When the first symptoms of illness appear, we do not always go to the doctor. Sometimes we get qualified advice from pharmacists. Victoria Kucheruk, who works in one of the city’s pharmacies, shared with Zhytomyr.Travel her thoughts on the importance of her profession and congratulated her colleagues on their professional holiday – Pharmacist’s Day
«I am proud of my work and I like everything. I’m in a place where I feel like a fish in the water. I’m lucky, because every day I go to work that I like»
«When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor. In general, I really liked the medical field, and when I learned about pharmacy as a science, I became even more interested. As a child, I went to the pharmacy and wondered how a person’s head could hold so many names of drugs, diseases. For some reason it seemed to me that it was a whole sea or ocean of names (Laughs). And it interested me so much that I was fascinated»
«I once told my parents that I like chemistry, I have a good «connection» with it, and I want to go to pharmaceutical college. They understood me, supported me and said: «We see that it is yours. Try it». After 11th grade, I only applied to the College of Pharmacy because that’s what I wanted. And it all worked out»
«Going to college is very different from going to school. First, the load. Secondly, the amount of information. In two years, as much information has been invested in our heads as in all the years at school. However, this is a completely different level, honestly. For me in the first year it was such an emotional explosion: absolutely everything is new. I loved chemistry since school, but in college it’s five different chemistry, experiments, labs. You just look at all these reactions differently, transformations… And you fall in love. Suppose we see a white solution, and then one drop of the substance – and the solution becomes pink. And you sit and watch everything happen. It is extremely attractive. To me, it looked like tricks or some kind of magic»
«I remember coming to get a job. It was very scary: the hands were shaking, the legs were shaking. You are asked questions, and you are afraid to answer – incredible emotions. Then I went on an internship to my first pharmacy and have been working for four years»
«The level of professionalism is important for a specialist in any field. Now I study by correspondence, but all the same it is an opportunity to receive new actual information. I want to connect my life with pharmacy forever. Really, I like working in a pharmacy. And that’s why I want to be sure that in ten, twenty years I will remain a professional in my field. Therefore, higher education is needed. We need constant development – new information and constant practice, which you will not get sitting at home»
«The most important things in my life are family, inner peace, health and development. Inner peace probably comes with age»
«Over time, you begin to perform tasks calmly, adapt to everything. Different people with different character come to us. Over time, you learn to understand each client. Not everyone likes it in some situations, because working in a pharmacy is a field of service. We must realize that a person should leave us satisfied, having received qualified help. It doesn’t matter if it’s an old lady or a young person. We need to be able to find a compromise in communication and fulfill our responsibilities. This is not easy, especially in the beginning. I came home and told my parents that it was very difficult, but I never wanted to quit. I knew it was mine and I like the job»
«What irritates me the most is the lack of elementary politeness of people or even rudeness. Sometimes they forget that we have specialists with higher education, with a high level of knowledge. Both 15-20-year-olds and old women suffer from this – there is a lack of respect at all. However, I never respond to evil with anger, I always wish you a good day and wish people to be helped by medicine. Probably, an educated person will understand the essence of my words and draw conclusions if he misbehaved. Situations in life are different: maybe someone has spoiled a person’s mood or something annoying has happened in his life. The main thing is not to respond to anger and rudeness, not to take on this energy. For four years no one has knocked me off track – I come to work in a good mood, and I go home with it»
«I don’t write posts about my work on social networks, because I don’t think it’s necessary. But if I had my own blog, I would write about funny stories at work. I find it funny when people distort names or invent their own. I had a case a year ago, but it will probably be remembered for a lifetime. A man comes to me and says, «Give me a medicine for my stomach». I ask: «What’s it called?» He assures me that one hundred percent on the letter «F». After dozens of these names of drugs «on F», I offer a completely different. The man joyfully exclaims: «Here it is!» And this situation is not uncommon»
«If there are difficult days, I motivate myself with the belief that tomorrow will be much better. There are different days, but it’s not a wrong choice of profession or some other reason. I just know that everything will be cool! That’s the whole motivation»
«We have a modern approach to staff online – we are constantly creating conditions for development, organizing trainings, video broadcasts with representatives of medical institutions, with experts. During the month there may be two or three trainings, consultations. We communicate with doctors: pediatricians, therapists who conduct lectures. They talk about specific diseases and the effects of certain drugs on humans, and we use this information in our work. And this is such a bonus for our customers. In fact, having modern knowledge is very cool! And in general, my work is associated with stability»
«Although new technologies are emerging and there are pharmacies where robots deliver drugs, I am sure that the profession of pharmacist will not disappear. We have a lively dialogue with the client. Let you come to the pharmacy, press a button, choose a drug, and the robot will take it to you. Even though a robot can give instructions for the medicine, only a pharmacist will give recommendations or sympathize. This is an activity where a person needs only a person, but not a robot»
«Sometimes pharmacists have to perform more than just professional duties, such as in quarantine. Then somehow people changed: everyone was very scared, worried. When there were rumors that a simple antipyretic cures all diseases, people began to come en masse and demand 20-30 packages of it. It was a little strange and scary for us then, but thats ok. We tried to support, to explain. And we certainly did not panic. In general, quarantine probably checked all of us for endurance»
«It seems to me that Zhytomyr has the best pharmacies. For some reason I notice different services in other cities and see the contrast. In our network, one of the standards is a good attitude to people, and our service is aimed at this. We also adhere to the standards for appearance in the workplace, and in other pharmacies I have seen unbuttoned robes, and uncollected hair, and too bright manicure. We have a clear algorithm of actions, standards, and for me it looks like a good teamwork»
«I think that a pharmacist is a doctor’s right hand. We have no less knowledge, just in another field»
«Success is when you respect yourself, when you like what you do, when you have knowledge that can help someone… I know how I want to see my future in ten years: to develop, to learn, to eventually lead a pharmacy . I will not be too strict, because people do not respect it. I want to work in a team where people respect each other and go to work with joy. And I just believe that everything will be so»
«On the day of the professional holiday, I wish my colleagues not to take on the negative and strive to be happy. And of course health!»
