In-Demand Career Spotlight
Chris Gifford, Decatur Morgan Hospital Chris Gifford grew up in Decatur where both his parents worked in healthcare. He always knew he wanted to follow in their footsteps to a career in the same industry, but wasn’t sure what career path was the right fit for him. A football scholarship led him to New York, but he returned south after a year to attend Florida State where he majored in exercise science. While at home during the summers, he volunteered at Decatur General Hospital and Payless Pharmacy, and discovered that he liked the pharmacy setting in the hospital. He then was able to get a pharmacy tech license and worked in the pharmacy as a tech. After college, Chris pursued his Doctorate in Pharmacy at University of Tennessee in Memphis. He is currently working on passing all of his licensure exams and is working at Decatur Morgan Hospital as a Pharmacist. His day-to-day work involves ordering and verifying prescription drugs, checking medications for delivery, answering doctors’ questions about what to prescribe and dosage. He enjoys the patient management side of working in the hospital where he gets to visit patients on the floor and manage their care through their medications. He likes that this draws from a variety of clinical knowledge not commonly used in a pharmacy outside of the in-patient setting. Chris advises anyone interested in pharmacy to get their tech license so they can work in a pharmacy to see if they like it or not. “All you have to do is go to the Alabama Board of Pharmacy website and fill out and submit the application. It doesn’t cost a thing and no training is required.” Working in the setting and different pharmacy settings is important, Chris advises. Chris sees pharmacy growing within the next few years, with pharmacists having the opportunity to work collaboratively with doctors to become even more involved in patient care. “There are so many different paths to pursue in pharmacy including the setting you want to be in, whether it be retail at a large or small store, in a hospital, nursing home, etc. So it’s important to try out different settings. You may not like one, but may love another. There are so many opportunities that people don’t realize,” he says. Interested in learning more about in-demand careers www.careerpathway.info and like “Career Pathway” on Facebook.
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