU it is a huge year and there's a lot of pressure

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in you're going through life as well like there's a lot of compounding factors as to why burnout happens but

9:26

for me that looked like questioning entirely whether I wanted to be a pharmacist which is very strange for me

9:32

to say now because I love being a pharmacist and I wouldn't choose my career path any differently but at the

9:37

time I was fully thinking like what am I doing do I actually want to be doing this anymore and it's very confusing to

9:45

go through that whilst at the same time being exhausted and you don't really know what you want to do and you've

9:52

spent you know High School working towards the end and then University working towards graduating and then internship you finish that and all of a

9:58

sudden that safety net is gone what do you do next what's the next thing that you're working towards how do you get

10:04

there where do you start what am I even passionate about and all of those things are going through your head and it can

10:10

kind of compound all at once so yeah I guess to overcome that it was actually

10:17

learning how to come back down to zero I am very much the type of person like I do like something to work towards I do

10:23

like moving towards that next thing something that excites me and you know we all want some sort of fulfillment

10:30

through our job but you have to learn that being a pharmacist is not the only thing that you do and it's not what

10:35

makes you up as a person and so yeah it was coming back down to zero learning

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how to literally just go to work and come home and not do anything else I don't need to worry about what I'm going to be doing next and what I should be

10:47

working towards just literally finding myself and finding hobbies and learning how to be a normal person outside of

10:54

work because then all the exciting stuff and the little projects and the opportunity is they often find their way

11:01

to you organically and that's what makes them special so yeah well thank you so much for sharing that and being so open

11:08

about your experience and yeah of course I also just want to say also hats off to

11:13

you for for realizing this so early as well and figuring out how to overcome it

11:19

I feel like it's I've only just kind of had that same realization but only in the past few years so yes I'm very very

11:28

proud of you for for real in that early on but it also definitely is a testament to like the team that I work with now as

11:34

well you know they're so supportive in that Journey it definitely isn't just you know you don't have to go through it in isolation I had lots of wonderful

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people around me at work still to this day who have helped me go through that and yeah they've been super important

11:48

that's so good and I like the way they said going back to zero I think that's a good reflection to have just in life in

11:54

general I think realizing that yeah like just because you're a pharmacist is that it doesn't have to be personality like

12:02

yes yeah and I think reflecting on my own Journey probably when I was sort of

12:07

in that same position as you are now I thought that yeah me being a pharmacist

12:12

like that's who I am and that's basically it and I used to say oh yeah

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being a pharmacist it's a lifestyle and it's not a job and which it can be really great lifestyle don't get me

12:23

wrong but I think then it's very easy to blow lines then and you about definitely

12:29

being able to find hobbies and being able to separate going to work and coming home and I think that's really

12:35

important and if you st blurring those lines it's very easy to just um I guess

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get into that I don't know Rat Race yeah yeah you talked about some of your

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hobbies and how just things just pop up I guess organically and randomly when

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you're kind of in a giving yourself maybe that time to be also creative as

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well yes yeah and so is that sort of when the idea of the rural pharmacist

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came about for you or is that something that you thought strategically okay I want to do this or

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was it just like a natural progression of you were just sharing some of yourself and then that's just growing

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into what it is now I hadn't really thought of it that way but in reality it's kind of a mixture of both so I

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think it happened organically in the sense that I've been very fortunate that for the most part every job that I've

13:28

had in rural Pharmacy I've absolutely loved the experience and the job itself

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and I've always thought you know I love all these things and I know other people would really enjoy this as well but a

13:39

lot of what I've leared has been because I've taken the job but I've just leared about it on the job in terms of the possibilities and the opportunities and

13:46

the growth and the benefits and things like that and conversely some of the hardest days in my career have been in

13:52

rural Pharmacy because of significant Workforce shortages so I've always questioned like why University on a

13:57

university level closer to to my internship was I not really made aware of a lot of these things cuz that's a significant gap for ecps because there'd

14:04

be more of us I believe anyway so that's a question that I've always had and then

