Jothi’s blog

Tag: writing

  • Singapore vs Australia

    “Welcome to the second blog! Today, we’re comparing my experiences with community pharmacy in Australia versus Singapore. During my third year of pharmacy school, I undertook several attachments, and I was assigned to community pharmacy within Western Australia. I spent approximately one week in a community setting and another week in a hospital setting. I found my experience working in the community pharmacy in Australia to be more motivating and enlightening because I learned more compared to what I knew back in Singapore.

    In Australia, pharmacies offer more specialized services. For instance, in the community setting, they can provide emergency contraception and even emergency inhalers for people with asthma without a doctor’s prescription. They also offer opioid pharmacotherapy, a program designed to help individuals dependent on opioid abuse to eventually quit. This involves using a long-acting opioid and gradually tapering the dose. Opioid abuse is more prevalent in Australia than in Singapore, where it’s illegal and carries severe penalties. This likely explains why such programs might not be readily introduced in Singapore, which tends to be more conservative and prefers to deter drug use through strict laws rather than harm reduction programs. Implementing such programs in Singapore would likely face significant hurdles.

    Aside from that, compounding pharmacy, while present in Singapore, is much more common in Australia. I found this aspect particularly appealing because it involves creating medications from scratch, much like cooking, and allows for personalized treatments tailored to a patient’s specific needs. This offers more variety and stimulation compared to the often routine and repetitive tasks in Singaporean community pharmacies. Unless one pursues a specialization, such as in a psychiatric ward, or seeks the challenges of inpatient pharmacy, the scope of practice in Singapore is generally narrower than in Australia.Even in areas like vaccinations, Australian community pharmacies are ahead, offering flu, COVID-19, and even MMR vaccines. Singapore is gradually starting to implement vaccinations in community pharmacies, beginning with flu vaccines, with plans to introduce others eventually. This suggests a move towards elevating the role of pharmacies in Singapore.

    Furthermore, I observed a significant difference in the types of people who frequent community pharmacies in Australia compared to Singapore. In Australia, we were treated more like professionals, with people approaching us openly for advice and valuing our input. I also noticed that many customers enjoyed engaging in conversations, getting to know me personally, and making small talk. The level of engagement felt much higher than in Singapore, where my personal experience during my pre-registration training in a community pharmacy was quite negative. I encountered many difficult customers and, frankly, dreaded facing them. This experience ultimately steered me away from pursuing a full-time career in community pharmacy after obtaining my full registration.

    I found Singaporean customers to be generally more impatient and sometimes even rude, especially if I couldn’t speak their language. As an Indian who primarily speaks English, with limited proficiency in my second language, I often struggled in neighborhoods where Mandarin was the dominant language. 

    Despite this, I would sometimes be placed in pharmacies in predominantly Chinese-speaking or Malay-speaking areas. While I understand some Malay, I don’t speak it fluently, and my Chinese vocabulary is very limited. Consequently, I frequently faced criticism for not speaking Chinese and occasionally encountered racist remarks. Surprisingly, I never experienced such issues in Australia, where English proficiency seemed sufficient. In Singapore, however, it often felt like Mandarin proficiency was necessary to earn respect, a notion I find outdated.

    The focus of the job also seemed different. While sales are undoubtedly a part of community pharmacy everywhere, in Singapore, it sometimes felt excessive. I recall a time when my pharmacy was selling abalone, and I questioned why I, as a trained pharmacist, was selling something that could be found in a supermarket. It made the pharmacy feel less like a healthcare provider and more like a retail outlet. This was reinforced by customers frequently asking me for non-pharmacy items like dish soap, and I was expected to know the location of everything despite being the pharmacist. This lack of professional respect was a stark contrast to my experience in Australia, where I felt our profession was more valued.

    While my overall experience in Singaporean community pharmacy wasn’t positive, I did have some lovely interactions with patients who genuinely benefited from my advice or appreciated my help with things like using glucose meters or blood pressure machines. So, I don’t want to paint everyone with the same brush. 

