Marissa Stelmaschuk - Finding Purpose in Practice: The Rise of GP Pharmacists

Marissa Stelmaschuk is a General Practice Pharmacist based in Townsville, Queensland. A graduate of James Cook University, she began her career at Townsville University Hospital, where she served as a clinical pharmacist for over a decade. In 2022, she joined North Shore General Practice, delivering integrated, non-dispensing pharmacy services within a multidisciplinary team. 

Marissa is actively involved in the Older Persons Medication Management Pilot Project, a collaboration between Northern Queensland Primary Health Network and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, aimed at enhancing medication safety for older Australians. She is also engaged in research initiatives like the ACTMED trial, focusing on medication safety improvements in primary care. 

Beyond her clinical work, Marissa contributes to pharmacy education as a lecturer at James Cook University.

You can find Marissa Stelmaschuk on LinkedIn.

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Transcript

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Hi everyone and welcome to your pharmacy career podcast. I am your host, Krysti-Lee Patterson and today's guest is helping shape the future of pharmacy in primary care. We have Marisa Stelmaschuk and I hope I pronounced that last name correctly. She's a general practice pharmacist based in New Queensland, a lecturer at James Cook University and a passion advocate for new pharmacist roles in general practice. Marissa, welcome to the podcast. Thank you.

Krysti-Lee, I'm really happy to be here chatting with you today.

amazing. Marissa, I ask this question of absolutely everyone when they join me on the podcast. What drew you to become a pharmacist or to study a career in pharmacy?

To be perfectly honest, I can't really pinpoint a time that I decided that pharmacy was for me. I guess I knew I wanted a career where I could help people and quite likely that I wanted to be in health. And I think I had considered medicine, considered pharmacy and felt like pharmacy might suit me. And I worked in pharmacy part-time and I really loved it. Had some family members that were pharmacists.

Speaker 2 (01:38.446)

So decided to dive in and it has been everything that I wanted it to be. And I really do feel like I made the right choice.

that's really good. That's really positive. It's so nice to hear when people say that it's yet they can't really pinpoint it, but it's they wouldn't actually change it if they had to go back, which is really nice.

Yeah, and I think that's changed over time, my feelings and my thoughts about that. But I really feel like right now I'm where I'm supposed to be. And I think my experiences in pharmacy have happened because they were meant to lead me to this point. Yeah.

Absolutely. So you studied at James Cook University and you are actually now a lecturer there as well, which is pretty cool. What's it like returning to teach where it all began? Does it feel a bit weird? Was there still some of the lectures that taught you there still? Or is it a completely new experience?

Yeah, so there certainly is still lecturers that I was fortunate enough to learn from and it is a privilege to be there, I guess on the other side of things. I am very early in my career as a lecturer, so I really value the experience and knowledge with those wonderful lecturers that taught me and are now, I guess, guiding me in my teaching journey. And I think it is just really a privilege to be there and influence

Speaker 2 (03:03.49)

and shape the students now who will be the pharmacists, I guess, of the next generation. So I think it's a really lovely balance working in practice, but also teaching. I think it's wonderful to bring some relevance from practice to teaching and to the learning of the students. So I'm really enjoying that. It's a nice mixture in my week. So doing both part-time.

No, I definitely think that'd be really good to have that mixture of doing a couple of different things, which would be really nice. To become a lecturer, is that something that you set out to do or was it just something that maybe someone asked you or? Because I think in my mind, especially when I was early in my career or even at uni, I felt like you have to have a PhD to be a lecturer. So how did you even get into lecturing in the first place?

It is, great.

Speaker 2 (03:56.246)

Yeah, so it wasn't necessarily something that I could always see myself doing or something that I thought early in my career that I necessarily wanted to go down the academic path. I always wanted to be a hospital pharmacist and in the last couple of years an opportunity came up at JCU, which I felt was something that I needed to take up. So a wonderful opportunity came to me.

for some work at JCU and I'm really glad that I've jumped in and started that. So I certainly do not have a PhD and I am considering some further study at the moment and figuring out how that might fit in with my many commitments. But I think I have always had an interest in teaching or mentoring or being involved in helping others with their learning. So I think that.

passion has always been there and it's nice to have an opportunity to guess fulfill that.

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny, I had to chuckle to myself when you said that you were considering further study but trying to fit it all in. think a lot of pharmacists where we really are lifelong learners and it's funny when I decided to do pharmacy, it's like, oh, it'll take too long to do medicine and it's, I'll be at uni for 10 years. I've been at uni in some shape or form the whole time since I graduated.