14:09

I guess through finding my hobbies I started posting Hobbies online anyway so

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I got used to like putting together little videos and real and Tik toks and a long time ago I was actually working

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towards becoming a dancers so most of it was around dance or funny little things like Advent calendars that I was opening

14:27

at Christmas time and some of those Tik Tok sort of gain traction things so that's when I sort of started

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experimenting in that stage and then a very good Mentor of mine Dr face Sim she turned to me one day and she was like

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you know the perspectives that you have on Rural Pharmacy they're actually quite valuable like you should start putting them out there and I think she was

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thinking more LinkedIn and at the time Twitter or X was still sort of thriving

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which it's not so much anymore but yes in my head it was Instagram and Tik Tok

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because the reals and you know where of our generation are now so I guess that's how it all sort of started so it started

15:03

organically and then turned into somewhat strategic but I think because I had that moment to sort of rest like you

15:10

say bring it back down to zero that I had the space to then think about it strategically and work on it

15:15

strategically since whereas if I hadn't have done that I wouldn't have the capacity at all to take that on so yeah

15:23

that's really interesting and yeah I guess shout out to Fay if you're listening I'm sure she is yeah and

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that's also important to highlight that if you're a more experienced pharmacist

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that's quite prominent in the industry just little comments like that that you can say like just using the experience

15:42

that you had it has a power to really change people's perspectives in their trajectories and so yes who knows what

15:50

she envisioned like you said when she mentioned that too but look at how it's actually how it's evolved evolved which

15:57

is really exciting and I like that the fact that you did choose the Instagram

16:04

and the Tik Tok just the way I said that they me sound like an old like the Tik

16:09

Tok the Facebook don't worry we've all done it yes but I think it's also shows

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that authenticity which is really important and I'm quite proactive on

16:22

LinkedIn and I think there's a really good place for LinkedIn professionally

16:27

yes but I do feel that it's probably like still the best parts of you or

16:33

whoever it is correct although I am seeing that people are starting to change that and and being more

16:39

authentic on there which is great but I think yes I know when I've watched your

16:44

reals and things on Tik Tok and Instagram I yeah just love that you're so authentic and so even though you said

16:51

that's some of the things that you do are strategic and you've got to plan these things that sometimes you can't just put it yeah as much as I'd love it

16:57

for to be ad like it just especially in Pharmacy it really can't you have a life and a job and yeah

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yes yeah but yeah no thank you for that no that's okay and I think that's probably why um a lot of people feel

17:12

like they can connect with you and it's actually funny I was doing a loc stin in

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Far North Queensland Priceline Pharmacy in marba and I met a pharmacy assistant

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there her name is Jordan and Shout out if I ever interviewed you that I um

17:30

would shout out to her well hello Jordan when we were chatting she mentioned to

17:35

me that she had came across this really awesome pharmacist that she follows on Instagram and she's like maybe you've

17:42

heard of her and she showed me the account and it was your account Shaylee oh that's very sweet so I think that even

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like I don't know if you realized but yeah like even Pharmacy assistants are engaging with your content and I think

17:57

that's because you're authentic cuz it's not just about pharmacist it's a whole Pharmacy team we will use any staff that

18:04

we can get our hands on in these areas and assistance are essential to the functioning of our day-to-day work and

18:10

we can't do half of what we need to do without them it's almost even harder to get assistance in these areas Because

18:17

unless they live there and move there then there's not much other option so

18:22

thank you for letting me sharing that story I appreciate that no that's okay I thought I definitely will yeah give the

18:29

shout out but I I've got my eye out on for Jordan so keep an eye out for Jordan

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if you're listening I kept my promise but I think too in some areas I know

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that some of the places where I loc so quite often like going to I guess random

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places especially North Queenland and quite often some of these pharmacies

18:51

pretty much just run on looms they might maybe only have one full-time or regular

18:56

pharmacist and so in terms of like Pharmacy assistants a lot of the time they're actually the ones that are the

19:02

regular staff yes and they know what's going on they know the patients and so I

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know I yeah really value yeah the dispense Tech and Pharmacy assistance give to me as a locom so if you're an

