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DISRxUPT is a podcast from the Cedarville University Center for Pharmacy Innovation which explores novel advances in the practice of pharmacy. From nanotechnology to unique public health initiatives, DISRxUPT will highlight stories of pharmacists who are changing the paradigm of patient care.
Tune in for new content once a month detailing how the profession of pharmacy continues to change and how the Center for Pharmacy Innovation is playing a key role in this transformation.
Welcome to DISRxUPT, a podcast of the Cedarville University Center For Pharmacy Innovation. Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Kimber Boothe. She is a pharmacist, health care leader, author, and entrepreneur with decades of experience in health systems and the pharmaceutical industry. Listen as we discuss her work in career coaching and pharmacy management consulting. Welcome back to DISRxUPT.
Justin:I'm your host, Justin Cole, and I am pleased to have doctor Kimber Boothe with us in studio for today's episode. Kimber has an impressive resume in health systems pharmacy, including being a past chief medical officer, and she's also an entrepreneur. She's the founder and CEO of Kimber Boothe Group and Pharmovation Consulting. Her motto, which I love, is, "Pharmacy can do more with more." We'll talk about that a little bit more later. Her goal is to support the addition of 100 new pharmacy positions annually. So welcome to the podcast, Kimber! I am excited to talk with you today.
Kimber:Thank you, Justin. It's my pleasure to be here. Excited to have this conversation.
Justin:Yeah. So, I just have to start by letting you tell your story. I mean, you've had a lot of experiences. How did you end up in pharmacy to begin with? And maybe how did you end up in health care leadership as well?
Kimber:Sure. Well, I was lucky enough that during well, maybe not so lucky, but I had some health conditions. I had asthma growing up, and so my community pharmacist became a good friend of mine and of the family, and so I was always exposed to that positive, relationship with a pharmacist. And I always knew that I kinda wanted to be in health care and it just was I wasn't exactly sure, but pharmacist was on the list. So was being an orthodontist.
Kimber:Like, probably all the health care professions I had been exposed to at that time, even an oral surgeon. And then a US News and World Report magazine came out and my dad saw it and it had pharmacists on the front cover. And he knew I was considering it. He's like, so he's like, this is a sign, you know, why don't you do pharmacy? And so in high school, I made that decision, you know, talk to my community pharmacist and, was able to apply and get accepted to pharmacy school from high school, and it's been a great career for me.
Justin:So how did you end up getting into management and leadership initially within pharmacy?
Kimber:Sure. So, you know, after choosing pharmacy, I think it's interesting. I think even my grandparents would tell me, when I was a kid that I was like a born leader. I would be, like, organizing people and organizing things, you know, when I was when I was young. So even in high school, I was naturally drawn to some leadership positions. So once I got into pharmacy school, I was definitely involved with pharmacy organizations, which I'm a big advocate for. And, of course, working here with with Cedarville as a liaison with the Ohio Society of Health System Pharmacists. So definitely advocacy, volunteering was a big part of it early on. And luckily, you know, I got exposed to leadership roles while I was, you know, interning in my in different organizations and so chose I knew that I had a leadership path in my future, but interestingly, I did not choose, like, an administrative residency. You know, I wanted to be a clinician first in in practice, but after that, I did pursue a Master's in Health Administration because my goal was to become a a director of pharmacy.
Kimber:So I knew I had that that path that I had identified with my natural interests and luckily what, you know, people were telling me I was, you know, good at.
Justin:Well, I love from your story that you're a wonderful reminder that pharmacy leaders aren't necessarily just the ones that are trained to be leaders from right after school. Right? Often, you can have great clinicians who then develop into those positions and really find that passion and maybe even pursue training later on. So there are multiple pathways to be a leader within the health care space and particularly pharmacy. So maybe tell us a little bit more about some of the roles that you've worked in over your career.
Kimber:Sure. After my residency training, again, I did more of clinical residency, internal medicine, cardiology. I was able to kind of expand cardiology practice. So I was a Cardiology Critical Care Pharmacist. I covered multiple intensive care units and the floors and even got to work with our heart transplant patients.
Kimber:My first business plan that I wrote was actually 6 months into that role though because it was a lot and I wanted to you know, there's a lot of patients, a lot of opportunities and needs, so I wrote a business plan to create a second pharmacist position so that we could split up that work. We could start a cardiology P&T committee. So I did that, as that became a clinical specialist in that area. I did transition to the pharma industry. I actually spent 10 years within the pharma industry in various roles in medical affairs from a medical science liaison to roles with publications, advisory boards, phase IV studies, educational grants.
