Centralized Services Inpatient Pharmacy Lead
Kaiser Permanente
Walnut Creek
After a couple years as a staff inpatient pharmacist, I felt my growth starting to stagnate. For some people in a similar stage, that might be the point when you cruise control for the rest of your life, but for me, continued growth is essential. Around that time I began to have those thoughts, I applied for a lead pharmacist position and coincidentally a friend recommended I apply for the LDI program. I was initially a bit wary of any benefits a program would provide for me but changed my opinion soon after starting the LDI program.
CPhA, the LDI instructors, and LDI Group Leaders have created an amazing culture and program to progress the growth of future pharmacy leaders. From the beginning, the LDI cohort was placed into smaller pods to create a group with whom we could push each other’s growth and open ourselves up more. At each session, we’ve practiced vulnerability, challenged our assumptions and beliefs, and learned new skills to handle challenges such as low points of motivation in our lives. Being surrounded by others who are going through a similar journey of growth and by instructors who have a passion to develop leaders has made this program all the more stimulating.
The part that has been the most invaluable to me was the VISN (Values, Interests, Strengths, and Needs) table. It has helped me identify what environment I need to be in to flourish. I soon realized that I could be in control of creating the environment that has led to my previous success. The benefits of knowing my needs have been innumerable such as cutting distractions and routines that weren’t providing much benefits or solidifying my confidence as a leader based on my new understanding of my unique strengths as a leader.
My LDI project was to help my workplace smoothly take on the vancomycin orders for 21 hospitals. I chose this project because taking on these orders marks a transition point for my workplace from one that is merely providing staffing for hospitals to one that has clinical expertise. There was widespread doubt within our workplace whether we could successfully take on the vancomycin orders, let alone for all of northern California.
Some of the challenges I faced was guiding a large staff through this period without having much experience with vancomycin myself. However, I learned from LDI that vulnerability can be a strength and learned to work with staff members who had more expertise so we could develop ideas to smooth out the vancomycin workflows. I used performance conversations to delegate tasks to staff members who were usually a bit more tough to manage. And I listened to the concerns and ideas of my staff by quieting down my judgmental knower and unleashing my curious learner.
The vancomycin project was only the first of many projects that I will have tackled with my new skills learned from LDI. I found in LDI the growth I was seeking and I hope to continue to apply these newfound skills to all realms of my life.