19:14

assistant and you're listening yes I to you guys shout out is talking about

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stories and testimonials have you received any feedback from anyone that's

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maybe engaged with your platform or yeah yeah have you got any success stories or

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testimonials you'd like to share yeah I do actually and this is where I can really say that I'm so grateful for

19:38

those that have followed along and the community that's sort of formed now because it's just fantastic because I

19:44

have a lot of people that message me quite regularly about you know how maybe what I've said or what I've put out

19:49

there or what I've suggested and created is like how it's impacted them or how it's made them feel or a different

19:56

perspective that they didn't see before or even if post just came at the right time that they needed to see that it

20:03

happens so often and I always really appreciate those messages because sometimes you really do feel like you're

20:08

just throwing things out there seeing what sticks and so it's really nice to know that a lot of it is resonating with

20:16

people who are going through the same thing as me cuz it's you know I share my journey but I also love hearing about other people's and knowing that I'm not

20:22

going through it alone either so I'm really grateful for everybody that's reached out to let me know of their

20:28

thoughts but it goes even further than that so even just here in karatha you know we've been super lucky that

20:35

together with the socials as well as the team working towards the placement

20:40

program that we have here and the intern program that we're also starting to develop even more we've secured multiple

20:46

interns for 2025 which is fabulous for some wayes that's so remote and we've

20:51

even already gained interest for 2026 wow so even that forward planning

20:57

that's huge for us and and I think any rural area would just be absolutely

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thrilled that they could get their hands on so many people or interest so early because we're always looking and you

21:08

know students and interns are our main way to recruit because that once you get them that's when you can show them

21:14

onsite like what it's actually like and how much fun it is and all the opportunities that's and they usually come back and stay and whatnot but one

21:21

that definitely comes to mind at the moment is I've actually got a young high school student local here who came into

21:28

to the pharmacy and she trapped me down and she let me know that she'd seen some of my content and from that she's just

21:34

been watching the videos and now she was really considering actually studying Pharmacy as soon as she graduated high school and she came back again the last

21:42

couple of weeks and said yep finished my waste exams like it's all done and I've put Pharmacy down as one of my preference and even considering like

21:47

doing some work here in karatha and I think that's so special and it magnifies

21:53

it on a scale because not only have we got more interest in a remote area

21:58

someone that's local as well like that's just even better that's exactly what it's all about it's getting people

22:04

interested and wanting to try it out because once they want to try it out then it's easier for us to be able to be

22:09

like here like this is what we'll give you and provide you and support you to we want to give you all the support so that you can support us and our

22:15

community and yeah that's really what it's about so yeah that's such an amazing story and that's something that

22:21

I probably haven't even really thought about as much is targeting high school

22:27

students or exactly and I didn't like either but that happened so organically and I think that yeah it was really

22:33

special that's really really nice and especially someone local in your area that's really sweet that's really really

22:39

nice and yeah it kind of opens even more pharmacists also share their experiences

22:45

and being more open or and authentic about it than future pharmacists they're

22:50

actually seeing more of what that experiences rather than just them maybe being in the pharmacy with their parents

22:57

or something picking up a screw

23:05

gues I know no I don't know if I've shared this before I actually got my

23:11

first job in Pharmacy because I went with a friend to get her ears pierced

23:16

that was actually the reason why I that yeah so I was just taging along and they

23:22

yeah needed someone and so I was like yeah I'm available there you are and here you are all these years later am

23:27

from later and it's funny I was having a conversation with my mom not that too

23:33

long ago and like it's funny she's like oh who would have thought that you didn't want to be a pharmacist I'm like

23:40

what do you mean she's like oh remember I suggested Pharmacy when you were in high school and you shut me down for it

23:46

thinking no I don't want to do that like absolutely not yeah and and I was like I don't remember saying that but I think

23:51

it was when I reflected on it I think oh it's probably because I didn't understand what they actually did yeah

23:58

if you don't need to engage I guess because you're healthy otherwise like you know it's definitely not something