Kimber:And so I enjoyed that time tremendously, but I still missed patient care and having a little more direct impact. So that's when I transitioned back to health systems. I became a director of clinical services for Yale New Haven Health. My goal was to incorporate health IT, and I was very interested in population health. And Yale was definitely doing a lot of advancements with their electronic health records, so I was glad to be part of that.
Kimber:And the ASHP Practice Advancement Initiative really became my my focus of how could we accelerate our practice advancement in that health system. And so that's when I started being more involved with writing business plans, even more than I had in my prior roles and was able to justify 50 positions in a compiled business plan to expand in a variety areas from antimicrobial stewardship to medication histories and then an additional business plan to expand in our ambulatory services. So that really became really grounding for me, and and people were asking me to speak on that topic. Unfortunately, I was only back there a few years, good and bad. You know, I had to relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio, and it's been a great experience.
Kimber:I was able to take over as a chief pharmacy officer for St. Elizabeth Healthcare, a community health system, and that was great for me to be able to bring my prior experience and even then replicate some of those business plans to expand the services there. And I really enjoyed that, and we are actually enjoying Cincinnati and Ohio tremendously. Although it was a little strange to not be near family, but, we really are enjoying it. Both the health systems and the colleges in the area have been wonderful and welcoming.
Kimber:But during this whole time, when I guess I didn't mention is when I was transitioning from pharma, you know, I had all these interests in entrepreneurship as well. So I had kind of a folder of entrepreneurial ideas that I was kinda collecting over time. And so I had this little bit of a bug, that I would always be thinking about, but then I was exposed to this business model. At the time, people were calling it the experts business model. Sometimes people use the term influencer or thought leader model.
Kimber:It's really a model that I was exposed to, now almost 10 years ago when I created my business on the side. So around that same time I was transitioning from the pharma industry back to health systems, I formed my business, The Kimber Boothe Group, because I learned that this was an opportunity where you can monetize your knowledge and share what you are passionate about with others and monetize that through different ways of serving people, whether it is coaching, courses, classes, management consulting, clinical consulting, books, et cetera. So that's when I formed my business. And then jumping forward to after I was here in Ohio, in Northern Kentucky, my business was moving on the side while I was being a leader and enough things lined up there in 2019 right before the pandemic that I was able to make the plan to transition away from being an employee to being a full time entrepreneur. So as of January 2020, I have been a full time entrepreneur doing career coaching and the majority of my time is management consulting. And I'm sure we'll talk more about that.
Justin:Yeah. We absolutely will. Yeah. That's great. So for you, was there a defining moment or experience that really fueled your passion for creating The Kimber Boothe Group? Or was it kind of a slow realization that, you know what, this is something that I should I should try to do.
Kimber:Yeah. It's interesting that you asked that. When I try to think back to, you know, how did this happen? How how did I make that decision? Because, again, my goal earlier on was to be director of pharmacy, but I had these entrepreneurial interests.
Kimber:It really was when I took a course called the Experts Academy. And when I took that and I learned about that business model, it was kinda like a light bulb because it was like, wow. You know, compared to all these other business ideas that to me felt very heavy, you know, like, if you have to build a building or make physical product, it seems like a lot of work, and it definitely feels hard to do on the side. But this model, it definitely was kinda like a light bulb. I'm like, oh, yeah.
Kimber:Like, I could do this. And it could be, like, a longer term plan and definitely something that would work to do on the side, you know, as people call now a side hustle or you can do that on the side with some of these things because it's, again, for me, things that I'm already passionate about. So one of the exercises that they had us do in the Experts Academy was write down, like, what are the things that you naturally read about? What are the things you're passionate about? What do people already come to you and ask you about?
Kimber:And so I have that list. I still have that list from when I made it more than 10 years ago. That was such a good list for me to build the business off of to say, you know, these are the topics, and then you need to talk to people and make sure they really are interested in those kind of things. And so that's why I called it The Kimber Boothe Group and then built the products and services that I had, and I branded those with the names like the Farm ovation and Farmfluencers and Connector Leadership. There's different names that I've branded, but my business was my overall name, at the time.
Kimber:And so, yeah, it was a bit of a light bulb when I was exposed to this this model.
Justin:What I found with a lot of entrepreneurs that we've talked to is sometimes it's usually, there's a spark or an idea already there, but it's something else that makes it into a flame. And a lot of them just simply learning something new, like going to this academy and learning about a different business model. So it's always neat to hear those stories of how things actually go from idea to implementation. So I appreciate your title on that story.
