Preceptor Spotlight: Hannah Cross, PharmD (’13), RPh

11/9/20

Categories: Alumni Pride, Preceptor Pride

We spoke with Hannah Cross, PharmD (’13), RPh, who is a preceptor at Rootstown Community Pharmacy.

Why did you choose pharmacy?

I really love chemistry and wanted to help people — pharmacy was perfect for me!  I come from a household of healthcare workers and wanted to pursue a career that allowed for the satisfaction of spending your day helping others.  Combining that with my love for chemistry and pharmacy was a match made in heaven for me.  Once I got a job in a pharmacy for experience I realized that my knack for organization and high energy would really benefit me in this career choice and further solidified my confidence in choosing this path.

what advice and tips do you have for new students or young professionals about starting careers?

I feel like the best 2 pieces of advice I have been given are:

1) Always do what is in the best interest of the patient.

This has helped me in so many scenarios where it felt that the “Rules” and my professional judgement were at odds, but if you put the patient’s interest on as a filter the answer always seems so much clearer.

2) Pharmacy is a small world.

Network.  Interact with your peers.  Be friendly with the pharmacists that you interact with (both within your organization and other local ones).  My path has changed for the better in many ways thanks to connections that I have made and kept throughout my entire pharmacy career- both as a student and as a licensed pharmacist.

What positive attributes do students provide your site? Would you share the benefits of hosting students on rotation?

The students bring many great qualities to my site.  It is refreshing to have their energy and enthusiasm for pharmacy here. I enjoy having conversations with students to go over patient medications and reasoning for therapies. They keep me on my toes!  I think the obvious benefits of having the students on rotation involve an extra person to help get the pharmacy tasks completed, however that is only scratching the surface on how the interns can benefit the business and our patients! It is great to have new energy working on projects and bringing fresh ideas to the pharmacy.  We love having students here.