24:04

that you see and we are a small industry like I think and you know even as a young person every young person has to see a doctor or a physio for example so

24:11

we all know what they do but in terms of Pharmacy it's probably a little bit less because they may not necessarily need

24:16

medication or that sort of Health advice so yeah yeah absolutely I might just

24:22

turn the conversation over a little bit but it's still kind of relevant to what we're chatting about you were mention

24:28

about the intern program that you're working on with trip 7 I believe and I

24:35

guess you've been recognized for your work as an intern being named the PSA's

24:40

national intern pharmacist of the year in 2022 so first of all congrats on that

24:45

achievement that's pretty awesome thanks and I guess in terms of like winning

24:51

that award for maybe people that are students or interns now what did you

24:57

actually have to do to win pharmacist of the year I'm sure it's just like you were just being

25:03

yourself I'm sure but pretty much yeah what did you actually have to do for that yeah again as I said that's the

25:09

beauty of it because you really are just being yourself especially in rural Pharmacy but because of the lack of

25:14

Health Resources what you do and what you try to achieve or can achieve with

25:20

that lack of resources is so impactful for that reason but I guess that

25:25

particular year that I was an intern was when wa opened its borders for the first time in 2 years and I was working in the

25:32

kimbery so basically in that region the Whole Health System worked so incredibly

25:38

hard to make sure that obviously there's going to be an influx of covid-19 back in the state because up until then it

25:46

sort of had been kept quite a bay so we really were kind of going through it for a second time in that sense to keep

25:53

Community safe and you know everybody that worked towards keeping people safe did such a fantastic job but I guess the

26:01

main things were I was doing a lot of vaccinations for covid-19 cuz in that

26:06

the time wa interns can vaccinate which that might be a sort of whole Australia thing now which is fabulous but I was

26:12

doing a lot of them and it was also a time when I'm not sure if I think it was a state thing as well so wa if you

26:19

wanted to go into certain restaurants or certain areas if you wanted to go to work you had to be vaccinated it was mandatory so that was a big time and

26:28

that caused a lot of people a lot of stress understandably like we'd never been through that before so it was a

26:34

case of people coming in they're getting their vaccination a lot of people are under stress so I just pretty much just

26:41

started asking people how they were feeling or how they were going during that time was just a I guess an

26:47

instinctive thing to ask like okay like there's a lot of people who are really stressed upset or going through a lot

26:53

and really unsure like I've got their full attention I may as well ask about what's going on for them so yeah it was

26:58

kind of like a little mental health screening situation I guess that I just started to do and that was sort of the

27:04

main basis of the award nomination which again that was from Dr faim which is

27:11

very appreciative that she'd put that in for me so yeah that's sort of the basis of that so it really is just being

27:17

yourself and if you've done something that's you know gone out of a little bit further out of the way or you've had a

27:23

really good idea you've got a mentor around you that recognizes that and as

27:28

willing to you know put forward that recognition that's sort of how it gets through so yeah that's such a nice story

27:35

and the fact that it was just something that you were doing naturally right it's not something again that you sat down

27:41

and thought Oh okay I want to win intern of the year what Pro do I need to do you

27:47

honestly don't have to be strategic about it it really maybe in a Metro setting I mean I could be wrong and I

27:53

haven't worked in a Metro setting for a while because I've been rural pretty much ever since I took took my internship but I do feel like in a rural

27:59

setting if you you can just go and do anything if you've got a good idea you just tell somebody and they're going to

28:04

be like yep go for it because resources are limited there's nothing to lose no one's going to stop you there's no

28:10

policy procedure or anything like that might maybe slow it down whereas maybe that could be the case in a more

28:16

Metropolitan setting especially in a big company or tertiary situation so yeah it really is just being yourself and just

28:23

putting your best foot forward and that can send everything right up so so yeah

28:29

and even just showing genuine care so that's essentially what you did you were just being genuinely caring to these

28:35

people that in getting their covid vaccines and just started out by having a chat and then that's sort of our