Kimber:Well and I'll just add on to that. So when I when I first created it, like, my first product was was called connector core. And so this this term connector, people would say that to me. Oh, like, you're a connector. And and so, interestingly, that's why my logo has dots on it with with lines connecting it.
Kimber:And so that's where it came from. But, like, my first product was connector core, and Connector Leadership Circle is now what I call my group membership. But interestingly, a few years later, when I was at an another entrepreneur's conference called Metapreneurs and for for health care leaders and pharmacists, I did realize there that my passion was really pharmacy. So while I started the business was more general, my passion truly was pharmacy. So I did decide to niche down and that's when I created, really came up with the name Pharmovation for my first course and what is now my book and the name of my consulting arm because I realized when I started, it was it was more general.
Kimber:And so I did coach, like, just general people, but, really, the profession of pharmacy, but it's pharmacists, technicians, students, residents, that's that's what I wanna support in advance. So making that decision a few years later I mean, I think in it makes sense from a timeline, but it's interesting to me that I didn't actually consider that early on, but reached that a few years later.
Justin:Yeah. Well, of course, one of the things that we share is that passion for pharmacy services advancing, and, there's a lot of opportunity. There is no question about that. And you were essentially, I would see you as a thought leader in this area, especially related to health systems pharmacy, which is way more than hospital. Right?
Justin:It's ambulatory care. It's every aspect where a pharmacist may be involved in the medication use process. And, honestly, it's looking outside of the way pharmacists are involved now to say, where could we bring value? Lower cost, enhance the patient experience, take load off of the other providers that are really stretched. There's just so much opportunity.
Justin:So I think that's a great transition to asking a few questions about the challenges that we're facing today. So, what are some of those most pressing challenges that health systems pharmacies face today that you regularly talk to people about?
Kimber:Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, definitely so while we've been talking a lot about my entrepreneurship journey myself, my main the main people I support are what I call the intrepreneurs, those people working within health systems who are being entrepreneurial but within an organization, and so we call that intrepreneurship. And, you know, definitely the pharmacy enterprise as it's often called now for health systems has so many facets to it. You know, it's great experience for me, you know, being a health system chief pharmacy officer, you know, I have I do have community pharmacies.
Kimber:We have, you know, long term care. You know, we have skilled nursing facilities. We even had hospice, that was all under my responsibility in addition to your more traditional acute care and ambulatory clinics. So it there's definitely a lot of need there, but also a need, you know, to partner with other, you know, community pharmacies, other people within overall health care, in addition to your own health system. So that was, it's been a great experience in so many avenues there.
Kimber:Some of the biggest challenges that I see are opportunities. There's definitely, shortages of providers on on multiple fronts. So there's definitely technician shortages and challenges with recruiting, technicians and ensuring that that role is desirable for people both in terms of the responsibilities and pay and the levels of opportunities so that it can be a career and not just a job is a is a big need, but also supporting physician shortages and other provider shortages. And I see that as a huge opportunity. So while it's a challenge for the health system, patient access and accessing care is a big challenge, but I do see that pharmacy can be a big answer to that with allowing the providers to also practice at the top of their licenses as we say.
Kimber:And I know some people don't like that term, but, you know, they're diagnosing, they're seeing patients, and then they can refer to the pharmacist who can manage that disease state and adjust the medications to get the patients to goal, and that ultimately improves patient access to the overall care team. So those are, you know, 2 big areas. There's there's so many others for sure, but those are 2 big areas that I have been focused on a lot is is advancing technician roles, but also advocating for these resources to support our ambulatory clinics. Ongoing challenges with finances, especially as health systems have come out of the pandemic, some very impacted financially from the changes that happened during the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic, I think, was positive for what we've been able to see pharmacy pull together and do, but at the same time, there were financial challenges and it's it's seen an impact.
Kimber:And so the last thing I would say just in terms of the challenges is, you know, to address that financial impact, it is the opportunity just to continue to expand the pharmacy enterprise to ensure that that organization is providing the various resources, including home infusion, specialty pharmacy, the various levels of care that can be more integrated and collaborative is is, both a need and an opportunity at the same time.
Justin:Well, in true entrepreneurial style, you reminded me that I shouldn't call these challenges, but opportunities. Right? Because they really are. Right? Health care is not an unlimited resource.
Justin:It is resource constrained, and you've mentioned a lot of these. And yet, we can't stop with just acknowledging that there are issues. We need to look that we we need to have this mindset that behind every challenge we face is really an opportunity to think differently.
Kimber:Yeah.
Justin:And I love that that's your mindset.