    However, my overall experience has made me hesitant to work full-time in a community pharmacy in Singapore due to the demanding public interactions and the feeling that my professional expertise isn’t always fully recognized. It sometimes felt like I was working in a general retail store rather than a healthcare setting.

    That’s why I have a very positive impression of working in Australia, where I feel the pharmacy profession is more celebrated. However, I am optimistic that Singapore is working towards broadening the scope of practice for pharmacists, which could lead to more fulfilling careers here in the future. Hopefully, in the next five to ten years, things will change for pharmacists in Singapore.

    So, that concludes today’s topic. Goodbye!”

  • Introduction

    Hello, my name is Jothi, and this is my introduction to my blog..

    I’m 29 years old and will be turning 30 this November – still a little while away! I’ve decided to start my own blog, and I wanted to give you a quick introduction to what it will be about. My blog will cover all sorts of things that I find interesting, including topics related to dogs, food, travelling, relationships, life advice, and just general random thoughts. I’m planning to write once a week initially, just to get the hang of it before committing to a more consistent schedule.I really enjoy writing and reading blogs because they offer a different perspective into another person’s experiences. I also feel that I enjoy sharing my own stories, and perhaps many people might find them interesting. So, why not write them down in a blog? I’d also love to uncover more about myself along the way through my posts, kind of seeing how I’ve progressed in life.

    Aside from that, a little bit about myself: I live in Singapore and work full-time as a pharmacist. I actually pursued my undergraduate degree partly overseas – three years abroad and my final year back in Singapore. COVID unfortunately disrupted my plans, as I had intended to finish my degree in Australia, where I really enjoyed the lifestyle and even hoped to build a future. I’ll also be sharing some of my experiences and thoughts about living there and how different it is from Singapore.

    Ever since returning, I often feel like something is missing. It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with my life right now; it’s more that I feel a lack of excitement beyond going to work and coming home. I am married to a wonderful partner, and we also have a wonderful dog named Chunko. We got her a year ago because I’ve always loved dogs and wanted to own one, but my parents wouldn’t allow it due to the perceived high maintenance and their concern for the house’s cleanliness. Now that I have a dog, I can understand that it involves constant cleaning and attention, requiring a lot of responsibility. However, the joy she brings is on another level. After a long day at work, having someone eagerly waiting for you truly brightens your day. I feel like getting Chunko was the right decision.

    However, I feel that my nine-to-five job isn’t really for me, and I’m unsure what other career paths I could pursue besides pharmacy. While I could consider part-time work, my partner isn’t very supportive of that idea, so I’ll need to think of other ways to achieve the lifestyle I desire. Basically, I’d like a more balanced life – a balance where I can do things I enjoy, run errands, spend time with family, and pursue hobbies. It feels like after finishing my undergraduate studies, life has become 90% work and only 10% everything else, which I don’t like. I don’t appreciate this emphasis on work with seemingly little life outside of it. I often wonder if this is the norm in other places.
    You know, sometimes it’s nice to enjoy work. It seems like the majority of people spend most of their time on work-related tasks, leaving little time or thought for things outside of work.

    However, there are some companies that really prioritize work-life balance and also focus on their employees’ stress management, even organizing team-building activities. I really admire those kinds of companies that set aside time for fun and genuinely want their staff to be content and happy to come to work. It seems like these are mostly privately-owned companies; government-owned ones often seem less concerned, wanting to extract every ounce of energy for the public service.

    Another thing about the public in Singapore is that they can be incredibly demanding. They often expect the highest level of service, even in a community setting, which is meant to be more basic. You’re not going to get the same refined level of service you might find in a private hospital or clinic in a community setting, yet people often expect that and don’t make it easy for those on the front line. I often wish there was more balance and understanding, which is a topic I will delve into further in another blog post. Until then, goodbye.