Courtesy of Dewan Rummana
- Dewan Rummana graduated from pharmacy school in 2019 and started working for Hackensack in 2021.
- Her hospital and pharmacy is open 24/7, and she works 8-hour shifts including Sundays at times.
- Rummana said the job is always fast-paced, but she's grateful and loves being a hospital pharmacist.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dewan Rummana, a hospital pharmacist at Hackensack University from New Jersey, about her job. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I always knew I'd go into healthcare, so when I was an undergrad, I took all the prerequisites and science courses needed to get into pharmaceuticals.
I studied planning and public policy for my bachelor's degree at Rutgers University. Then, in 2012, I got my master's in biomedical sciences from the University of Medicine and Dentisry of New Jersey (UMDNJ, which now falls under Rutgers).
During my final three years of undergrad and my first year of grad school, I worked as a pharmacy technician. I started working at CVS and then transitioned into hospital pharmacy at St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital in Wayne, New Jersey. That was my first exposure to the pharmaceutical field and what solidified my decision to go into pharmacy school.
In 2015, I enrolled at the University of Maryland in Baltimore for my doctorate in pharmacy and graduated in 2019. After I had completed my pharmacy-school rotations, Hackensack University Medical Center reached out to me and I applied for a position.
I first met with the manager of the pharmacy over Zoom. After that briefing, I had another Zoom interview with three of the hospital supervisors for a more formal interview. A few days later, I received an official offer letter.
I started working at Hackensack in January 2021 as a hospital pharmacist, and I make $71.60 an hour.
During the final year of pharmacy school you do clinical rotations, and I really enjoyed my rotation at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
I worked in the lung-cancer clinic, and it was such an eye-opening experience. I was able to learn about the different chemotherapies the patients were taking, and in particular, the oral chemotherapy coming out for lung cancer, including immunotherapy and target therapy.
Patients flew in from all over the world for treatment for various cases. I spoke to the patients, talked over their cases with my preceptor (a resident clinical pharmacist with a specialty, who mentors pharmacy students during rotations), and learned about various medications and treatment methods.
We had a weekly meeting specific to the oncology rotation. Every Wednesday, pharmacists, social workers, and pharmacy students could sit in. The doctors would review every patient's case, including treatment plans and the best ways to get the patient home. After the meeting, the pharmacists could speak with the physicians and ask questions.
That was a very collaborative experience. After the end of the rotation, my instructor told me being in the clinical field was something I'd be really great at. I took that with me, and that's how I got into my current field today.
My hospital and pharmacy are open 24/7, so each week I have a different shift and schedule
I can work from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., or sometimes I work in the evening from 3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Based on what the hospital needs, I can also work Sunday mornings or Sunday evenings. I don't have a preference for which time slots I'm given.
Usually, at the start of a morning shift, we'll have a little huddle or meeting with the supervisors and other pharmacists just to get up to date if there's something new with a patient's medication or if we have a shortage of medication. We're not as involved in our patient's care, since I'm not in a clinic for a specific ward, as I was during my rotation.
I work with all types of patients. We're a level-one trauma center and nonprofit research and teaching hospital with more than 800 patients at a time. We care for all levels and types of injuries, including preventative measures and rehabilitation.
After the morning meeting, everyone sits at their individual stations. Then the physician prescribers put in orders, so we can review each of the medications and make sure they're being sent upstairs to the pharmacy technicians who deliver the medications.
If nurses, physicians, or nurse practitioners have questions regarding a certain medication, side effects, how to administer the medications, or the duration of a patient's treatment, they'll call the pharmacy. Pharmacists answer phone calls specifically related to pharmacy. If the pharmacist can't answer the question, they'll refer the call to a supervisor.
I work on a very large team
My team is made up of more than 50 people, and it takes everybody to make the team work because everyone plays a different role.
There are different pharmacists for each department. Usually, there's a pharmacist covering pediatric ER, one for the emergency department, and one for ICU patients. Other pharmacists verify and check medication for orthopedic-surgery patients, and pharmacists in the IV room compound and make all the IV medications. Then you have chemotherapy pharmacists who compound the chemotherapy medications.
Pharmacy is always very fast-paced, whether you work in retail or a hospital
When you're in retail, you have many people coming for their meds all the time. You have to answer questions from patients, doctors, and providers who call in orders.
In the hospitals, you have hundreds of patients with a variety of issues, and some of them are very serious conditions, so they need medications right away. Some are very urgent, some are maybe not as urgent — but still very important.
When you have that happening, maybe a stat order (a priority order) comes in because a fentanyl or morphine order might be needed immediately for a patient who needs to be intubated. Sometimes they have a code and they need a tray taken upstairs. At the same time, the ambulances might come for their medication replenishment.
It's a really rewarding career
If someone wanted to help people, I think this would definitely be a career for them. If a person is on the fence about doing pharmacy, they should get exposure by working as a pharmacy technician, or maybe take on an internship or even shadow someone in a pharmacy.
If you really enjoy science and the healthcare field, this is definitely a career to think about. Seeing people leave the hospital and lead happier, healthier lives can be translated into a career as a pharmacist.
At the end of the day, I know that it may not be directly, but I help patients in many ways. For me, that's really rewarding. So when I come home at the end of each day, I feel satisfaction and I'm grateful to be able to do what I do.