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Tell me about yourself - Correct Answer Present: currently living in carmel and working for Kroger as a floater pharmacist, just got engaged, have two pets past: talk about Dad having a heart attack and that influenced you to attend kentucky to pursue pharmacy and then Butler after the golf scholarship future: ease into what you're looking to do next - and now I am finishing up my last couple of rotations and looking forward to starting a career in pharmacy where i will be able to create engaging interactions with patients Why are you interested in working for this company? - Correct Answer Accredo: I am a person who is always wanting to learn. I believe that the profession of pharmacy is one that will always give the opportunity for growth of knowledge because of the expanding access to novel therapies for rare diseases. I have family members who have been affected by pancreatic, colon, lung, non-Hodgkin, and breast cancer, my sister and her husband have been struggling with infertility for 3 years, and my close family friend is suffering from multiple sclerosis. Rare diseases are no stranger to me in my personal life, and I want to work for a company that will not only provide patients with easier access to these specialty medications, but also will educate patients on drug safety, adherence, and administration of specialty infused, inhaled, and injectable drugs. I have also heard great things about your company from other pharmacists who currently work for you, and I believe that this company cares about its employees as much as they do their patients/clients. A company that puts their people first is a company that I respect and admire. What are 3 of your strengths? - Correct Answer 1. discipline - i am always determined to get the job done and never have to be asked to continue on with a project. I am constantly looking for ways I can help out at work
- I have a thirst for knowledge - one of the reasons I chose the profession of pharmacy is because of how much needs to be known in the profession about medication and disease states. I love learning about new therapies, rare diseases, and medications to treat not only humans but also animals. Studying was never something I dreaded in school, i actually quite enjoyed it because of the opportunity to expand my knowledge.I try to keep up to date with new guidelines, therapies, articles, and also mental health.
- communication skills - I love talking with patients and find that I am able to speak with patients on a level that makes them feel important and understood. During my
rotations at multiple different hospital systems, i was able to put patients at ease during a time that may be frightening or stressful for them what are 3 of your weaknesses? - Correct Answer 1. self-critical - i tend to have a harsh inner critic in my head constantly telling me that the work i produce is not good enough. I have learned this about myself throughout my time in school and on rotations, and I believe that becuase I am now self-aware of my perfectionist tendencies, I can quiet that inner critic in my head when need be.
- people-pleaser - sometimes i want to help people so bad that I will do whatever is needed to help their problem. I have started to realize this throughout my time at Costco and the reality is that I cannot please everyone. Sometimes there are days where I have to tell a patient "no", and although it may be difficult for me, I will know that it will ultimately help out my coworkers.
- New graduate (I lack experience) - I just graduated in May and was licensed in late June. I have been working for Kroger as a pharmacist for only four months, but I feel I have already learned so much about what it takes to be a pharmacist in this pandemic. Although being a new graduate is seen as lacking experience, it can also be turned into a strength when thinking about my eagerness to learn. Since I just graduated, I am still in that pseudo-student mindset. I am constantly taking in new information, learning from mistakes, and adapting to changing environments. Because I just got out of the classroom and rotations, I believe my eagerness to learn and my ability to learn quickly makes me a top candidate for this position. tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of - Correct Answer I am most proud of graduating from pharmacy school. It is no secret that pharmacy school is difficult, and to look back to where I was as a P1 and to where I am now, I continue to be proud of myself. Being a pharmacist seemed so far away back then, and now I have finally achieved my goals what would you like to accomplish in the first 30/60/90 days on the job? - Correct Answer 30 days - acclimating myself to the site and creating relationships with employees 60 days - improving my skills with the computer system, learning as much as I can about the rare disease states and therapies 90 days - becoming an expert on the specialty medications delivered at the pharmacy, developing solid relationships with providers, patients, and coworkers tell me how you have handled a difficult situation with a customer - Correct Answer when working for Kroger, there was a woman who came in on a Sunday wanting to get her flu shot and her shingrix at the same time. When she approached the counter, there was no one else there or waiting on medication. I told her it would be about 5 minutes or so to fill out the form and process the shot. As soon as she started to fill out her form, a line of people formed at the register and the drive thru. There were only two people working, myself and my technician. I was trying to process her shots and check people out at the same time, and after about 15 minutes the woman became frustrated with me and began to raise her voice in front
