Pharmacists have the ability to promote a patient-centered practice by reflecting on their encounters with patients and sharing the stories of these encounters with one another. ACCP’s Nourishing the Soul of Pharmacy: Stories of Reflection was developed to bring forth these stories—stories leading to complex insights and resulting in improved and more empathetic care of patients.

Pharmacists from all stages of education and all areas of practice responded enthusiastically to our call for reflections, which resulted in a book of exceptional essays that show the variety of practice experiences pharmacists encounter today. Included are essays that will make you think, that you will identify with, that will make you laugh, and that will make you cry.

Below are some essay excerpts from Nourishing the Soul of Pharmacy:

She was the first woman that I ever saw die. I will never forget her face, or the chain of events surrounding her death.
I went to Africa to work with a physician friend in a government hospital in a fairly large capital city. My friend had already been there for a month, working on the women’s infectious diseases ward. I came to the country and the hospital as a pharmacist to learn more about how medicine is practiced in a limited-resource setting and to help her and the rest of her team in whatever way I could…
After 3 years, I’ve come to take a slightly different view. I’m more forward with my physician colleagues when I see resources being wasted, and I have regular talks with my patients about evidence-based care and the truth about “rationing.” I am again able to see the impact of resource limitations on my patients. We should get upset when we see injustice, regardless of where we see it. I know that my role, as a pharmacist, is often viewed as very drug-centric, but I know that my role is greater. As a pharmacist, patient care provider, and citizen, I must be there to advocate for my patients—both in a local sense and in a global one. They need for me to be their voice when no one else will hear them, and I will never forget the woman who taught me this lesson.
Lauren Jonkman – Where There Are No Guardians

Shamrock Black, Shamrock Black, Shamrock Black. That call sign echoes in my ears 2 years after my 12-month tour as a military pharmacist attached to a combat unit deployed to a remote region of Afghanistan.
This call sign was blasted through the forward operating base loudspeakers to alert the surgical team and any other available soldiers of incoming casualties from the battlefield when insurgents, attempting to enter our base disguised, together with other local workers from neighboring villages, failed to breach the perimeter but managed to detonate themselves before they could be disarmed. “Shamrock Black” meant that we had a mass casualty event with numbers injured instantly, exceeding our forward surgical team’s capabilities and requiring an “all-hands-on-deck” approach as soldiers, from supply technicians to engineers, would jump in to answer the call. Within minutes, our trauma teams, along with other soldiers, would converge on the makeshift field hospital to prepare for receiving the most critical casualties.
Felix K. Yam – Letting the Mission Define Your Role:
Reflections from the Battlefield

When my daughter was young, we went to a festival not very far from home on a beautiful fall day. Unfortunately, upon arrival, my daughter managed to close her fingers in the car door. I quickly got the door open, and as she looked at me through teary eyes, she said, “I just want to go home.” I often think of this incident when I see the homeless patients in our clinics and remember the phrases “Home sweet home,” “Home is where the heart is,” and “There is no place like home.” Sadly, today, more people are finding themselves on the verge of homelessness; a lost job, a few missed mortgage payments, and suddenly you are on the street. Hopefully, you have friends or relatives to help. Others may not be so lucky, and they end up in a shelter—or worse, living in their car or on the street. The comforts of home are gone.
Robert Draeger – The Homeless and Health Care

As a student at the University of Pittsburgh, I was the kid that sat at the back of the classroom: the kid that did crossword puzzles and Sudoku puzzles instead of fully immersing myself in lectures; the kid that occasionally nodded off during class, dreaming of the big payday upon completion of pharmacy school. I was not going to teach. I had absolutely no interest in it. I was not going to deal with students like myself. What possible benefits were there to teaching? Less money, spoiled students (not that different from myself), and…well, let’s be honest, a lot less money. And then, in a brief 2-week period on the other side of the world, everything changed.
Jon Wietholter – The Power of Positivity

A pharmacist killed my grandmother.
Of course, it is not so simple. Things never are. A pharmacist made a mistake when two physicians were not aware of all the medications a patient was taking—a pretty common occurrence.
Katie S. McClendon – Two Pharmacists

I assisted TP, a 30 year-old Hispanic woman with three children. She complained of severe abdominal pain that had been growing progressively worse for months. On the basis of a brief gynecological exam, the medical resident concluded that she had a vaginal infection that had likely progressed to pelvic inflammatory disease. He elected not to treat TP’s infection because he wanted confirmation of the diagnosis, so he recommended to her that she follow up with a doctor on the mainland. Because I was afraid to speak up on her behalf, because I was unsure of my knowledge and skill set, because I believed I should defer to the medical resident’s expertise, I said nothing. I said nothing, knowing that although we had medication to cover the spectrum of what was likely the cause of her infection, it did not consist of what would have been considered “first line” by the CDC. I said nothing, knowing that her husband was a fisherman who bartered with others on the island for the bare necessities for their family to survive. I said nothing, knowing that she would not be able to afford to go to the mainland for follow-up care. I dispensed ibuprofen for her pain and multivitamins for her and her children, prayed for her, and, 2 days later, left.
Christine K. Yocum and Seena L. Haines – A Passion for Practice:
Perspectives from a Resident and a Preceptor

Nourishing the Soul of Pharmacy is intended for a variety of audiences, including practitioners, educators, and students, as well as patients, caregivers, and health care professionals who seek a better understanding of pharmacists and the roles they perform. To order your copy, or for more information, please visit the ACCP Bookstore at http://www.accp.com/bookstore/la_01nscp.aspx.