MentoringNOW With Kristin Bollinger,
Pharmacy Manager at University of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics

If you feel confident that you can do it, there is less of a focus on your age or your gender.
_{Kristin Bollinger}

PNOW: Why did you choose a pharmacy practice management residency and what was the advantage of it?

KB: I had intended to be a clinician, but midway through my pharmacy practice residency the director of pharmacy at Iowa approached me because he wanted to start a pharmacy practice management residency there and I had displayed some interest in management. I agreed to do that and the advantage was that it really gave me a big picture orientation of how large academic health system pharmacy departments operate. I got to see how the de-central pharmacy services work as well as the ambulatory side of things. I got to observe the director of pharmacy as well as the other managers interact with senior hospital management and the department managers. Basically the biggest advantage is that it gave me experience as a resident. It gave me a variety of opportunities in a similar setting to where I am working right now. So when I started my position here at the University of Wisconsin, I was familiar with some of the operations already because of my residency.

PNOW: What attracted you to management?

KB: It was a combination of things. I had not found a particular area within clinical pharmacy that I wanted to focus on and I always had an interest in financial management. It was not anything specific; it was an opportunity that came about. It was an opportunity to work with the director of pharmacy at the University of Iowa who was well established in his career. I thought it had the potential to help me find a very rewarding career within health system pharmacy. And there is a shortage of pharmacy managers right now. The last statistic I read was that only about 1 percent of residents chose to specialize in management so I knew I would be very marketable when I graduated from the program.

PNOW: What kind of disadvantages do you encounter as a young pharmacy manager?

KB: Lack of experience puts you at somewhat of a disadvantage. You have to earn respect from the people you work with within your department. Outside your department, they are not necessarily familiar with you and maybe won’t trust you initially. Over time, you really need to work hard and develop people’s trust. I am not quite as aware of the fact that I am a young manager because I work with several young managers. I think you have to learn to be comfortable taking risks and expressing ideas in front of people who have more experience than you.

PNOW: Have you ever run into a time when you took that leap and expressed something, and because of your age, it wasn't accepted?

KB: I have not really encountered that yet. I try not to focus on my age. I just focus on being able to do the job. My age should not really matter. I just need to be open about what my ideas are and be assertive and I think everything else falls into place.

PNOW: What differences have you noticed between the way you manage compared to older managers?

KB: Sometimes young managers may be more flexible because we are accustomed to change. I haven’t been working very long and so I am not accustomed to a set way of doing things, so it’s easier to change. As far as the managers I work with, there are different management styles, but I am not sure if the differences are because of age or just philosophies about how to manage people. It’s important to overcome some of those differences and to realize that having good working relationships with your co-workers and colleagues is very important. Even if there are differences, you have to bridge the gap.

PNOW: Have you experienced any unique challenges being a female manager?

KB: I can’t come up with specific examples or specific biases that I have faced since I started my position. There are female managers and pharmacists in my department so I have good female role models. Women just need to speak up and let their ideas be heard.

PNOW: Would it be fair to say gender has been a non-issue in your career?

KB: Yes. I think you focus on your job and what you are doing and how you are doing it. If you feel confident that you can do it, there is less of a focus on your age or your gender. The other thing that helps within the pharmacy profession is that it’s more heavily weighted toward female pharmacists. At this institution, we have a female CEO and many women in management positions so I don’t feel like there is a shortage of women that I could seek out as mentors or look to as role models.

PNOW: What do you like most about your job?

KB: One of the reasons I took this position was because of the management group within the pharmacy department. I thought I would feel comfortable and I liked the social aspects. It’s nice that we get together outside work to socialize. Something else I like about my position is that I get to talk to a lot of different people in my department and meet people throughout the hospital. I have developed a lot of relationships, which is rewarding. I am also in a leadership capacity. I am involved in a lot of decisions that effect the department. I like to have my ideas incorporated into some of the initiatives we pursue as a department. I work in a very intellectually stimulating environment with a lot of very knowledgeable and skilled professionals.

PNOW: What would you say was the greatest benefit of having a mentor when you were doing your pharmacy practice management residency at the University of Iowa?

KB: The benefits were numerous. My mentor provided me with a multitude of opportunities I wouldn’t necessarily have had if I hadn’t worked with him for that year. I worked on projects where I interacted with people from different departments and I presented work I had done over the year. I also gained from my interactions with him because he was open and willing to share his own knowledge and experiences and some of the career paths he had taken to get him where he is today. He related some of his early job experiences to me, which was really helpful as I was trying to choose my first position. He gave me some advice on what kind of a position to choose to lead me down the right path of career development.

PNOW: As a pharmacy manager, I am sure you have a lot of stress in your life. What do you do to alleviate stress?

KB: Part of what I do at work is to have good relationships with the people I work with. Getting to know the people you work with is a great stress reliever in and of itself. Though, I think the time you spend outside work doing other things is more important. Sometimes it is a challenge. At work, you never really feel like things are complete. There is always something hanging over your head. It is important to get your mind off those things when you go home. My fiancé and I try to do things together.

PNOW: What kinds of things do you like to do outside of work?

KB: My fiancé and I just took ballroom dance lessons. It was a lot of fun. You have to force yourself to do those things and to get yourself involved in extracurricular types of things. And you have to take vacation. I take days off here and there. And I am planning a wedding in August, which is definitely a diversion for me. I also exercise. I like to go on walks, and my fiancé and I like to eat out and listen to music. I also find playing the piano to be a great stress reliever as well.

PNOW: Your fiancé is also a pharmacist who is a medication use policy analyst within your department. Are there interesting dynamics with the two of you both being pharmacists?

KB: It’s nice because we have been able to bounce ideas off each other. If we are frustrated about something, we can talk about it and the other person will understand. I think it is a really positive dynamic, although we have to be careful not to talk about it all the time and do other things.

PNOW: Is it difficult to leave work at work since you both are pharmacists? Do you have a tendency to talk about work more?

KB: I think you definitely do. We ride into work together and leave together and there is a tendency to talk about what went on at work that day. This is OK but you just need to cut it off at some point.

PNOW: Do you tend to police each other?

KB: He does that more for me than I do for him. I tend to take more home mentally than he does. He does a good job of saying when it’s enough for one day and we should go do something or talk about something else.

PNOW: How do you balance your professional and personal life?

KB: I think there are different ways you can do that. You can try to just minimize the time that you spend on your daily activities, try to simplify your life as much as you can. An example would be minimizing your commute to work so you have more time for your personal life outside work. Our department also has different social functions -- an annual picnic during summer and a Christmas party.

PNOW: Would you say making a personal connection with your colleagues is a key component for you to be happy in your job?

KB: There’s no doubt about it. Of course I have other friends who are outside pharmacy, but it helps so much to enjoy the people you work with.

PNOW: Why did you choose pharmacy as your profession?

KB: I was interested in health care. My father is a physician. He is in family practice and so I thought about going into medicine. I always liked math and science so I thought my interests were consistent with health care. I also have a relative who is a pharmacist. He’s actually a pharmacy manager where I am from - Eau Claire, Wisconsin. When I was in my freshman and sophomore years in college, I talked to him about pharmacy and I shadowed him for a day or two. He had a very positive outlook on the pharmacy profession. So through my conversations with him and with my interests, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I also knew from a practical standpoint that there were a lot of pharmacist positions available and the market was really good.