So yeah, I think a lot of pharmacists are like you.

Speaker 2 (05:26.84)

Yeah, I think there's always so much more to learn and I think the really exciting thing about pharmacy is there's so many things you can do. There's so many paths you can take and whether that be academia, whether that be studying to improve your knowledge in the practice, I think there's just so many exciting options. So I think that's one of the really great advantages of being in pharmacy.

Now you mentioned that you really wanted to be a hospital pharmacist and I've never actually worked in a hospital pharmacy except for my placement when I was at uni so I have no insights as to what a hospital pharmacist does. Can you tell us a little bit about your time as a hospital pharmacist and yeah what was that like for you?

So I, when studying at JCU, I knew that I wanted to do hospital. And I guess for me, that was the best outcome after uni. That was my ideal job. So I was really pleased to have received an intern position at Townsville hospital. Then I could stay at home with my family and basically be in the, in the place I wanted to be. So learning in the hospital environment. And it really does hospital pharmacy provide a really

varied experience, though one day is like the next. There's so much to learn as a clinical pharmacist in the hospital. And I was generally, after my intern year, I stayed on at the hospital for quite a few years. I was generally quite rotational, so I went to different wards, learned many different things, had the opportunity to learn from many different hospital pharmacists. So it really is a great learning environment. And of course there's the option to specialize as well, but that wasn't really something that I did.

quite often worked in the general medical wards, which I really, really enjoyed. And I guess I enjoyed that variation in the day and in the week. So yeah, I was there for about 10 years. Had my family in that time. So go and leave and come back a couple of times. So it really served me well for that period of time and for that period of my career until I decided that there was something else for me out there in pharmacy.

Speaker 1 (07:40.426)

It's so interesting that said that hospital pharmacy is varied and very different. My perception has kind of always been that it would be quite, I guess, not nurse, it'd be the same thing all the time, like just looking at charts. But I think that's just because my experience was just literally like one week, shadowing one person. So yeah, really cool to hear that it is actually quite varied. the more people that I know that have worked in

hospital pharmacy, they really do say that and you really do have the option to, as you said, specialise in different areas or specialise in being a generalist, which is also a specialty in itself, I think. So after you had your family and you were doing hospital for 10 years, wow, that sounds like a long time and I know the listeners can't see you but you do not look that old to be.

Yes, I agree.

Speaker 1 (08:37.73)

Your skin looks amazing, so maybe you can give us some tips on your skincare routine.

No tips, thank you though.

you decided to want to explore some different career opportunities. Do you think it was just that you've been doing the hospital for so long? Was it having your family and wanting to maybe get you saw new career paths open up and thought, I want to put my hand up and go along for the ride.

So I think there was a few things. So I was actually pregnant with my fourth child at the time. And I had decided that I think the environment of hospital pharmacy maybe wasn't quite right for me or for where I was in my life with my family at that time. COVID was happening around that time. So I think maybe I'm not unique in this that some people had, you know, I think.

some changes in their career or changes in their ideas of what they wanted to do around that time working in healthcare. So yeah, quite a few things contributed. I had had at the back of my mind that general practice pharmacy might be something that I'd like to do. I had heard about it. My husband's a GP. So we had spoken briefly about this idea or concept of me coming to work in the general practice. And to be perfectly honest, at that time it probably was a bit of a crossroad.

Speaker 2 (09:59.586)

for me, I was deciding between staying in pharmacy or considering something completely different.

that what were you considering? Something completely random?

was really sure, but I was considering leaving pharmacy, which I found quite difficult to come to terms with because as I alluded to before, it's something that I felt once I started studying pharmacy that I felt I would do forever. And in fact, I felt like I would be in hospital pharmacy forever. So when I made that decision that maybe I wasn't going to be there forever and maybe I wanted to try something else, it was quite difficult really, a bit of a leap, I guess.

Yep, I can definitely relate to that. yet, although not in the hospital side of things, but in the community pharmacy side of things, and I do still work in community pharmacy as a locum when I can. But yeah, if you'd asked me 10 years ago, or when I was studying, I wanted to move back to the town where first pharmacy that I ever worked at, I was like, I'm gonna buy this pharmacy off you. I'd say that to the owner all the time. And then I never actually went back to that.

pharmacy. And but yeah, it's funny how I think you mentioned around COVID time, I think it really was a time where it just made people reevaluate where they're at their life and just kind of show you what's really important in life. think well, I know I certainly had a career transition during that time, like many other people, as he said.