used to do this when walking to exams as well as during golf tournaments when I would get nervous before a shot I also prioritize tasks based on importance and necessity what are your hobbies? - Correct Answer I play golf in my spare time, which has taught me how to have a level head when faced with pressure and adversity. It taught me the importance of perseverance as well as dedication to my teammates. I also play the guitar, which has given me the ability to improve my creativity when writing songs what are some of your leadership experiences? - Correct Answer while working for the dance marathon morale committee, there was a fundraising night where we were trying to raise 50K in one night. Because Butler is a lot smaller than other schools, this seemed like a difficult task. The morale committees job was to encourage members of other committees, students who weren't on committees, and executive members to raise at least 100 dollars each. Committee members were raising about 200 dollars each, but I thought that we could go higher and weren't pushing ourselves enough. I told everyone to text every contact in their phone asking for donations to Riley Children's hospital, to call family members, friends, former teachers/employers, anyone that could lend a hand. I ended up raising $1500 dollars on my own from challenging myself and others to go the extra mile and commit to the process. also leading the prom dress giveback for circle city relief talk about Trinity Free Clinic and how you were able to run the pharmacy by yourself and lead other technicians during busy clinic hours tell me about a time where you disagreed with a coworker... what did you do? - Correct Answer I was floating at a busy store on the east side of Indy after just becoming licensed and the work load was beginning to take a toll. I was behind on checking prescriptions and things were starting to pile up. Two technicians took it upon themselves to talk to eachother about how bad I was doing at keeping up with workflow and how they would probably have to stay late because of me. I heard them, and decided to stop what I was doing and address their concerns. I said to them "hey guys, I know you are frustrated with me and I understand that, but I am truly doing the best I can under the circumstances. I just became licensed a few weeks ago and I have never been to a store this busy. I am doing my best to get people their medications in a timely manner, but also verify prescriptions safely and correctly. I hope you can respect that" and they said they did not know I was a new graduate and said I just had to keep doing the best I could where do you see yourself in 5 years? - Correct Answer I am really excited about this opportunity because in 5 years I want to be able to be seen as someone who is
advancing the position of pharmacists in healthcare. I believe that our responsibilities as pharmacists are increasing more and more each day, and the work we will be able to provide for patients will involve more than we ever thought possible. I want to be able to have the opportunity to take on challenging projects within this organization in order to one day develop myself into a great manager in order to precept students and influence future pharmacist to prepare them for future changes in healthcare. tell me about your research - Correct Answer tell me about your presentations/journal clubs - Correct Answer JC esketamine collaborative practice in improving heart failure outcomes Exparel used in blocks for knee replacements - is it better than regular bupivacaine? opthalmic brimonidine in cats used w/maropitant decreased N/V presentations substance-induced psychosis inherited coagulation disorders drug-induced nephrotoxicity osetoarthritis canine epilepsy A patient/customer is frustrated because she has been kept waiting for her prescription. How would you handle the situation? - Correct Answer I would immediately listen to the customers complaints and concerns before interrupting them, showing empathy and understanding for their situatoin. I would then acknowlege his/her frustration, knowing that waiting so long for a prescription can be a difficult situation for someone in need of medication to help them feel better. I would then apologize for the wait and ask if there was anything else I could do to help her with. In these situations, it helps to put yourself in the customers shoes. We never know what someone could be going through, and empathizing with the patient allows them to develop trust with you. tell me about a problem you had to solve at work - Correct Answer tell me about an ethical dilemma you faced - Correct Answer at work, our pharmacy closes on the weekdays at 7PM. there was a woman who came up to the pharmacy at 7:05PM and wanted to get her prescription. She seemed really sick and was coughing all over the place. She said she just got off work and husteled over here to try to get her medications and that all she wanted to do was feel better. My supervising pharmacist said that we couldn't help her becuase the pharmacy was technically closed. I asked my pharmacist if we could help her if she was paying with a credit card, becuase the cash drawers were already put away up front. She said yes that is ok with me as long as the medications are filled and ready to go already.
