A work routine that lasts more than 12 hours a day. On-call shifts. Rotating schedules. Multiple roles. This is a common reality in the life of those who work in a pharmacy. Natália Fabiana dos Santos lived it… until she decided to change with the Postgraduate Program in Aesthetic Pharmacy.
She lives in Viamão (RS) and traveled a little over 30 minutes to reach Porto Alegre, in the same state, to begin the Clinical Immersion of her Postgraduate Program. There, she talked about her current course load and how she sees the future: “freedom over my schedule”.
Making a decision like this, which can completely change a person's career, is not easy. On the contrary: it takes a lot of courage. Natália knows that. But when she realized she was working a great deal for a reasonable salary, she decided to change.
A pharmacist who works a lot
Anywhere in the country, pharmacists who work at pharmacy counters work a lot. That means hours and hours every day serving customers. In Natália's case, it is 13 hours a day of intense work because she is also the store manager.
“Monday to Monday, from 8 in the morning to 9 at night. It's a very long workload. On top of all the duties of being a pharmacist, I have other roles: entering invoices, which is more bureaucratic; dealing with conflicts among employees, and so on”.
The result affects professionals' personal lives. The math is simple: 13 hours of work, and if we add sleeping hours, there is almost no time left for other activities, whatever they may be. “With all of this, your mental health isn't 100%”.
The financial return, which could be a differentiator given the effort and the volume of work, is not real. The aesthetic pharmacist featured in this article sums it up: “There are too many roles for one person. You have to work way too much to have a reasonable salary”.
Aesthetics as an alternative
Natália says she chose the Pharmacy degree because she really likes having contact with people, with patients. In addition, the bachelor's degree fit her budget at the time. “It turned out I did internships and liked it. Everything clicked”.
During her classes, she had her first contact with aesthetics, especially in subjects such as cosmetology. That was when she began to have some sparks and to see the possibility of working in that job market. But the idea stayed on ice for a few years.
“Aesthetics is something I have always admired. Professionals helping to raise people's self-esteem. It's that perspective that awakened me more and more. My mother had very low self-esteem, which pushed me even more to look into this field”.
Remembering the alternative and combining it with her current work routine, the aesthetic pharmacist chose the Postgraduate Program in Aesthetic Pharmacy. From then on, she began to see the advantages this specialization could bring to her life.
The benefits of specializing in aesthetics
Currently, Natália sees the small obstacles of her profession, that of a counter pharmacist, as her main challenges. She has difficulty getting time off work, faces increased risk of traffic accidents, has a tight budget, and so on.
And adding all of this to the benefits of aesthetics, she saw that she can improve her life. “Leaving your comfort zone is a very big challenge. But I intend to start my own business to have freedom over my schedule, to be able to close the agenda whenever I want”.
That is why she needed courage to enroll in the Postgraduate Program in Aesthetic Pharmacy. But now, near the end of the program, she knows she made a great choice. After all, she knows the work routine behind a pharmacy counter very well.
“At the pharmacy it's on-call shifts and rotating schedules. Either you get a day off in one or in the other. It's very complicated because weekends don't exist. Holidays don't exist. I intend to open my own clinic, to be an entrepreneur in aesthetics and change this scenario”.
The importance of choosing the institution
The pharmacist says aesthetics is a field that is expanding a lot. And that it will keep growing more and more. “It would be more or less this: a field that will never stop growing, more than the counter or any other area”.
One example comes from ozone therapy, which is part of the Aesthetic Pharmacy curriculum. “Ozone has N functions. Among them, the most therapeutic part that links the pharmacist with therapy. So it's a very broad area that isn't very well known yet. And it's fantastic”.
She mentions geriatrics. “Older people, who have joint pain, back pain, and so on, can be treated with ozone therapy. So it would be a very interesting part to study for anyone who wants to specialize to become an ozone therapist”.
More stories of aesthetic pharmacists
Camila Spínola is from Rio de Janeiro and also worked for a long time at a drugstore. She chose it because she always liked medications and remedies. After 15 years in public health, she evaluated her career and sought more autonomy at work through Aesthetic Pharmacy.
Laís Rodrigues was always a pharmacist passionate about her profession. In São Paulo, in the state capital, she worked in health clinics and hospitals. Later, she saw that she could contribute to improving people's self-esteem and moved into Aesthetics.
Prisciane Gualberto started in Pharmacy through her mother's influence. After working at a retail drugstore and also at the Family Health Care Center in Minas Gerais, she decided to look for her own space within the profession. The path was Aesthetic Pharmacy.
Success Stories>Aesthetic PharmacyIrving Malaguti
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