Speaker 2 (11:28.64)

I think also sometimes we have these ideas in our head of what we think we should be doing or what we think we want. And I think it's also important not to sort of restrict ourselves to those thoughts. And I think within pharmacy, this has changed over time, certainly, but not staying in that line of thought of we need to be in community or hospital. That's the two main options and not looking outside of that.

I really do think that that has changed, particularly since I graduated. There are so many more options out there. And I think maybe that's why I'm so passionate about talking about new or different roles and also inspiring those studying now to think about the many options they can have in a pharmacy career. And whether that's from the start or whether that's over the course of their career, considering, I may like to do hospital, I may like to do community.

or I may like to work in general practice, or a bit of both, or academia, or there's many options. So I think that's what makes it really exciting, but I think it's also important to try and stay open to those ideas and those opportunities.

absolutely. Talking about opportunities, if we haven't covered it in the podcast already, but Marissa is in North Queensland. And I think that's a lot of innovation coming out of North Queensland, can I say? So many new practice roles and yeah, I've actually gone up and done some local work in North Queensland, up in Cairns and my family are actually from Mackay, so they're always trying to convince me to come up.

there or something like that. there's some role going here you should apply. I'm like, I'm more than happy where I am, but I'll come and visit.

Speaker 2 (13:14.08)

It is a lovely place to live and work, North Queensland.

Yeah, definitely recommend if anyone hasn't been definitely had either for a holiday or even a working holiday. It's a really nice part of the world. But yeah, it's you were one of the first general practice pharmacists or were you the first general practice pharmacist in Queensland or are you even keeping tabs on that?

I'm not really sure. I do know though, when I started in general practice in 2022, there wasn't many people around doing the same thing. So certainly in Townsville, at the time I did feel reasonably isolated in the role. And the way that I managed that was reaching out to other general practice pharmacists in Australia. So although they weren't

local to me or nearby to me, I found some wonderful supports in Sydney, in particular Brisbane, some wonderful people that I reached out to, who I guess I would see as mentors now, who really helped me understand what I needed to do to get the role off the ground and even just to have that support and someone to talk to about challenges and successes, which it's important to.

I guess discuss both and navigate both. yeah, there certainly weren't general practice pharmacists around me when I started, certainly in Townsville, and that's changed a lot in the last three years, which is really exciting.

Speaker 1 (14:42.638)

That's really cool, that's really good. It's interesting with GP pharmacists and especially, I don't think so much now, but when it was first kind of coming into the industry or hitting the market, I know what the right terms are, there was, I guess, a bit of negativity around it almost a little bit. But I think that stamped around people just not understanding.

or knowing. I'm always a big believer that any sort of conflict or something like that is generally just from a lack of understanding or lack of communication. And it's funny, I've heard people say, GP pharmacist role might work in a metropolitan area, but maybe not necessarily in a rural area. But you're from townsville. Yes, townsville is a city, but it's still very much a country town vibe. When I've been there in those early days was that

a challenge for you or did you find that the community was quite accepting of the role?

Yeah, look, I think I've been really lucky. I think you're right in saying that sometimes there is a lack of understanding or can be a lack of understanding of the role or of any new role really. I've certainly never experienced an issue with, I guess, doctors or other members of the team putting up barriers at all. That hasn't been an issue for me. And I think the other thing is there's been pharmacists in Australia working in general practice for many, many years. the

pioneers of the role have been working at this stuff for a long time, preceding when I started for sure. And I'm so grateful for those that have done that, that groundwork for sure. But I guess, as you touched on, I guess, even if the role isn't new in existence or in the country, it was new for Townsville. It was new for our area. So I think sometimes, yeah, as you mentioned, like Townsville is regional, I guess, it might not be a new concept.

Speaker 2 (16:35.534)

but it might be a new concept to those that are around you and the community around you. So I think maybe one of the bigger barriers for me was the understanding from the patient population and the general population because they hadn't seen a pharmacist in general practice. It wasn't a concept that they'd heard of, let alone been involved with. So I think that that was sometimes more of the issue and it's certainly gotten better over time, but I still encounter probably every week patients that say to me,

why are you here or which pharmacy do you work at? Which chemist do you work at? It's usually the question. So I think I see that now as a wonderful opportunity to share with them what my role is and how I can help them and how I am an integral part of the general practice team and how I work with, you know, the doctors and nurses and other health professionals to help them and help them manage their medications. So yeah, I think that's been more of the barrier for me, to be honest.