28:41

progress so I think that's my number one piece of advice well actually I have

28:46

lots of number one pieces of advice but that's a piece of advice that I can give to Young Pharmacists and interns is just

28:53

be curious and if you can spend most of your time just starting conversations

28:58

about anything doesn't matter what it is I think that's the best thing that you can do to build rapport and also get

29:04

good ideas cuz you'll see the gaps then yeah absolutely that is really really

29:09

good advice so you said that you had all this other advice as well so I guess like maybe we can start talking about

29:15

that yeah the main things would be put yourself out there as soon as you can or

29:21

as early as possible even at a student level take the opportunities that come up again early as possible because I do

29:28

believe at least in my experience so far opportunity taking is easier when it's done earlier than later when you've got

29:36

a lot of other things or life going on network as soon as you can I wish I had

29:42

started networking earlier but networking is the half the reason why I've gotten to the point that I have

29:48

today and then particularly when it comes to rural Pharmacy if you ever get

29:53

the opportunity especially if you're considering it if you're considering it what are you waiting for like you've

29:58

already done half the job just go and do it right again the earlier the better or the earlier the easier and I don't think

30:05

I've met a single person who's had a rural experience and regretted it and so I don't think that any of the young

30:12

pharmacists would either you'd be so surprised at how your perspective will change the skills that you develop how

30:18

quickly you develop them how broad your experience can be yeah there's just I

30:24

just don't think there's any point waiting on it so if this is your if you needed a sign to actually take that leap

30:29

and go rural then I'm giving it to you but yeah those are a few things that I've got up my sleeve that I think Have

30:35

Been instrumental to where I've gotten to today at least yeah absolutely

30:40

especially the thing that you talking about Network I know people in the industry talk about that a lot and what

30:47

actually is that and what it means but when I I almost had to laugh when you said oh I wish I'd started earlier you

30:53

already did start quite early I did start early but I think yeah cuz I know I wasn't really interested in networking

31:01

or anything like that when I was a student I was just wanting to get the bit of paper really to be honest and I

31:08

decided to join my student Committee in fourth year because I wanted to have a

31:13

say on where we went for the graduation yeah and of year event which I know

31:19

that's probably not the best kind of intentions but I did start to open my eyes up as to what else and the impact

31:25

they can have and yes I think if yeah you're a student now connect with your

31:31

student group or university group and if you are in a university that maybe isn't

31:37

as I guess active in your student group then reach out to NAPSA I think being

31:43

connected with NAPSA can just open so many doors for young Pharmacists and

31:49

I've seen people that have had some form of interaction with NAPSA like not even necessarily sitting on the board or as

31:55

an executive on Napa but just going to events where that NPS are hold and

32:00

that's how you can connect and network with other Pharmacists and I know that

32:06

yeah I've seen young pharmacists kind of Leap Frog in their queries quite quickly because they've had those connections

32:12

early on and so it just makes it a little bit easier you still have to do the hard work and take those

32:17

opportunities as you say Shaylee yeah and I think you're right when you're earlier

32:22

in your career generally don't have as many I guess life requirements so yes

32:28

like you might not have young families you might have the freedom to be able to kind of I'm just going to go Rural and

32:35

like you might have a little bit more time up your sleeve yeah yeah a little bit more time up your sleeve and what's the worst that can happen right well if

32:41

exactly yeah you can always come back or go do something else it's all good yeah just go home so yeah I think that's

32:48

really really good advice and even for pharmacists that have even been around for a while and maybe haven't had a

32:55

chance to go R what you're thinking about it even consider doing some Lo stin yeah most places are are screaming

33:03

out for looms as you said you've done a couple they're always looking always and

33:08

it's a perfect way as well to see the rest of Australia and especially for my

33:13

w people wa is incredible like I never really fully appreciated how amazing our

33:21

state is and how different every bit of our region is and what it has to offer until I went out here and I think it's

33:28

just wonderful if you take the opportunity to use it as a little working holiday like you know you could go anywhere you can go to the islands

33:34

like it just sounds much fun why wouldn't you do it yeah exactly why wouldn't you why wouldn't you yeah y y

