Advocacy Leaders in Pharmacy series

Snapshot

Education: Masters in Community Pharmacy Management. Masters in Pharmaceutical Care and Pharmacotherapy. Masters in Patient Safety. PhD student in Translational Medicine about Cognitive Impairment research.

Role/Title: Spanish Clinical, Family and Community Pharmacy Society President at Valencian Community Region, Spain. FIP ECPG Chairperson of Liaisons 2024.

Describe your journey into the field of pharmacy and what inspired you to take on a leadership role in advocacy.

During my years as a pharmacy student, I have been able to participate in the field of student representation at the local, national, and international levels. This has allowed me to interact with different stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector and learn more about the pharmaceutical profession.

When I graduated as a pharmacist, the horizon that awaited me was to start working in the community pharmacy and improve the healthcare model, going from a model centred on the product, to a model centred on the person and on professional pharmaceutical services assistance. It is impossible to fight against giants like Amazon or department stores in terms of product and merchandise, and it is an imminent reality in our profession. Our added value for society resides in our knowledge and our social and health vocation.

To this day I continue to fight hard for this healthcare vocation that has accompanied me since I finished my degree, introducing new healthcare services in the pharmacy, changing part of the pharmacy process management, and participating in different scientific societies that share this healthcare vision of the pharmacist.

What are some of the most significant challenges you have faced in your advocacy efforts, and how have you overcome them?

The most important challenges are always the management of people and time. If we want to record an intervention in the pharmacy of a clinical case or an incident that we want to notify the administration, we have to dedicate extra time beyond the daily duties in the community pharmacy.

You have to convince the pharmacy team and do it through example. It is the only way to lead effectively. Devoting time and trying to explain the benefits that as pharmacists we try to make an effort to reflect in our work, record our interventions, and translate them into ideas, projects, or communications at conferences. We must create knowledge and make it visible, demonstrate that we are necessary for society, and create value. That is the true purpose of advocacy.

How do you envision the future of pharmacy practice, and what role do you see advocacy playing in shaping that future?

As a community pharmacist, I spend many hours of my day at the pharmacy counter. I always try to go a little further every day, to improve the provision of the services we provide in the pharmacy and to do it in such a way that the person I am treating realizes the special attention that I am paying. I firmly believe that this is the future of community pharmacy, and it is a work culture that I am sharing with my colleagues and with which we are all, little by little, trying to improve.

There are always tougher days or people who can be more complicated, but we strive to be a pharmacy that differs from all the others precisely because of the pharmaceutical care service we provide, which essentially seeks to help our community. Advocacy, and registering our work while providing pharmaceutical services are the two tools that will shape the future.

Can you share a success story where your advocacy efforts led to a tangible improvement in pharmacy practice?

A few years ago, the "Table of the Pharmaceutical Profession" was convened in Spain, promoted by the General Council of Official Colleges of Pharmacists to discuss and develop certain topics of interest for the development of the profession, such as new specializations in pharmacy or the role of pharmacists in clinical safety and patient safety. I had the honour of attending as a young pharmacist graduate and former president of the Spanish Federation of Pharmacy Students - FEEF.

It is a very complex board when you bring together so many stakeholders at the same table. However, it was a very nice experience that continues to be worked on to improve today. Being able to reach common points and express them in working documents, in favour of a better pharmaceutical profession, to achieve greater relevance in society. That is an example that I like to highlight and where I believe that pharmacists must continue working.

What strategies do you find most effective in engaging government and policymakers in discussions about pharmacy-related issues?

Interprofessional collaboration. We cannot do it alone. We need our colleagues and other health professionals to believe in us first. Then we will organize projects together and show to the administration and the government our potential. We will celebrate debates and events in which we present the results of our interprofessional projects. That is how we can truly share the future, being visible and useful for the policymakers.

How do you balance the interests and needs of different stakeholders within your advocacy work? How do you foster collaboration and unity among diverse stakeholders with varying priorities and goals?

In Spain, we say that virtue is in the middle point. Really what we have to do, from my humble point of view, is to know how to detect needs and offer a solution, in the same way as we would offer a remedy or medicine at the pharmacy counter when faced with a need that we detect.

We all have interests and purposes, but we must be able to seek common points of agreement and exploit them together. If it is done in an organized way and with a solid strategy behind it, the results are very beneficial. Aligning patient societies with the objectives of SEFAC is one of the most exciting challenges and with the best results that I have seen in recent years when it comes to political advocacy.

What advice would you give to young pharmacy professionals who are passionate about advocacy and want to make a difference in the field?

I think that young pharmaceutical leaders have already come with a changed mentality. We are natives in the digital world, and we are natives in the world of pharmaceutical care. And these two tools are the wings that will allow the pharmacy to fly into the exciting future that lies ahead.

I believe that young leaders are leading by example. To reflect the change we want to achieve. To be the engine of change and the illusion to improve, to continue growing and in the pharmacy area, to continue helping our patients in a way that unites the healthcare and technological worlds.

Can you highlight any current or upcoming initiatives that you are particularly excited about in your advocacy work?

I am particularly excited about the next edition of CONOCEME, a project launched by the Spanish Clinical, Family, and Community Pharmacy Society- SEFAC in Spain. It allows community pharmacists to attend schools and show the students the role of community pharmacists while improving their knowledge about medicines! It feels great showing them what a community pharmacist can perform! Advocacy and teaching together!

What personal qualities or experiences do you believe have been most instrumental in your success as an advocacy leader?

The desire to be better and improve, from a positive ambition of wanting to be the best in my field and contribute as much as possible to my professional performance. If someone can do something, to work to improve something, sometimes they must do it because no one else will do it if they don't.

And that's what moves me, what drives me. I am very clear that my vocation is caregiving, it is what I have lived since I was little. And I know that to be the best you must work hard and be willing to do it. I am the first one wanting to improve and help, and I believe that the future belongs to people who dare to think big.

Looking back on your career, is there anything you would do differently, or any key lessons you have learned along the way?

Mentoring is vitally important when you want to grow. Surround yourself with the right people, foster a correct work environment, and have the experience of someone who has already gone through where you are going right now. The competition is increasingly globalized, anyone with internet access can access a great number of opportunities. I no longer compete solely with my pharmaceutical neighbour, or with the shops and businesses around me, now I compete directly with the entire world for the vast majority of opportunities. Access to meritocracy is in the hands of all those willing to work for it.

What advice would you give to colleagues who want to participate in advocacy efforts or initiatives?

We must improve our profession, and advocacy is the key. No one else is going to it. If we want to preserve our role, evolve, be respected by society and other health professionals, ... we need to do it ourselves. What are we waiting for? Let's do it together!

Link to interview on Canadian Healthcare Network:

https://canadianhealthcarenetwork.ca/advocacy-leader-pharmacy-gonzalo-miguel-adsuar-meseguer-future-belongs-people-who-dare-think-big