have never felt so included and excited to provide my clinical knowledge to help expedite the patients’ roads to recovery as I did on my recent internal medicine rotation. This was mostly due to the team I was able to work with, the dream team! Each morning (like in many of my other rotations), I had the opportunity to participate in interdisciplinary rounds with the medical attending, medical residents, and medical students. This time, it was different. This time, the medical students asked me for insights into medication guides and dosing regimens. This time, the medical residents trusted my recommendations without doubt. This time, the attending asked pointed questions so that I may guide his treatment and monitoring approaches. 

Do you ever feel anchorless in the choppy waves of pharmacy school? I know the statement sounds oddly poetic, but that is how I have felt in the past few months. I am a final-year student pharmacist and in the very near future, my life will transition from a student to a practitioner. 

This past September, I had a conversation with a pharmacy systems director about transitions and priorities. Afterwards, he continued the discussion by asking whether I had written out a pharmacy philosophy statement. I was intrigued by the exercise and so I began an attempt at writing my own. After the process, not only did I have a foundational thesis to guide where I was headed next, but I also felt more grounded in the principles that I laid out. 

In this article, I will share seven steps to help you create your own philosophy statement. My hope is that you too will find the anchor that will keep your focus steady throughout pharmacy school and into your future career. 

The subject of addiction is a hotly contested, highly polarized debate. There are two main schools of thought: the disease model (genetics and biochemical factors) versus the moral model (character flaws and lack of willpower). I think student pharmacists might side with the disease model; personally, I believe that addiction is a legitimate medical illness. However, I recognize that not everyone shares my feelings, especially outside of the clinical setting, and I have come to learn that sharing an impassioned rhetoric about why I am right and my “opponent” is wrong does not bring the two sides of any debate closer together.