When he was younger, Mischa Christie was attending multiple conferences with his mother, Dr Winsome Christie. That was how he developed a propensity for pharmacy back then that never quite left him.

Christie, 25, a medical writer in the United Kingdom, said while attending Glenmuir High School, it became clear to him that he was supposed to be a pharmacist.

“Definitely!” he began, shutting down the idea that other professions were even being considered in the slightest.

“Ever since I was younger, I had an interest in pharmacy because of my mom. I’d tag along with her to her conferences and so on. But to be honest, my appreciation grew for it when I began doing the pharmacy courses on my own at the University of Technology. When I saw what the essence of pharmacy was, being mainly care for the patients’ health and well-being, and how much work actually goes into it, that’s where the love and appreciation for what it is grew,” Christie told the Jamaica Observer in an interview last Wednesday.

“She’s been going to them since before I was born, so I’ve been tagging along literally since I was born. They would be fun experiences and even opportunities to learn. Conferences could span from an afternoon session to a full two-day retreat. They were basically sessions of learning that my young brain found fascinating for what I could understand.”

But even before he grew to love the career at the tertiary level, there was always an interest and desire to store, handle, prepare, and dispense various medications as a means of offering care to individuals in need.

“I knew since I was young I’d be in health care. But it wasn’t until high school, that’s where I knew I’d become a pharmacist. It’s a pretty rewarding field if you want to go into it. Also it’s never too late to do it, we have people from 18 to 40 plus doing it,” he said.

The registered pharmacist, who previously worked at Sunshine Pharmacy in May Pen, Clarendon, believes health-care professionals should be more present on the digital scene. He also said that his reasons vary.

“In this age of information, there is a lot of misinformation being spread around, causing fear or even harm to members of the general public who decide to follow this inaccurate information. With us as pillars of accurate information being more present, it provides people with sources to turn to in the case they need to get verification about a certain topic,” Christie told the Sunday Observer.

“It helps to empower members of the general public with knowledge towards their health. Being more present can help to break down that expert to layman barrier that can make dealing with your health seem more daunting than it should be,” he added.

Christie said health and wellness can seem more attainable via self-care, if health-care workers are more present digitally.

“This gives the people power over their health and it helps the general public understand the behind-the-scenes workings of certain sectors and can help with the understanding of certain protocols. For example, having more health-care professionals in the space talking about shortages in hospitals during COVID peaks may have helped to some extent, with the public following protocol.”

He told the Sunday Observer that that same approach would have made a difference as to how Jamaica reacted to COVID-19 vaccines as well.

“I definitely think so. And there was a bit I must say. It was a period of uncertainty for even us as health-care professionals to be honest, but I think the Jamaica Government and health-care professionals did a commendable job of showing up during that time. I know for me, specifically, I tried my hardest in that period to be seen as a repository of information for people to turn to especially as a pharmacist, since we should be the easiest health-care professionals to access by the general public,” he argued.

Christie has been trying to fill the gap on social media, with video content across social media platforms TikTok, Instagram (@mdc_rx) and YouTube.

“For me, my love of media and communications kinda got intertwined with the pharmacy profession and that’s what always gave me that push, because I always saw where Jamaican health media could do with a little reinforcement,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“And so I must say I do see where it has made an impact. The amount of people I get saying ‘wow, I never knew that’, or ‘really? A so it go?’ and even just simply thanking me for the information and sharing it around goes to show how much people need and appreciate health-care professionals presence. Then you have the recognition of importance from fellow health-care professionals, which further cements the point.”

Christie told the Sunday Observer that health-care practitioners should consider creating long-form video for sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and advised that those are “best for educational content and live streaming”.

He noted that for short-form content, “TikTok, Youtube, and Instagram are also best for tips and tricks…’edutainment’ that will keep attention.”

Christie added: “Twitter, Blogspot, LinkedIn if you’re a writer. These are the ones for you. Don’t think you’re left out, because there are still people who prefer to read out there. Podcasts, audio-only content; Spotify, Youtube, Google Podcasts, et cetera. These are definitely for you who like sharing tips, ideas or having discussions with other health-care professionals about topics via talking and talking only. This tends to be possibly the easiest form. Just record and upload.”

He stressed that oftentimes pharmacist may come off as a secretive profession.

“If we look at it from the patients’ point of view, sometimes they come in with a prescription that they most times can’t read, and then give it to us in our white coats. We then retreat further behind our counters, take a little while… a little longer sometimes, and then boom, we give them these medications.

“Besides conversations we have with our patients around that entire process, a lot of people just don’t know what goes on when they go to the pharmacy. So to them, they just go, give in a paper and get things to take. Being in the digital space definitely showed me that this is what is perceived, because whenever I explain what goes on behind the scenes, guaranteed, at least one person is going say they had no idea that’s what happens.”

As it relates to education and certification for a career in pharmacy, Christie advised, “If anyone out there wants to become a pharmacist, from high school, what you need for the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Technology is CSEC chemistry, biology, mathematics, English language and any other CSEC with ones, twos and threes; plus CAPE Units 1 and 2 passes in chemistry and one other subject, preferably biology, zoology, mathematics or physics.

“Good grades in those and some volunteering in pharmacies here and there would help your case. The course is four years, after which you do one little year of internship, and boom, there you go — a registered pharmacist once you’re over 21. For The University of the West Indies, Mona, doctor of pharmacy degree, it may be different, so do some research on that one.”