I got to know Janelle a while ago – I believe through a group for bloggers. Since then, I’ve been following her blog The Nellybean and Janelle did a
In a saturated blogging landscape with some quite repetitive and superficial blogs, I find Janelle’s posts really refreshing. Often I can relate, but it’s more than that – she has something interesting and authentic to say. So whether it’s make-up, midnight musings, or posts about her pharmacy studies, I read them all! She also writes supportive and interesting comments on other bloggers’ posts, and I look forward to seeing those too.
Recently I found out that Janelle had written a book, “Let sleeping pharmacists lie”. I agreed to review a gifted copy on my blog – so here it is!
Let Sleeping pharmacists lie – tales from pharmacy school and the patients you just don’t forget
Description from Amazon
“Let sleeping pharmacists lie” is a collection of funny (and 100% true) anecdotes from pharmacy school and musings on the healthcare sector. From Viagra lovers to paracetamol hagglers, Janelle tells all in this labour of love inspired by her personal encounters. Delve deep into the colourful – and at times, mystifying – world of pharmacy.
Pages: 106
My thoughts
I’d had a couple of glimpses into Janelle’s studies and practical pharmacy experiences from her blog posts, but I had no idea what it takes to become a pharmacist in terms of what you have to learn, how much science is involved, and how many interesting members of the public and strange requests you have to deal with!
The book is available as a paperback or a kindle edition from Amazon. This was the first plus point for me! Having it available as an e-book means it’s accessible to people like me who can’t read standard print.
The book is a series of short chapters, which makes it easy to read, and gives you a glimpse in to different parts of the learning experience.
I really enjoyed the mixture of more general information, such as the process a new type of medication has to go through before it can be used, to the personal anecdotes from the pharmacy. I also thought it was interesting to see how different medical professionals can work and learn together, and some of the ethical questions you have to think about once you start taking what you’ve learned, and applying it to real-life situations.
It also takes apart some of the stereotypes and misconceptions about being a pharmacist – good for educating us as the general public, and hopefully good for pharmacists too if they don’t have to hear the same old lines about sticking labels on boxes all day!
It’s factual information – so you’ll learn things when you read the book. But it feels as though you’re listening to stories over a coffee with a friend. The scientific parts are explained in a non-technical way that’s easy to understand, and with some of the anecdotes, you can just imagine yourself in the queue at the pharmacy, overhearing the conversations – the bizarre ones, not the personal ones! People really do say those things
I don’t think any public-facing role is easy, but the book also gives you an insight into some of the more frustrating parts of being a pharmacist, and things we as customers can avoid doing!
I haven’t been out much at all over the last couple of months, but I’ve appreciated my local pharmacists keeping things running and being there to give me my prescriptions. So this is a public thanks to them, to pharmacists in general, and to Janelle for giving us a look behind the scenes!
Find out more
This is where you can find out more about Janelle’s book on Amazon
You can also visit Janelle on social media:
- The Nellybean blog
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