what motivates you day to day? - Correct Answer my family and my passion for helping others what attracted you to pharmacy? - Correct Answer the care my dad received at set vincent heart center after he had his MI. he has been on over 10 meds a day for about 7-8 years, and he always gushes about the pharmacists he sees when he picks up his medications. I wanted to be the person that someone like my dad could come to after a hard day and cheer them up while also giving them medications that can improve their health and save their life how do you handle criticism? - Correct Answer I try to remember that we learn best from our failures and not our successes. It is always hard to hear criticism from someone you look up to, but remembering that they are giving you feedback because they are trying to help you is important. what are you most proud of and why? - Correct Answer maybe talk about how you made it through such a hard time at Kentucky, transferred into butler, made it into the program and are where you are today? it shows how you can overcome adversity tell me about a mistake you made and how you handled it? - Correct Answer the time when you misplaced someones prescription in the wrong bin and it took 15 minutes to find it. I handled it by asking my manager ways to improve my storing and how I can better my work flow so that I do not feel so distracted when the store is busy what would you do if a prescriber did not want to change a medicine you believe is not appropriate for a particular patient? - Correct Answer I would call the prescriber and politely explain why I wanted to change the medicine and really push advocating for the patient. The most important issue I am addressing is safety for the patient, and by law if I feel the medication is going to cause harm to the patient, I have the right not to fill it. So the doctor can either listen to my explanation, think about it, and change the medication, or not change the medication and the patient will become upset by not getting the medication because I will refuse to fill something that will harm the patient can you tell me about a time things happened in a way they were not supposed to? - Correct Answer if you were a drug, what drug would you be and why? - Correct Answer Personally, I would be an ACE inhibitor like Lisinopril because ACE's are reliable, hard-working, and they know how to work together as a team with other medications to reach a common goal of improving a patient’s health. what subject did you like the most in school? what subjects did you struggle with? - Correct Answer I liked PDA (principles of drug action AKA medicinal chemistry) in
school because I have a very visual brain and learn through best through being shown something. I like being able to think through common concepts visually in my mind The subject I struggled most with was dosage forms because the subject matter was different than anything we had ever learned before. It was about how drug were made, not necessarily how they worked. So it took me a while to adjust my study habits, but the change ended up being a good one because it prepared me for studying for law, which is another different class in the way I would study what problematic situations can occur in a pharmacy? - Correct Answer - denied insurance claims when a patient is a waiter and has been in line for 30 minutes patient was supposed to get a medication today but the order did not come in giving the wrong medication to the wrong patient a patient calls on the phone asking a bunch of questions when a patient also comes up to the window wanting questions answered and there is only one pharmacist available to counsel describe a time where you had to tell a customer about how a medication works and about side effects in laymans terms - Correct Answer bug spray example cindy gave you - if there are bugs in your house and you use ant spray, it could not be ants and you could kill nothing. if you use a generic bug spray, you could get a better idea of what bug to kill. once you see the dead bug, then you can switch to specific bug spray how do you ensure that combinations of medications are compatible? - Correct Answer I use drug databases such as Lexicomp or Micomedex what would you consider a clinically significant drug interaction? - Correct Answer sildenafil and Nitrostat/isosorbide mononitrate warfarin and NSAIDS Benzos and opioids merem and VPA what would you do if you caught a colleague stealing? - Correct Answer at first I would be very shocked and concerned about the situation happening and would most likely go home and think about the situation and what the person was actually doing. Then, I would quietly have a private conversation with the manager and have him/her check the security cameras to actually confirm my suspicion, in order to have a second confirmation that what I saw was correct. you're about to end your shift and your coworker suddenly calls in sick. how do you respond? - Correct Answer I would ask my coworker how they are feeling and what
