Featured Preceptor
Mary Walker, R.Ph., Executive Director of the Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy.
Mary's family owned a drug store in Newcastle, WY and she worked there in high school and in her first year of college when she was an undeclared major. Mary went to UW on a high school honor scholarship (at that time worth $192.00 per semester). During the summer after Mary's freshman year, while working at the store, a pharmacy intern asked her why she wasn't studying pharmacy. Mary began taking pharmacy classes and she says "I found I really loved chemistry, biology, and at the time the business courses we were required to take."
When asked about her career path, Mary shares "Like most pharmacists, I thought I would work in retail and that is where I found the first job post-graduation. I had taken the early “clinical pharmacy” course and had actually done a rotation in a drug store and in a hospital in Cheyenne. The hospital called me and had a position for a part-time pharmacist so I worked both retail and hospital for several months. I like the sterile compounding and professional interactions with doctors and nurses at the hospital and the patient contact at the store. I eventually settled on hospital pharmacy where I spent 30 years working as a staff pharmacist, then assistant director of pharmacy, then director of pharmacy for 20 years at CRMC. I was an appointed board of pharmacy member and decided to try for the executive director at the board of pharmacy position when the former director retired."
Mary faced a challenge when two hospitals merged and she was named the director of pharmacy. Overnight the staffing doubled. She made hand written spreadsheets of all the processes that were different so that they could work out how to merge them as a team. Mary's goal was that in one year everyone who wanted to work in the pharmacies of the new organization would still have a job, and they achieved that goal.
As the executive director of the board of pharmacy, the challenges Mary has faced are less clinical and more regulatory. Mary notes that as the director of the board, "promulgating rules, investigating and disciplining, and preparing statute changes all are challenging. Testifying in legislative committee meetings and being interviewed by the media are also parts of the job." When asked to name her favorite thing about being a pharmacist, Mary says "I have not been bored one day in my career. There are always new drugs to learn, new policies to research and write, and new regulations."
Mary lists communication as a key skill in any pharmacy setting. She says "you have to know where and how to look up drug information and you have to be able to put it into the language of the patient, or the prescriber, or the administrator of the hospital or pharmacy chain." She notes that she had experiences at UW School of Pharmacy that helped develop this skill. "I was involved in several organizations at UW and learned to work in teams and with many types of professionals." When asked what advice she would give to current pharmacy students, Mary says "don’t be afraid to try something you are not sure you will like. I had not considered hospital pharmacy and ended up there for 30 years. In any pharmacy position: you get out of it the effort you put into it."
When asked what she thinks pharmacy practice will look like in 5-10 years, Mary notes the change to de-centralized pharmacists in the hospital setting as a positive thing. She says "being members of the infection control, case management, critical care teams, etc. - these will only grow. Sterile compounding and hazardous waste regulations will continue to make it safer for patients and staff." In community pharmacy, Mary is excited to see collaborative practice grow as well as point of care testing, increased immunizations, central fill, and other changes. She says "we try to keep the regulations up to date enough to encourage innovation while keeping the safety of the patient as the most important goal."
For current students and recent alumni Mary shares "I am glad that I have kept in touch with the UW School of Pharmacy. My friendships mean a lot and I have had great people to ask when I needed assistance. I have been personally acquainted with each of the deans in the history of the school, including Dr. Steiner. Pharmacy is an awesome profession with many avenues to choose from."
Mary is a long time member of ASHP and WPhA, and is a past president of WPhA. She has been Preceptor of the Year twice and has also received the WPhA Bowl of Hygeia award. For 2017, Mary has been named an AACP Master Preceptor. The purpose of the Master Preceptor Recognition Program is to recognize preceptors who are not full-time employees of a school/college of pharmacy for their sustained commitment to excellence in experiential education and professional practice. The UW School of Pharmacy congratulates Mary on receiving the Master Preceptor award!
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