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I'm so glad you mentioned that. I think sometimes when we're having discussions about roles and whether it's in pharmacy or the wider health sector, yeah, the patients are at the center and yeah, what do they think about it? And you do when with these new roles, it's, certainly also have to educate the general public about what you're doing as well. it's even funny like

in community pharmacy, we've been vaccinating for so many years now, but people are still like, Oh, where did you do your nursing degree? Oh no, I'm the pharmacist. Oh, they you do that now. I'm like, yeah, they let us do that now. And it's not, they're not being rude. It's just, yeah, they, it's just not what they're used to. But again, it allows for a good conversation and yeah. And by educating them that they can then go tell their friends and family and word of mouth, we'll get around. your role in general practice.

Speaker 1 (18:46.752)

especially early on in that it was a new role, was in an area where they hadn't seen a GP pharmacist before. How did that role actually come about? Was it something that you had to apply for and there was funding for or was it maybe a little bit easier because you do have some insights into the GP through your husband? How did that actually come about?

So I guess I am really lucky and in a very lucky position that I could jump into general practice and certainly my in I guess was having a husband who works in general practice and I had as I said planted that idea with him that maybe this maybe this could be an option for me or for us do you think it would be something the practice would willing to try yeah and the whole team are very supportive

board with.

Speaker 2 (19:40.384)

And I'm really grateful to them that they did kind of take a punt on me. So there certainly wasn't any funding at that time for me to join the practice. So I was privately funded by the practice. wow. Yeah, for a certain number of hours a week. And I came in with the idea of how can I help you? What exactly do you want to get out of this as a practice, as a team of GPs? It's a very supportive team of

That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (20:10.126)

principle practitioners there. So I was really grateful that I guess I had some rapport with them already. And I think some pharmacists do tend to get into general practice pharmacy via a similar way. However, it's generally via rapport they've built doing home medicine reviews. So I know a few general practice pharmacists that have had a really good working relationship with general practitioners via home medicine review or

MMRs or other work and then they have approached practices in order to try and start working there. That wasn't my pathway and I wasn't doing medication reviews and that's not how I started but I think once your foot is in the door I think it's really important putting yourself out there. This is what I can provide, this is what I would like to help with as a pharmacist with medicine expertise, this is what I can add to your team or help with.

I did do a PSA foundation, general practice foundation pharmacists course or there were some modules. And then I just started to pick up different things as I went along. So I decided to do my vaccination training and I tried to have a particular focus when I started as well. So my focus was to assist with the medication review process. So HMRs and RMMRs, although I was not conducting them myself.

One of the aims of the general practice was to have more medication reviews done. So I helped with facilitating that and I was really guided by the needs of the practice. So I think having one sort of aim or goal in the beginning is a really good way to get started and then being there and having a presence and showing the team what it is you can help with, the work then comes along.

Yeah, and I'm sure it keeps coming. I think if that keeps giving.

Speaker 2 (22:04.064)

It sure does. Yes. And I think it's really important to reflect on that because now I am at a point where I have patients booked in every day that I'm there and I am really busy and some weeks and days feel really, really busy. But I often remind myself that this is exactly what I've been trying to get to and the point I've been trying to reach. And it is really exciting that I have patients booked in to see me, telehealth consults, face-to-face consults.

phone calls from doctors, ad hoc with questions or patients that they're sending in to me for some further advice. And that's really, really exciting to have seen that role develop and change and really feeling like an integral part of the team is I'm just so grateful for it.

That's, yeah, it's almost like, what a great problem to have like that you're getting to that point where it's so busy and you're back to back with bookings. But yeah, reflecting back on, yeah, when you started and it probably wasn't like that. And yeah, how amazing that now it's growing to that.

Yeah, it takes time, yes.

Yeah, absolutely. I think I would like to chat to you now about how you balance life with a family with pharmacy. think it's like 70 % of pharmacists are female and a lot of us all have families, whatever that looks like. Family looks different to everyone. yeah, how do you, I think you said you've had four children?

Speaker 1 (23:35.598)

Yeah, yeah. So that I'm the eldest of four. and my mom, she was in a great position where she could be a stay at home mom. And oh my gosh, I would think if she had to, she was working, I don't know how she could have controlled us four kids. So how do you manage everything? And I know it's such a throwaway question. But yeah, I think if you could maybe just talk a little bit about your your family and your work, work life and

what that looks like for you and how you manage that.

think it is a sort of common question on people's minds and it is a lot to summarize. It is a lot, but I think the thing that keeps me going is that I really love what I do. I love my work and I think no matter how busy it is, if it's something that you love and enjoy, you keep going. And of course I love and enjoy being a mom as well. I'm very lucky to have a lot of support, but I also, I do think it's really important to be able to show

our children, and particularly I have one daughter, show them that it is possible to follow a path that you wish to take and to work outside of the home, if that's something that you wish to do, and that's not for everybody. But I think both myself and my husband really do enjoy our careers and the work that we do and helping others. And I guess we just hope that our children can see that they learn from that and that they're inspired by that as well. And I think...

