There is one main point is this, which has been crucial to me along the way – Freedom. A couple of years as PhD student would probably give me freedom to travel as I have experienced during my studies, and hence the opportunity to continue with trainings etc. Question then is… Do I want to? I think the answer to that is “yes”. I don’t know what the purposes of my travels will be, but I’m pretty sure something will come up. :)
Actually its not just the freedom to travel
“randomly”, but also the opportunity to study and live abroad. A PhD would be
pretty perfect for that, allowing me to learn about my PhD topic from other
perspectives. Hmm… Already starting to dream, hehe…
Another freedom-aspect is what my thesis
advisor, Lotte, mentioned a few weeks ago. A PhD degree would give me a certain
status, a certain freedom to define my own area of work. However, here comes
also one of my concerns. A PhD would mean that I would be very highly
specialised, and that thought scares me a bit. Not sure why, though… Maybe
because I’m not entirely sure what I want to work with? What my area of
specialisation should be?
I talked with my friend Anton about that
the other day. My vision at the moment is to be working with personal,
professional, and profession development, and I have a special interest in
continuing the work from my master thesis about Interprofessional Education.
This links very well with the profession development-aspect. Also, I could
focus on the improvement of the physician/pharmacist relations, but like Anton
mentioned, I might need more professional experience before actually being able
to undertake such work.
Hence, I am considering finding a temporary
job in a community pharmacy, in order to get sort of a reality check. Another option,
which would however not give me the clinical experience, is to work in the
university. As it looks now, the faculties of pharmacy and medicine will be
merged in 2012, and I see that as a great opportunity to work with IPE! And
with all the inspiration, ideas, and connection I gained in the IPE conference
in Arizona, I really wouldn’t mind continuing down that lane.
At the moment of writing, I am on my way
home from my visit to USA, waiting for my connection in London. My plan is to
go back to my faculty and try to convince them to hire me to do IPE
coordination. Meanwhile, I will be looking into job opportunities in
pharmacies, but I also have to consider something very short term – the Danish
social security system only allows for unemployed to be “inactive” for maximum
three months, meaning that from the beginning of 2012 I will have to be doing something. Could be course work, e.g. in
lean management, could be kind of an internship, or well - a real job. ;)
Also, I will investigate the PhD possibilities.
After all, my list of pros and cons in this text points quite clearly in the
“go-for-it” direction!
