Are You Part of the Problem?

A few weeks ago I posted a fairly long comment on PharmacySA, a closed group on FaceBook.  I had read a very interesting opinion piece in the journal published by the Georgia Pharmacy Association,  USA, its content made me realize that apathy amongst pharmacists is worldwide. I summarized and copied some of the content, thinking that it would stimulate some introspection amongst the members of the group. whether they be pharmacists, pharmacist's assistants, interns, or pharmacy students. In a group of over 6000 members, my post received 25 likes and one comment.

This is what I wrote:

“Are you part of the problem” is the title of an article that appeared in the April/May 2016 issue of Georgia Pharmacy, the journal of the Georgia Pharmacy Association. The author is Scott Brunner, who is described as the Georgia Pharmacy Association’s cheerleader-in-chief. He describes his participation in a team-building workshop and one exercise in particular where each of six team members were given a set of mismatched   puzzle pieces. The object was  for each of the participants to trade puzzle pieces with each other so as to acquire the proper three pieces to construct a six-inch square.  The team would be successful when each of them assembled their own six-inch, three-piece puzzle. They were also not to communicate with one another, not by verbalizing, nor by gestures, and no pleading facial expressions. Scott continues “When the facilitator said ‘go’, each of us shuffled around our pieces in the dim hope we’d been accidently given the right three. Alas, no. Tentatively the woman next to me handed me a piece. I accepted it and gave her one of mine. Her piece improved my lot. Two of my pieces now fit together. One did not. I handed that one to a fellow across from me who snatched it but offered nothing in return. Sensing this inequity, the guy next to him passed me one of his. Voila. My missing piece. There in front of me was a completed puzzle.”  Scott sat back self-satisfied. The facilitator looked at his result and announced to the room that those who had completed their puzzles should look at those who had not completed theirs and ask themselves “Are you a part of the solution or are you part of the problem?” Scott continues “Was that aimed at me? I’d taken care of my assignment. What about the other goofs who could not seem to figure it out? They were the problem…weren’t they? I looked back around to find some teammates glaring at me. Reluctantly I grabbed a piece of my perfect little puzzle and tossed it to one of the underachievers. This initiated a series of trades – off collaboration- that in no time resulted in us all succeeding together”. The message is that when one member of the team had “finished”, and his unwillingness to engage thereafter, prevented others from succeeding. Taking care of himself wasn’t enough. This can be applied to pharmacy as well.

 According to recent stats there are 14031 pharmacists on the SAPC register and about 7000 are members of the PSSA. So the remaining 7000 pharmacists are benefitting from the work the PSSA is doing and  that is being funded by those colleagues who pay their annual dues. The PSSA could be better and more effective if every registered pharmacist joined and paid his way. So are you part of the solution or part of the problem?

 

I hope that some introspection has taken place. I certainly would have appreciated many more comments than just the one. Why are all members part of the pharmacy profession anyway? Who is failing whom?

 

 

Why am I blogging?

Why am I blogging?  I have decided that I would like to share my stories about the places I have been since I did my first trip in 1963 to countries beyond the borders of  South Africa, where I was born.
I have also devoted my life to my chosen profession, pharmacy. I was very active in the professional bodies representing pharmacy in South Africa and I still take an active interest in what happens in the profession.

I am also very interested in the history of the pharmacy in South Africa and it concerns me that younger members of the profession are not aware of what has been achieved over the years by pharmacists who are no longer here, and who would probably also be perturbed about what is happening in this profession to which they were also devoted.

I have written  articles which have been published in the South African Pharmaceutical Journal, but these articles, some of which are contentious, are not reaching a wide audience, as the people they really are aimed at are not members of the professional bodies. I am hoping that if those opinion pieces appear on a blog, they will be read by those who could benefit.

I also have an interest in the history of my family, particularly the Wormald side of my family. I would like to make this history available to the members of my family and other who may be interested.

For the past fifty years I have kept a journal, some entries are long, some are brief, and some days reflect zero entries. I would like to write a life story, which I also hope may be of interest.

So instead of all this information being stored in documents and folders in my computer, I would like it to be available to others, should they be interested