Jesse McCullough
ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR
- 9/11/2023
The Hope of Healthcare – the Call of Courage, Part 3
Over the years, I have had the privilege of addressing thousands of pharmacists and pharmacy students. While I have not shared this story for quite a while, I believe it is fitting for our consideration of courage. - 9/4/2023
The hope of healthcare – The call of courage, Part 2
Pharmacists face the call for courage in the presence of a single person all the time. Much of the time, the stakes can be quite low. But there are also times when the stakes can be very high. - 8/28/2023
The Hope of Healthcare, Part 9 – The call of courage
If pharmacists are to be the Hope of Healthcare, we must be alert to the conformities all around us and the results they deliver. Additionally, we must have the courage to explore new models, systems and services which deliver better results. - 8/21/2023
The hope of healthcare, Part 8 – Skills that increase or decrease in value
When I began my career as an intern, the stories were still common about preparing prescription labels on typewriters. Yes, you read that right. That was the prevailing technology at one time. When printers came along, all sorts of things changed. And for the better. However, if you were a pharmacy that did not improve your technical skill and adopt the printer over the typewriter, you would quickly find yourself at a disadvantage in the care you could provide patients. - 7/31/2023
The hope of healthcare, Part 7 – Skills that increase in value and skills that decrease in value
We all have skills, and not only do we have skills, we have certain kinds of skills. Not all skills are created equal. Some skills will increase in value over time, while other skills will decrease in value over time. Having the appropriate understanding and perspective of these skills will serve us well. - 7/24/2023
The hope of healthcare, Part 6 – proceed until apprehended
When you consider the systems and processes we all work in, doing something outside the norm may seem a little uncomfortable, or even not allowed. This is the way we have always done it, and this is how we will always do it. Personally, I find this way of thinking very frustrating, and also very limiting. - 7/10/2023
The hope of healthcare, Part 5 - the agency to act
In the pharmacy, we often find ourselves locked into rigorous workflows designed to reduce, if not eliminate, the possibility of errors being made. In other words, we have agency. But...having agency is not permission to be reckless. Rather, agency is the ability to do things in such a way as to make an improvement. - 7/3/2023
The hope of healthcare, Part 4 - learning to be the buffalo
How many of us have encountered situations with patients where we find ourselves dealing with bigger problems because the smaller problems were not addressed earlier? We all have! Medication adherence, complex therapies, opioid use, managing drug interactions, the list can go on and on! - 6/26/2023
The hope of healthcare, Part 3 – emotional truth in pharmacy
Emotions have everything to do with leadership! Emotions are the fuel of leadership. And when harnessed correctly, they can advance us a great distance. When we entertain the idea that pharmacy is the hope of healthcare, we must quickly recognize that hope is an emotion. - 6/19/2023
The hope of healthcare part 2 – defining the new reality for pharmacists
Pharmacists monitor medication safety and efficacy within the drug delivery system. I very much like this definition, but I also understand the need to adjust it as we move forward. We don’t just dispense, we don’t just check for allergies and drug interactions, we aren’t just the medication experts. We are something larger than that which blends these elements (and many others) together for the benefit of the people we serve.
