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EDITORIAL
Welcome to the country life
A prominent discussion in Australian Pharmacist recently was about the pros and cons of relocating to work in rural pharmacy. Some contributors were sceptical about the cost of living in the country and dubious about moving away from the city.
From personal experience, I lean toward a ‘welcome to the real world,’ go where the opportunities are view.
In my own career that is what I have done. I moved from Hobart to Launceston to get my start as a journalist and I moved from Hobart to Canberra
to work on Australian Pharmacist a few years ago. Sitting still is not an option. Pharmacy is no different to any other career or profession.
Putting this to the test, I asked a couple of pharmacists about why they made the city to country shift.
Sarah Sinclair MPS is a big city girl from Sydney who moved to Dubbo to practise pharmacy. Recently she moved to Canberra to take up a new pharmacist role with the Federal Government.
Her response was unequivocal: ‘The best decision I made as I came to the end of my pharmacy studies at the University of Sydney in 2011 was to pack up my life, leave behind the familiar and take up an internship opportunity in Dubbo.’
‘My five years in Dubbo were amazing. I could go
on and on about all of the advantages of moving out of the city and to the country – the patients,
the friendships, moving out of my comfort zone, being challenged professionally, exposure to so many different patient scenarios, being a part of the community,’ Ms Sinclair said.
What started as a one year commitment turned into a five year stay that was the best decision Sarah could have made for her career.
‘If I hadn’t been looking for new career challenges, I would have happily stayed for another five years, or more.’
PSA National ECP Board member Taren Gill MPS is another pharmacist who ‘upped-stumps’ and moved to the country. In her view it is all about being proactive about your career.
‘Move for opportunities, think outside the box. Come up with plans to improve and innovate the services the pharmacy provides,’ Ms Gill said.
‘The tree change is cool. Because of NBN, more professionals are opting for towns like Orange and still maintaining successful corporate careers by working remotely. It is getting easier for partners to get a job, it’s not perfect but nothing is. The cost of living is cheaper and your wage and benefits are generally higher. Even if it is not for you long term, use it as an opportunity to save for a few years.’
Ms Gill pointed toward potential leadership opportunities.
‘Be the big fish in a small pond, who knows what opportunities you might land because of it.’
Ms Sinclair agreed. She was registered in August 2012 and by March 2013 was Pharmacist-in-Charge, an opportunity she believes was unlikely to have come her way in the city.
‘Professionally, the opportunity to work in a country town allowed me to build an incredible network of other health providers and help to link my patients to the best health services available to them. I could pick up the phone and ask a dietician colleague
for advice, or connect patients to services such as podiatry or physiotherapy which they didn’t know they could access. It was incredibly satisfying to have a really productive working relationship with all of the local GPs, and not just call on them when things go wrong.’
As Ms Gill says – be proactive in your career and grab opportunities. Relocating to take advantage of an opportunity is not a life sentence, just one step on the career pathway. After making the leap from Tasmania the journey has been interesting, occasionally frustrating but rewarding. That is the real world.
uSee page 22 for more on rural pharmacy
Australian Pharmacist January 2017 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd. 17
Andrew Daniels is Communications Manager of Australian Pharmacist.
“The opportunity toworkina country town allowed me
to build an incredible network of other health providers and help to link my patients to the best health services available to them”
–SARAH SINCLAIR