Who will be the 2018 National Pharmacy Assistant of the Year? Tasmania, support your State Winner Amy at the Pharmacy Assistant National Conference on 25-27 October 2018 at Sea World Resort, Gold Coast. Meet and learn from all of the State Winners on how they became the ‘best of the best’ during the Q&A session on 26 October. Then witness who will be announced as the National Winner at the Conference Dinner that night! Learn more at www.pharmacyassistants.com.
PATY Tasmania State Winner
Amy Peatling from Geeveston Pharmacy
- What was your reaction when they called your name as the TAS State Winner?
I was really excited – very surprised but mostly excited. I wasn’t expecting my name to be called but I’m very humbled.
- How did you first get into pharmacy? Can you give me a brief overview of your career in pharmacy?
I’ve been in pharmacy for 10 years and I’ve been with the same employer for seven years. I was taking a gap year and I was just looking for some work for that one year. I jumped into pharmacy and decided not to leave. I was enrolled into uni but I really enjoyed pharmacy so much that I stuck with it. My first boss in pharmacy was really good as they laid the ground for me in terms of what pharmacy assistants really did. Since then, I’ve grown into the Retail Manager position. Through the years working within the teams, I got to a point where I felt I had plateaued and I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new. I sat down with my boss and we had a discussion about where I could go from there. I got placed into the Retail Manager position and I did a management course and a bit more training. Now I’m in charge of a couple of girls and QCPP and I encourage them to keep training and learning as well.
- What qualifications do you have and who did you complete your training with?
In 2006, I did a Diploma of Leadership and Management. That gave me the groundwork for leadership and management and how I can manage my staff and the business better. Before that, I started my Certificate II and then continued onto the Certificate III with the Guild.
- How do you think training has benefited you in your career?
A lot of the time I have learnt from my superiors but the thing about the management training was that it gave the reasoning behind why we do particular things. Instead of just copying, I was learning why particular aspects were important. The Guild training is a great all-rounder. You get to choose the particular subjects that you are more interested in or where your pharmacy thinks that you could excel. It gives a full knowledge of the pharmacy workplace and the product knowledge.
- What are your career goals?
I would like to look into the marketing side of things. A lot of our marketing is done in social media but I have been looking into doing some more studies in marketing to see how I can better merchandise and market our pharmacy. At the State Workshop, I picked up a lot of good ideas and when I came into work the next day, I said “we’re doing this!”. We’re going to do a huge Facebook marketing overhaul after what I learnt at the State Workshop Day!
- Tell us about your PATY experience so far and what was the workshop day like?
I really enjoyed the day. Kathy the facilitator was amazing and kept everyone really well engaged. It was really good to hear other pharmacy assistant’s ideas. When you’re working in the same workplace for so many years, you can get in a bit of a rut of doing the same things so it was really great to see fresh views and pick up a few ideas to bring back to the pharmacy and change things up a little bit. I wasn’t expecting that – I was expecting to get given a lot of information and discussion but to actually come back to the pharmacy with more energy and ideas was great.
- Would you encourage others to participate in PATY in the future? Why?
Definitely! I will be encouraging all the girls in my workplace to try and get nominated (or nominate themselves) for PATY next year. I’ll be nominating a few people. It’s a great experience for pharmacy assistants to hear and learn from their peers.
- What have you gained from PATY so far?
I’ve gained knowledge but also a bit of confidence – the confidence to motivate others in my pharmacy and to make some changes. I came back really energised.
- What do you hope to achieve?
I’d like to see some pharmacy assistants seeing the role as more of a career than just a job, and have them keep training and keep learning. Hopefully with the PATY Award, it gives them the encouragement and motivation to work a little bit harder as well and know that you can get rewarded for good work.
- Why would you encourage someone to nominate themselves or someone else for PATY?
It was a really great experience! One, it was great for networking. Two, it was great for knowledge and three, just to enjoy yourself and celebrate pharmacy assistants.
- What would you like to see change in pharmacy?
I’d like to see some pharmacy assistants pick up specialised knowledge on a particular area. For example, if someone was really interested in diabetes, there could be more training in that area so they could be a specialist for the pharmacy. Also, more recognition of pharmacy assistants and for the training so the customers trust us a little bit more than just wanting to speak with the person in the white coat.
- What do you love about pharmacy?
You get the nice warm, fuzzy feeling when you know you’ve helped someone and have given great customer care. I really like the pharmacy family and team that I work with. We are a small pharmacy so I love that I can come into work every day and actually love going to work with everyone in my team.