33:41

do yourself a favor and go and be Lo even if it's like over Christmas I know

33:46

that now is the time to get a tast of being a loc and the pay is actually pretty good as well so it's always a

33:52

win-win and everyone's in the Christmas spirit so exactly exactly yeah I think

33:58

wa is a special place i' I've had the pleasure of being in wa for just a short period of time I think it was about 6

34:05

weeks went to wa and went to Geraldton and mount magnet as part of my

34:10

University placement so that was really cool absolutely loved it and I'd love to

34:16

see some more of w my husband and I have that on our list of places we want to go and I've seen these amazing pharmacies

34:24

that you work at over there on your beautiful aren't they who would

34:29

really beautiful I can definitely see to the owners there they've done an amazing job yeah absolutely so yeah shout out to

34:37

them if you don't know who we're talking about um I believe it's a tri 7 is that correct yes yep Pharmacy Tri

34:45

7 there's some beautiful ones yeah it's very nice walking into work every day and you feel like you're in this luxury

34:52

Pharmacy which who would have thought yeah that you'd find it in the pilb red

34:58

so yeah very special but I do find that actually there's some really beautiful

35:03

pharmacies and not just aesthetically pleasing either but just they're designed really well the workflow is

35:09

great great staff great people and forward Pharmacy tends to be quite prominent yes which is a type of

35:16

practice that I don't think I yeah once you start working in that way you can't go back because the reward for you as a

35:24

pharmacist but also what you can do for your patients by spending more time at the front instead of in the dispensary

35:31

and flipping it in that sense yeah it's it's really meaningful oh it really is I

35:36

know I struggle when I have to stay in the dispensary and I get told Krysti come back in and like you need to check

35:42

these scripts so I'm like ah okay I guess I'll come back yeah yeah it's like oh I wanted to talk yes that's right but

35:50

um I guess I kind of ties into my very last question that I wanted to ask you

35:55

what's your vision what do you think you see that the future of Pharmacy looking like the future of Pharmacy I think is

36:01

very exciting especially in rural Pharmacy because not so much that it's a vision because it's definitely

36:07

achievable now but I think maybe in the future more pharmacists will realize

36:13

that anything is possible in rural Pharmacy there's no limit to what you

36:18

might want to do or what you can achieve or how far you can go and it can really take you the most random of places and

36:25

career choices later on down the track but I think within that I hope that the

36:31

recognition of Pharmacists as a vital aspect of our health care System especially in rural Pharmacy and not so

36:38

much that it isn't that's not already what's happening but just a wider understanding that we really are a vital

36:45

aspect of the system especially in multidisciplinary teams I think if we can start embedding further into that

36:53

teamwork aspect especially working on sighting clinics or abigal Health

36:58

Services I think that's a really great step towards the future so yeah it's all

37:03

very exciting and it's constantly changing and it will change forever but yeah anything is possible I think that's

37:09

the best way to end the conversation is that anything is possible absolutely love it it sounds almost like a a Disney

37:15

movie or something like that it was very inspiring yeah yeah the little sparkles popping up over top yes exactly thank

37:23

you so much for sharing your journey and insight Shaylee I've really apprciate for

37:28

having me no I've love chatting with you for our listeners you can follow Shaylee on

37:34

social media the rural pharmacist to stay connected inspired we'll have all the links in the show notes so shy thank

37:40

you again for joining us today it's been an absolute pleasure thank you to our listeners that uh have been tuning in

37:48

and Shaylee do you have any final words you'd like to share with the listeners yeah my final words are that negativity

37:55

can be quite loud so make sure that you find the places or the people that give you the positivity because those are the

38:02

areas that will make the world of difference and it's important to balance that oh amazing best way to finish I

38:09

think that was really really good absolutely loved it well thank you so much Shaylee and hopefully we'll get to

38:15

speak to you again soon yes hopefully you've been listening to Your Pharmacy Career podcast brought to you by Raven's

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Recruitment don't miss our next episode where we continue to explore the multifaceted world of Pharmacy careers

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