Name- Marquel Price
Position- Clinical Pharmacist with Sentara Hospital
Education- BS and Masters in Chemistry, Doctorate in Pharmacy and currently working on an MBA at VCU
Marquel is a Pharmacist with Sentara Hospitals who wanted to be a pharmacist for her love of chemistry and the want to do something to help others. She has a passion for geriatrics and loves doing what she does. In her field she discusses how they have run into problems with incorporating sustainability. As a pharmacist it is hard to have sustainable habits because of health and safety codes. They tried to do reusable pill packs but found that they were often returned dirty and unusable without extra steps to wash and prepare them to slow their work down. They have some sustainable practices in which their plastic bottles are recyclable and some of their packs are made of paper so that they are more friendly to the environment. There are many challenges and things that she would like to see changed in her field as well as advice she would give people looking to go into her field. The major one being do it for the people. Don’t go into the field just for the money and benefits make sure your heart is in it too. As fir the challenges it is hard to do her job because now days it feels as though the hospitals have turned into a ploy for money. We are more focused on filling beds and giving patients meds they don’t really need instead of evaluating what they need. We need to focus on the people and not just the money. I have learned a lot from this interview including that I need to make sure my heart is where it needs to be with each patient as well as making sure I look out for each patient and make sure they get the help they deserve not just need. It is also important that were it is possible I make sure I am being sustainable because as we’ve found out it is not always possible.