tell me about a time when your patient was pleased with your service - Correct Answer At Costco there was a mother who would always come in to get medcation for her three sons who were all requiring medication that costs about 600 dollar per month and was not covered by insurance. SHe always seemed so positive when she came in, even though she was spending a fortune on these medications and there was really nothing the store could do to help her. I noticed that she seemed less bright than usual one day and asked her if she was ok and needed to talk about anything. SHe began to tear up and said that she had had a really rough day at the doctor getting a hard diagnosis for one of her 3 sons. SHe told me that being able to talk with her and process the information gave her a little hope that the day would get better. She ended up writing a formal compliment to my manager when you're working with a large number of patients, it can be tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your patients needs? - Correct Answer This is a difficult question because quality patient care is so important to me, but productivity can sometimes be affected when providing it. I always make sure that I attend to waiters first and things in the pahramcy that need attention ASAP. If a patient states that they are ok picking up their medication later in the afternoon, then I put that medication aside in order to attend to a patient who looks sick and needs a wuestion asked on which medication to take for a cough and sore throat. If the patient is sick and suffering, I need to attend to their question ASAP instead of checking a voicemail describe a time when your department was undergoing some change. how did that impact you, and how did you adapt? - Correct Answer new system at costco tell me about the first job you ever had. what did you do to learn the ropes? - Correct Answer describe a long-term project you managed. how did you keep everything moving along in a timely manner? - Correct Answer drug monograph project - talk about how it was a semester long project during the busiest semester in our curriculum working with 2 other students who were extremely busy, and you took the lead on the project determining who would finish what section, times we would meet, what to do if someone couldn't make a meeting, etc. give me an example of a time when you managed numerous responsibilities. how did you handle that? - Correct Answer P2 year second semester, handling labs, classes, switching from clusters to non-clusters, projects, volunteering, working, etc. two of your technicians aren't getting along, and customers are starting to notice. how do you handle the situation? - Correct Answer I would calmly break up the situation and quickly ask if they could set their differences aside for the day and schedule a time to meet with me alone either before work or after work to discuss
the situation. ONce I hear from both technicians, I might make a time to meet either before or after work to sit down with them both and mediate the discussion a customer asks about an OTC yourve never heard of before. how would you handle this? - Correct Answer I would politely say "you know I am not as familiar with that product but let me look it up for you on our drug database and see what I can find for you, hold on one minute" a customer returns to the pharmacy with a bottle of prescription medication that is partially used and says it doesn't work. how would you address the issue? - Correct Answer - First off, I would ask them why they believe it isn't working and ask them to describe symptoms they are having I would then ask what it is for, how long they have been taking it, and how they are taking it if they haven't explained it already I would then ask them to call their doctor as soon as possible and explain the situation to them to see if he/she can evaluate the situation or it the patient can switch to another medication if i cannot figure out why it is not working I would then look into the company policy and determine what rules there are on drug returns you're out of stock for a medication for a customer who is extremely difficult. how would you handle the situation and explain it to the patient? - Correct Answer I would immediately call the customer and explain the situation to them. Depending on what the company's policy is on loaning medication until the drug comes in, I could check the shelf to see how much of the medication we have and if we can loan some depending on the medication. If we are completely out, I would ask the patient if they would be willing to wait on the medication to come into stock or if they would want me to transfer the prescription to a nearby store that has the medication in stock what do you think is the most important business aspect of being a pharmacists? - Correct Answer Adaption to the changes in healthcare healthcare is constantly changing, and being able to adapt your business model to the ever-changing aspects of healthcare can be a challenge. However, I believe that if you are proactive in your thinking and are constantly looking for ways to improve the company through optimizing patient care, customer satisfaction, and improved employee retention rates, then the company will be able to stay on top of the market what can you offer us that someone else cannot? - Correct Answer I think I bring 3 things to the table that other candidates cannot offer you I have a deep passion for serving and connecting with others that I have been able to improve upon during my rotations at prior to this interview. My rotation at Trinity Free Clinic allowed me to connect with patients from a multitude of different backgrounds and countries across the world. I love being able to contribute to the