Working in general practice has been so wonderful for me. It's allowed me to have some flexibility. I don't work every day in the practice and I am able to pick my kids up from school and be at school events and be there for them. So that's really, really important to me. So I guess this idea of balance is a really difficult one and I don't know what the answer is and I don't think there is an answer for.

Speaker 1 (25:34.638)

don't really like saying, how do you balance it, but I don't know how to ask a question without actually saying that. It's just life, isn't it, really?

Yeah, it's just life and I think if you've got the right motivation and the right priorities there, that's sort of all you can do.

I think that's a really good message too and for your kids to see that as well. If you are pursuing your career and doing other things and there are probably going to be some times where you might miss some of those events or things or because you're sharing that load with your husband or partner, whoever it is. But if you're doing it because you love it and it's making a difference and your kids see that, I think that's quite inspiring for them. They might not appreciate it at the time.

Let's be honest.

Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1 (26:26.978)

when they get older, they'll understand my offer. Yeah, it's giving. Yeah, they'll be able to see, you're actually making a difference. You're helping people. Yeah, which I think is really nice. Now, I wanted to chat to you a little bit about some things that have, I guess, happened throughout your career. And I think that's kind of stemmed from your work in it as a GP pharmacist. So you do mentor people into

I guess becoming a GP pharmacist. But you've also had the ability to also speak at events as well. And you've even been interviewed on TV, which is pretty cool. So what are some of the key highlights, I guess, from your career that I guess for someone listening to this podcast that's maybe early in their career, I wouldn't have even considered would be a thing that you could do.

Yeah, so I think there's a few things there and I think particularly probably from last year to now there's been some really exciting changes and opportunities for me. So I have been lucky enough to receive some funding to be involved in some projects, one of which is via the PSA and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia are involved with running a project currently supporting medication management in older persons.

So that's been really fantastic. And that's funded by a local PHN. So there are essentially multiple pharmacists in Townsville working in general practice now. And that's been really wonderful just to have a team, I guess, have others to talk to. It's really inspiring to hear what other people are doing, how they're managing the different ideas. And because general practice pharmacy can be varied based on what the needs are of those practices. So it's just great to have some.

other people to talk to about what they're up to and their experiences. And I learn a lot from them. And I hope that speaking with me that they benefit from that as well. As well as that our local PHN, our practice in particular applied for some funding to support chronic disease management in our practice. So we have a team which includes myself, general practitioners, a social worker, nurses, and we've set up a

Speaker 2 (28:46.048)

a team that supports our patients in navigating their chronic conditions. And that's been a really rewarding part of my role. And I guess it's something that in the beginning, working in general practice, I wouldn't have imagined that we could get to this point in just a few years. And it's really great to have some funding to support that work because often that is a bit of a barrier in how many hours a pharmacist can be in a general.

or how much they can do or what they can be involved with. So it's really great to have the two projects that I'm involved with have some funding to support that. That's really beneficial for the practice, but I'm really grateful to have that as an individual, as part of the team. So that's been a highlight for me, just seeing that, I guess, the traction that's been gained with that.

And then the opportunities to have others in the region working in the role obviously helps to get the word out there of what we can do and what we are doing. And you mentioned the TV interview, which was recently, and it was about the older person's medication management pilot project. It was a little bit out of my comfort zone and it was, as it turned out, a reasonably last minute thing. I was phoned and asked if I could do it. And I guess I was a little bit nervous about it all.

but I'm really glad I did it. So it was essentially just speaking about the role and the project. And there has been, since that time, many patients come in and say, I saw you on TV. But the more important part of that was it started conversations and they've, you know, people have come in and said, my friends saw it on TV and, they said to me, what's that about? Have you heard about that? Have you heard about seeing a pharmacist in general practice? So certainly worth the,

I guess, temporary discomfort or the nerves, because I think it really did help to raise awareness around the role. So yeah, really valuable, really good opportunity. And I think that's what it's about. It's about grabbing these opportunities when they come. The same is speaking at symposiums, which I've done a little bit of, and certainly there's often that imposter syndrome there, wondering, you know, what is it that I could have to give to a room full of, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:02.338)

wonderful professionals and often pioneers of the role. But what I've learned particularly in the last three years is that putting yourself out there is really important and building connections with others and asking for help. think without putting yourself out there, those opportunities don't often come. So yeah, that's been a really big learning point for me, but also a highlight to be able to do these things that I didn't necessarily think I ever do.

