Pharmacist: Experiences and utilization of lockdown period for future endeavours

The measures to solve this global crisis has led us to isolate ourselves and given us an excuse to take a break from our fast-paced life and let our soul heal. During this quarantine season, I often asked myself, when will all this be over? What will I do for the whole day? Are we going to act as if nothing is happening and go on with life? Are we going to act sensibly this time? 

Apart from the chaos, it has created in our lives, it has also given us some precious time to ponder about our future and where we are headed with our goals. Being a Pharm.D student I was always uncertain about my future options. Now that we are given ample time with the internet, I explored numerous possibilities to educate myself as a clinical pharmacist to serve my people effectively. During this period I developed a curiosity for clinical research and began reading guidelines and resource books and attended online courses to attain extra knowledge. 

Various webinars were organised by pharmacy colleges across the country, which helped me gain knowledge from experienced lectures which otherwise would not be possible. These webinars addressed various pharmaceutical trends and aspects to understand about patient care. These sessions gave me the necessary information to craft my career as a pharmacist. During a webinar on The Pharmacist and COVID-19, VP-PCI Dr Shailendra Saraf spoke about the importance of pharmacists during the pandemic and was kind enough to guide us throughout the session. 

I enrolled myself for work from home internships provided by different pharmaceutical companies, this helped me correlate my theoretical knowledge into practical application and to comprehend the latest trends in the pharmaceutical industry. I came across an internship which required me to have experience in molecular docking software and web servers, this gave me an excuse to understand molecular docking and finding active sites, even though I was not chosen for this internship I enjoyed learning to dock molecules. Attending different virtual interviews gave me self-confidence which I always lacked in myself and enhanced my existing knowledge. 

I participated in multiple essays and e-poster competitions, this helped me express my heart out and created a distraction of emotions which helps to reason and bring about adequate judgements. This furthermore offered me a chance to work on my creative writing ability and enhance communication skills. Initially, the lockdown was frightening and a bit tough for me to cope with laziness. This also encouraged me to reconnect with myself, and transform myself into a cautious new person. So I decided to remove the negative energy and attitude and try to keep myself positive throughout the day, I try keeping myself motivated during the quarantine doing things I haven't had the time to. Learned new things, read a lot and also gave a hand on medical blogging, started working out which helped to relieve my stress. This pandemic should be regarded as an opportunity for us and nature to self-heal and come out as a new improvised version of ourselves with enduring thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The world has slowed so we can rediscover ourselves. 

 “ And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm was really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm is all about”- Haruki Murakami in “Kafka on the Shore”.