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22 INDUSTRY EDUCATION TRANSFORMING LESSONS INTO ACTION BWy Colm Maguire, Group Executive, Member Services and Innovation Group, Pharmacy Guild of Australia. elcome to 2021, a year we all must look to with a degree of optimism. I’m sure that, like me, you were all pleased to get to the end of last year and are now looking to this year as a time to regroup and rebuild, and to get your lives back to pre-2020 routines. The swift development of vaccines towards the back end of 2020 promises to bring about some normality in this new age of Covid-19 awareness. Hopefully, this will see pharmacy businesses able to move forward. Of course, nothing will ever be the same again, but that can be positive if we approach it with the right frame of mind and take the opportunity to learn from the year that was. There was so much to consider, but people’s ability to support each other through the pandemic is something we should retain in our new normal. Our pharmacies are now configured differently, and no doubt many will decide to keep screens and a more contactless approach to doing business. Still, we’ll always be focused on supporting and caring for the people of our community, barrier or no barrier. Many new ways of doing business were inconceivable before 2020 but will now be mainstays of pharmacy and grocery stores, and many more locations. Although indications are that some patients are not happy with these sorts of arrangements, they appreciate them and the fact that their safety is a prime consideration in your pharmacy. This is all part of the very important approach I’ve written about before: looking out for one another and ensuring you, your colleagues and your patients are OK and kept healthy. Last year highlighted just how important it is to be aware of the people around us – to be mindful of the nuances that may indicate they are troubled or not dealing with things as well as they usually do. But it was also a year of agility, change and rapid adoption of technology or services that are needed simply to survive in such an age. 2020 impressed on us that we need to be ever vigilant for these signs of trouble or struggle in people, and I believe it’s been a good wake-up call for many of us. None of us is an island, and as much as we like to think we can cope with any situation, the reality is that we can’t. We need help, support and, now more than ever, a degree of optimism. So, as we settle into 2021, let’s look at some areas of how to look after yourself and others, how to build optimism and, in so doing, be better able to help those around you. We all need to: • Maintain perspective • Be practical and calm • Not make assumptions • Contribute to community wellbeing • Manage expectations • Have a routine that includes balance • Be kind to ourselves and others • Stay in the present. These are pretty self-explanatory measures, but there are some others that might require a bit more commitment and focus. Manage your stress. This is a fundamental and critically important aspect of dealing with everyday life, let alone the crises that arise. Managing your stress means prioritising your mental and physical health. A few of the ways we can do this include sleeping well, eating well and exercising. These may sound obvious, but it’s surprising how easy it is to lose sight of these in the clamour of everyday life. We need to make time for them every day, and they’re as critical a KPI as the work outcomes you need to achieve each day. Know when your buttons are being pushed. If you can identify and act on those actions that cause you stress, then you’re more than halfway to controlling them. Thoughts, actions and physical sensations can work individually or combine to cause a build-up of stress and anxiety. We all know the signs of these, but it’s action that’s important, and getting on top of them early is a great start in managing them. But perhaps the most important thing to remember is to always seek support and never be hesitant in admitting you need help. Help is the number one rule in my team, and if there was ever a year that we all learned that we need it, it was 2020. So, in learning that the help got us through, let’s ensure we continue to embrace this behaviour every year. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed or stressed in today’s social and working environments. If you have any issues, don’t hesitate to activate your support network and acknowledge your feelings – seek professional support early if you’re having difficulties. It may sound a bit counter-intuitive, but strength is the outcome of vulnerability. The most important thing you can do this year is to focus on your health and wellbeing. Taking care of yourself, your body, health and mental wellbeing is vital to feeling better and performing better and helping others. Just because we move to a new year doesn’t mean everything we felt in 2020 will have left us. We’ll all feel the impact for many years to come, but importantly, let’s make sure that, having experienced it together, we know how valuable it was to work together to get through it. RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • FEB 2021