Absolutely.

The impact that you have by doing this is sometimes not realized at the time, but with the TV appearance is that temporary discomfort, but it helped with the awareness in the general population and your community. And so now they are coming in and actually wanting to be a part of that service. yeah, stepping out of your comfort zone and speaking at these symposiums and events. And I think you never know who you.

you are having an impact on and sometimes they don't tell you but by putting yourself out there and sometimes you might make it full of yourself, sometimes you won't and I'm sure you did amazing and you just have to be yourself but you never know who's going to be in the audience and kind of getting that inspiration from you to do something exciting with their career, whether it's become a GP, pharmacist or something else. I guess what advice would you give to

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:26.158)

a pharmacist that is looking to branch into general practice. I actually asked you this question before we started the podcast. My understanding of becoming a GP pharmacist is that you have to have done your HMR accreditation. You have to been doing that for a while. I wouldn't even really know where to go to apply. I'd probably reach out to the PSA and see how they can help. you said yourself that you'd

When you first started, didn't have neurocretation. So that's actually now thinking, okay, maybe this is something that I could maybe do, but I've got more than enough things going on right now. But maybe there's someone listening in the background of this podcast that's thinking, I'd love to do that, but I can't because of these reasons. Yeah, what advice would you give to them?

So I think if it's something that you're interested in, give it a try. And I think it is about putting yourself out there. I think what I would do in the first instance is talk to general practice pharmacists and I'm always happy to talk to people because I think I love the role, I love talking about the role and I'm happy to help. And I think if I think back to when I first started, the people that I reached out to or that reached out to me were more than willing to help.

and give me advice as to how to get started or what to expect. I think certainly the PSA is a great place to go and a great support for general practice pharmacists. But if you're thinking more locally, I think if there's some connections that you have with the general practice or any GPs in your area. And also I think the primary health networks, the PHNs are a really good place to reach out to, to discuss any opportunities, opportunities for

funding and that might not be a direct thing. There might not be direct funding for a general practice pharmacist, but there might be different things available. So whether they're looking at improving chronic disease management in the area or anything else, I think even just reaching out and having conversations, going to events, meeting more people that are interested in the area or are practicing in the area. So the general practice pharmacist symposium, which has

Speaker 2 (34:41.121)

just passed, but will happen again next year is a really great opportunity to hear about what different general practice pharmacists are doing in Australia. And the most recent event was fantastic. It was a very, I found warm and approachable environment. People sharing ideas, people sharing what projects they're working in, and everybody was more than happy to chat with others and help others. So I think as a group, I would say

general practice pharmacists I think are more than willing to help and talk about their roles. I think I said to you before the podcast started, Krysti-Lee, that I haven't met a general practice pharmacist that doesn't enjoy their role. It is really rewarding. It's generally quite flexible, varied, and a really exciting area of practice that is often coupled with other areas of practice. So many people will work in general practice.

just a couple of days a week or part time and then do other roles. So some might do HMRs and other days or work in community pharmacy or other areas of practice.

How exciting. Well, thank you Marissa for joining us on the podcast. Is there anything else you'd like to share with the listeners? think we've covered a lot in our conversation today. I've certainly learned a lot more about GP pharmacists, what that looks like and how do we even get there. So thank you for sharing your experiences, but do you have any final words for our listeners?

I'd just like to thank you for the opportunity, Krysti-Lee. think it's wonderful to speak about growing roles or lesser known areas of practice, pharmacy. And I think, I guess more broadly, just to say, if you are in an area of pharmacy that maybe you're not enjoying as much anymore, or that you don't feel as passionate about, try something else. I think you don't necessarily have to leave pharmacy altogether, give something else a shot, because you might really find something that you love.

Speaker 2 (36:37.302)

I guess I've been fortunate to have done that. yeah, there's lots that a pharmacist can give.

that great advice and a great way to end and end a podcast and I completely agree. Well, thank you so much, Marissa. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast. We'll put links to Marissa's socials. I'm sure you'd be more than happy to respond to any DMs or anything from other aspiring GP pharmacists or maybe GP pharmacists that are already working but just want to reach out.

Sounds great. Thank you.

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