Tripler Army Medical Center  –   Meet Pajnhiag Real, who currently serves as a clinical pharmacist at TAMC.
 
Learn more about Pajnhiag Real in the Q&A below!
 
Q: Tell us about yourself?
A Firefighter’s wife, mother of two small children. Living and working in challenging times. I’m hopeful and optimistic at least twice a day.
 
Q: What inspired you to work in pharmacy?
I became interested in pharmacy when I lived in a small Midwestern town where there was an independent pharmacist who valued self empowerment and took the time to counsel patients in his office inside the pharmacy. He inspired me to find my own path of valuing the patient in front of me.
 
Q: What are some reasons you became a pharmacist?
One of my Buddhist mentors Josei Toda once said, “There are three criteria for selecting a job: beauty, benefit and good.”
 
The beauty in my job is that I love working in the Emergency Department as a clinical pharmacist. The benefit of my position is that I can financially support my family. The good of my job is that even though I see patients, nurses and providers who are suffering, I feel very strongly that I was meant to help the individual in front of me. My fourth reason is that I enjoy teaching science and my profession provides lots of opportunities to teach. My fifth reason is that I feel strongly about patient education and self-empowerment. 
 
Q. What advice would you give to a student interested in becoming a pharmacist?
Love it so that going above and beyond becomes natural. Everything is cause and effect, so if you’re doing just enough to get by, this will be reflected in how fulfilled you feel about your life. Think hard about the lifestyle you want and where you want to be in 10, 20 years and take on a path that is as resistant as possible to corporate greed, automation and artificial intelligence.
 
Q. How do you inspire future pharmacists?
It’s important to leave a place better than how your found it.