Q&A: Chain Pharmacist Shares Keys to Success in Retail Settings

James Rider, PharmD, is a seasoned pharmacy professional whose journey began in the aisles of a local drugstore.

“I started in pharmacy when I was 16 years of age,” Rider said in an interview with Drug Topics for American Pharmacists Month.“My parents bought me a car, and they said, ‘Son, you have to get out and get a job.’ So, I went looking for a job, and I stumbled across a Revco store looking for help. And the rest is history.”

Now, as a pharmacy manager of a CVS in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a 2024 National Paragon Award recipient, coming into work makes him feel like a “rock star.” He finds fulfillment in providing personalized care, from administering immunizations to advising patients on travel health.

Rider is a pharmacy manager at CVS in Forsyth, North Carolina. | image credit: photo for everything / stock.adobe.com

In his interview with Drug Topics, Rider reflected on his early experiences in pharmacy, the potential for expanded roles through interprofessional collaboration, and the importance of staffing in optimizing patient care in the chain pharmacy setting.

Drug Topics: What initially drew you to the pharmacy profession, and how has your career path unfolded?

James Rider, PharmD: I started in pharmacy when I was 16 years of age. My parents bought me a car, and they said, “Son, you have to get out and get a job.” So, I went looking for a job, and I stumbled across a Revco store looking for help. And the rest is history.

My career sort of unfolded [from there]. At first, I was a high school student, really sort of aimlessly working in the pharmacy, but very quickly they wanted me to work in the pharmacy as an assistant, and my interest in pharmacy grew from there.Later on in high school, I was asked what I was going to do for my career, and I said I was either going to be a teacher or I was going to be a pharmacist. So, I applied for pharmacy school and went from there. I continued to work in pharmacy throughout college, obviously gaining more and more practical experience, until I graduated and assumed a position with Revco at the time.

READ MORE: Rite Aid Pharmacist’s Exploration of Immunization, Clinical Programming

Drug Topics: Can you talk about some of the rewards and challenges you face in your practice setting?

Rider: The biggest reward I have, I would say, is the feeling of satisfaction from customers and working in a pharmacy. It's very demanding, of course, but you have an opportunity to help everybody on an individual level. That might be something as simple as showing someone a product that you would recommend, or it may be more complicated such as helping someone with discharge instructions who has just recently left the hospital. I always talk about my position as a pharmacist as being like a rock star. I, at the end of every day, feel like a rock star, because I feel like people need me. They have lots of questions, and they access and utilize me as a resource for them, and at the end of the day, that's what drives me the most.

Drug Topics: Share something unique about your practice setting, patient population, or a specific program you've implemented that exemplifies the value of pharmacists in patient care.

Rider: I’m a big advocate of doing immunizations. I embrace that responsibility when in North Carolina, they ask pharmacists to do it. To be honest with you, more so than just giving the shots themselves, educating people on what is recommended for them [is important to me].

I have a lot of clients in my particular location today that do a lot of international travel, so following the guidelines that's recommended by the CDC and so forth, and providing that information to my population here is an ongoing process that we review every day. So, I get a lot of fulfillment from doing immunizations, because it really puts me closer and closer to the customer, or the patient, and gives me an opportunity to chat with them, to relate to them, and for them to get to know me more on an individual level. That's sometimes challenging in a high-volume pharmacy that I work in today, but that's a specific area that is rewarding to me.

Drug Topics: In your opinion, what are the biggest opportunities for pharmacists to expand their role in patient care in today's health care landscape?

Rider: More and more pharmacies are combining with primary care practices on some level and in some way, and as a result of that, developing a good relationship with a primary care physician or practitioner. I think [this] is a huge opportunity for pharmacists regardless of their practice setting. I know CVS obviously owns Minute Clinic, and they have practitioners. I have one of those in my store, so I do have an opportunity to work with the nurse practitioner who staffs that on a regular basis, but hopefully with the evolution of pharmacy and the closeness of primary care settings and pharmacy and that relationship growing in strength, that will provide a unique opportunity for pharmacists to work with a different peer group.

Drug Topics: Given your extensive experience as a pharmacy manager, what strategies have you implemented to ensure the highest quality of patient care and customer service in a high-volume retail setting?

Rider: I would really point to staffing, first and foremost. Having the resources at your fingertips to keep up with staffing, to be well-staffed, and then to take that one step further to train, to spend a lot of time in training, that's a specific challenge. That's maybe not unique to retail, but it certainly involves the retail experience as a manager. And I think keeping abreast of staffing, keeping abreast of training, being detail-oriented in training, and being strong in that regard, helps make you successful. That's also the biggest challenge in retail pharmacy. [But] having great well-trained staff—people that you can delegate basic tasks to—that is what makes me closer to the customer, and that's why I do it.

To read more from this series, visit our American Pharmacists Month resource center.

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