tend to be upset about something, I always listen to their complaints first before interrupting them or trying to explain why the situation happened. This gives them the opportunity to feel as though their thoughts and opinions are being heard and that they are being listened to. in this way, I will nod my head, say affirmations like "I see" and "yes I understand" in order for them to know that I am listening. Normally, this seems to calm the customer down and then I can reassure them that we are doing everything we can to handle the situation. Explain a time where you had to communicate clearly? - Correct Answer speaking with the Spanish population at trinity free clinic tell me about a time you solved a situation proactively - Correct Answer we get a lot of customers who are very specific about the brand of medication they receive. At Costco we are closed on Sundays, and therefore when we make orders on Saturday we get a huge load come in Monday. A customer had called me to refill a prescription and she told me she only wanted TEVA brand of the medication and would refuse to pay for anything other than TEVA. I noticed that there was not a note in her profile specifying the brand name, and that when it popped up on the fill que that it came under another brand. I quickly switched to the correct brand and ordered it for Monday, making sure that the customer would be happy and receive the correct brand of medication asked for if you could be any drug what would you be and why? - Correct Answer I would be an ARB like losartan. Losartan is reliable, it is proven to work hard, and works as a team player with other cardiovascular medications such as beta blockers, blood thinners, statins, P2Y12 inhibitors, etc. Losartan is also generally well tolerated and does not have the added cough that the ACE inhibitors would have. Losartan also does its job well, but isn't afraid to ask for help from other classes of antihypertensive. if you could bring 3 drugs to a deserted island, which drugs would you bring and why? - Correct Answer 1. naproxen - in case I were to hurt myself and would need pain reliever. Naproxen is longer acting than ibuprofen and does not cause concern for long term vascular effects.
- a broad-spectrum antibiotic, such as doxycycline. That way, if I were to get an infection on the island, especially a skin infection like MRSA, I would be able to take the antibiotic to get rid of it. Its spectrum of coverage is MRSA, limited Gram (-) (HMNL, Hemophalis flu, Moraxella, Neiserria, Legionella), atypicals (Ricketssia, Mycoplasma, Chlamydophilia); I WOULD HAVE TO MAKE SURE TO COVER UP MY SELF WITH CLOTHES TO MAKE SURE I DIDN'T GET SUNSCREEN rosuvastatin - most Americans will have high cholesterol at some point in their lifetime. If I am stranded on a deserted island, I would want to make sure that my cholesterol was remaining at a steady level in order to avoid an atherosclerotic event on the island.
what concerns can arise when compounding for small animals? - Correct Answer - because cats that are sick normally are not eating and do not drink a lot of water, an oral capsule can become lodged in the cats esophagus and cause esophageal lesions the stability of the product can be compromised when breaking enteric coating (cracking or caking can happen) differences in absorption between species due to differences in anatomy and physiology need to be careful using antibiotics in horses due to hindgut fermentation transdermal - if the drug is normally poorly bioavailable orally due to first pass, increased absorption will occur transdermal which could result in toxic doses research idea? - Correct Answer - I love behavioral therapy in both cats in dogs, and the study of psychological medications in both humans and animals has always interested me. I would want to compare the effects of fluoxetine and clomipramine in cats when used to treat but would want to do 4 separate groups (flu + CBD, clomip
- CBD, flu + placebo, clomip + placebo) things to compare efficacy wise would be improvement in marking, aggression, or symptoms of anxiety safety comparisons would be increases in abnormal side effects, GI related symptoms primary endpoints - median change in behavioral symptoms each month compared to CBD groups and placebo groups, proportion considered responders to treatment (>50% decrease in activity of aggression, anxiety, or marking) secondary endpoints - ADRs, CBD concentration in plasma sample size? - 25 cats
