MentorVIEW With Marianne Ivey,
is Corporate Director of Health Alliance Pharmacy Services

Marianne Ivey is Corporate Director of Health Alliance Pharmacy Services. She is a fellow of the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacist and was recently elected treasurer of the organization.

PNOW: What drew you to pharmacy as a profession and has kept you interested in it over the years?

MI: I was always interested in science and helping people so the combination seemed like a good fit with pharmacy. The thing that has kept me interested over the years is that there are lots of multi-dimensional challenges with pharmacy. There is the science piece but there is a social piece in terms of interaction with people and there is the financial piece. The people in pharmacy are just so bright and dedicated that it has always been fun to work with a group of people who have such a positive attitude about what they do.

PNOW: What do you perceive as the most important issue facing pharmacy today and what steps do you think need to be taken to address this?

MI: I think the most important thing for us as pharmacists to be concerned about is helping our patients safely and effectively use medications. I do not think we can take medications for granted because they are increasingly more potent and potentially dangerous to patients if not used correctly. Our interaction with patients is critical. Being competent to provide that expertise to patients is the really big challenge today. As we continue to face manpower challenges I think the appropriate training we give pharmacists, both when they are formal students and then as professionals, has to continue. That education and training has to have a pretty solid scientific base and then a very relevant experience-based training and mentoring to help the pharmacist develop the judgment skills which is an important component component of clinical care.

PNOW: Do you have any thoughts on how to attract more students to pharmacy?

MI: I think it's important to appeal to people's sense of wanting to help others. The salaries are beginning to help attract people to pharmacy -- it is worth all the time and effort they put into it in terms of a livelihood afterwards. But I think it is the satisfaction of the work that young people want to hear about. Many, many colleagues in pharmacy are still very dynamic and actively involved after years and years of work because they believe that there is a real important mission. I think that appeals to a certain group of young people and it is really that group that I think we ought to try to keep attracting.

PNOW: You have a son and a daughter. Could you talk a bit about how you balanced your career, particularly when your children were younger?

MI: It really helped that I have a lot of energy and I have always been healthy. My children were healthy as well and so I did not have to worry about serious illnesses or other problems. I was also able to afford to have someone help out in the house when I was traveling and away from home.

PNOW: When the children were babies, what kind of schedule did you negotiate when you returned to work?

MI: I did go back full-time. Part time is very nice, if you can do it. I was already in management and it was not looked on terribly favorably to be a part-time manager.

PNOW: In 1978, you received the Women of Achievement in Pharmacy Award. What are your thoughts on how the climate has changed for women in pharmacy since you were first practicing?

MI: It is interesting because a couple of my colleagues got awards with me. I think we represented the change in pharmacy because they were career women without children. I think women did not generally get real involved in the profession in my early career if they had families. It was not that they necessarily could not be involved, but it was not the thing to do and the culture did not provide models and examples for people to follow. I do not think there is any doubt that it is different today. For a lot of cultural and societal reasons, I think there is a big change in the number of women in the profession just who go through school.

PNOW: When you first became a pharmacist, would you say there were not as many women in pharmacy or that women pharmacists were not as involved as male pharmacists?

MI: Both. The percentage of women enrolled in classes has increased along with the number of women in the profession. Additionally, things have been occurring in the past 15 years with women being involved in association work and leadership beyond the job and then leadership within the job that wasn't going on 25 years ago.

PNOW: Do you think you experienced any personal biases because you were a strong woman in pharmacy right from the beginning of your career?

MI: I think there was a tendency in some people to listen to male colleagues, but I do not really think I had that problem very much. I do observe it for some women because they are softer spoken, wait to be heard or wait for others to take their turn. I think sometimes people just start talking and talk right over them but I see that less and less because people are beginning to appreciate that it is really very valuable to listen to diverse points of view. I think we have all become more aware of not just gender diversity but ethnic diversity and other kinds of diversity as well.

PNOW: You have received a number of professional honors and awards. Can you pick out one that has held the most meaning for you and explain why?

MI: Without a doubt the award that means the most to me is the Harvey A.K. Whitney Award that ASHP provides on a yearly basis. I think it is meaningful because it is chosen by a group of highly regarded peers who already have been given that award. It requires a presentation during the award. The intent is to provide thought-provoking comments and discussion on a topic that really matters to the profession. When you put all of that together it is a fairly significant event in one's life. ASHP always does a wonderful job of providing an evening that really truly honors that person and it is a lovely setting. People are really there to celebrate the profession; not only just the one person, but the whole profession. The other thing that was really important to me was that my children were old enough to be there and they understood the significance of it. Other members of my family were there too, my mother and my husband and in-laws - so that was really nice because they sacrifice a little bit when you are gone.

PNOW: What topic did you present on?

MI: I presented on the changing paradigm in pharmacy. Pharmacy is always changing so you could almost pick that topic any year that you got the award. But in 1993, the profession was looking at itself and being very reflective in terms of how we did work. Reengineering and quality improvement were really big issues. I was very involved in that in my medical center, being asked to lead that effort for what was then the University of Cincinnati Hospital. I was really watching the process of patient-centered care and so it was a discussion about that and why that was important and how we had in some ways failed our patients and why we needed to be reflective.

PNOW: Your mother, who you feel is one of the most influential people in your life, spent 42 years as an educator. How did she influence you?

MI: She was very committed to her profession, which was education, and she committed to increasing her competence in that area by going back to school and getting a masters degree. She went back to school after she had children so she had to balance family and work life as well.

PNOW: She seems very progressive. What kind of things did you learn from her?

MI: I watched her and learned about setting priorities. I noticed that when family needed her, that was her priority. I noticed her dedication and her willingness to work to get the material done by working after dinner and on weekends. Going back to school for a master's degree required juggling lots of activities and she managed those. I saw her balance work, family, social and recreational issues and she was pretty good at it. We are a family who is pretty dedicated to a work ethic.

PNOW: What characteristic do you feel is the most important for success?

MI: The successful person has to be competent, interact well with people and be astute about the organization they're in so they can synchronize personal goals with the organization's. I think in our profession we are lucky that there are a lot of people who deliver on these assumptions. That makes the profession fun. What really makes the difference in a person's ability to succeed and be influential is that they need to be positive and enthusiastic about what they do and have good will towards other folks. There are people who just automatically assume others are doing things for good purposes and good outcomes and I think that makes a big difference. A cynic just does not do it for me; it does not energize me. They can be ever so bright and achieving but if they basically have a cynical outlook on life I think they de-energize other people. A positive outlook and assuming that others are doing things for good reasons unless proven otherwise are very, very helpful traits.

PNOW: For our final question, is there anything you wish you would have known when you were first embarking on your career?

MI: I think the environment for women is much more realistic now. It does not require us to be super people. I like to watch the women who are coming through now, my residents and so on, and I just think the world is more realistic for them. If they have children and want to work part-time, they are still welcomed into the profession and not looked at as second-class citizens, which I think was the general case when I was early in my career. The manpower challenge of having to use all of our manpower and be a lot more open minded about diversity has helped the situation. I would have liked to experience that flexibility because it takes a lot of energy to juggle so many things. There are times when I think I probably would have enjoyed spending a little more time at my children's school and with them. But my children are happy and very productive and are wonderful kids so it worked out fine.

Person I most admire: Former Surgeon General Everett Koop because he provided leadership the country needed in a diplomatic way on a politically risky issue Favorite Quote: "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone." Henry David Thoreau

Favorite leisure activity: Theatre and Dinner in New York; relaxing in Sun Valley; Beach time in Florida

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