Kimber:Yeah. And it's interesting. One thing I didn't talk about, which is also something I advocate for, is technology. So and I just, you know, I was at the ASHP's summer meeting where they had a whole focus on AI. And so I do think that that's, an an both a challenge and an opportunity at the same time.
Kimber:You know, we need to be advocating for getting the technology that's already out there and exists that can make us more effective, efficient, safer with our medication use process, but we also need to be innovative with testing out some of these newer technologies so that we can be part of designing, the AI and software that can be used to improve our practices.
Justin:Yeah. That that's great. I'm sure it was a wonderful conference. I wish I could have been there too. So one of the things I know that you help leaders do is implement effective strategic planning to address some of the limited resources, like technician shortages or drug shortages or other things.
Justin:So maybe tell me more about the importance of the strategic planning process in the work that you do. Sure.
Kimber:Yeah. So I love strategic planning as I have a diagram of kind of what I call the connector framework of, you know, getting from your, you know, what is your overall mission and vision all the way to execution. So we can't forget once you have your strategic plan, you need to execute. But I think, doing strategic planning is such an important step in process. And so I've tried to facilitate that within organizations to make sure it's a collaborative process where you're really doing what is called a sit full situational analysis of evaluating all of the sometimes those obstacles, barriers out there, kind of a SWOT analysis and using some other tools to say, you know, where are we?
Kimber:What are what's ahead of us? What's coming? I often use, the forecast that exists both from our pharmacy professional organizations like ASHP, has their forecast, but the American Hospital Association and others have forecast. So we're looking at what's the state of the current environment and what's what's coming so we can start preparing for that. And so doing that situational analysis and assessing and scoring yourself on these areas to see, is this a gap that we have?
Kimber:And then after you've identified those those gaps, thinking about, well, when are you gonna work on it? So doing the actual action plan of your strategic plan is, you know, planning over potentially multiple years. You know, you usually write a 1 year strategic plan, but you need to really think about what is coming. So what steps can you take this year that it might be a multiyear project to implement, but it's really the implementation will happen a few years from now. So doing that process involving your leadership team and your cross functional partners, so including IT and nursing and physicians in that pharmacy strategic plan, I think, is is vital, as well as pharmacy leaders being involved with the overall health systems strategic plan is is important.
Kimber:So when you you do that strategic plan, it just allows you to be strategic about how you're gonna spend your time and so you have those goals, to to target and then everybody in in the organization knows what you're you're focused on.
Justin:Yeah. In my experience, it it is a powerful tool to help drive you in the direction and actually realize those visions that maybe you spend time thinking about and even getting on paper, but otherwise never come to fruition. So it's a powerful tool. One of the things, probably 15 years ago, that I was introduced to was the idea of the Triple Aim, right, where we are aiming to have high quality health care at a low cost and enhancing the patient experience. Well, over the years, that's now expanded.
Justin:Now we talk about the quadruple and even quintuple aim where we add in, provider engagement or satisfaction, especially considering some of the burnout that's happening in different sectors of health care, including pharmacy. And then the 5th is health equity. Right? So, is this something that you talk about? And and how do you see pharmacy as a whole really helping our system to achieve this quintupolane?
Kimber:Yeah. It's it's it's critical. So just like you, I've been tracking that. And, when I give presentations to organizations about the opportunity, it's it's usually my first slide. I have a star with the 5, you know, it's changed from triple aim.
Kimber:You know, it used to be like a triangle, you know, so it's changed over time, but now it's a 5 point star. And I do think that pharmacy can be a huge part of the solutions of the challenges of the or goals, excuse me, of the quintuple Aim. So when you when you do think about, you know, care, we're definitely can be improving the quality. Plenty of research shows that. To tell you the truth, it frustrates me sometimes that we have to continue to, like, prove that we, provide quality, but that seems to exist.
Kimber:It's still an ongoing need, so we have to continue to study and document. We definitely can improve costs by you know, through, in a variety of settings by ensuring, you know, effective medication use, better adherence. We can, reduce costs in terms of making sure we're using the most cost effective therapies from a formulary perspective. Patient experience, absolutely, you know, being another, access point to them with their their care team, can be huge. And then with the newer ones, when we got to the quadruple aim of the provider experience, definitely, as we mentioned a little bit, the challenges of provider shortages and they are burnt out and don't have enough people to do the work, it is very helpful for them to have access to a a pharmacist at a higher level to support them under collaborative practice agreements, as well as the other, work that can be removed from them, whether it's even writing, you know, a prior authorization letter and, or medical necessity letter.
Kimber:Those are things that can improve their quality of life and improve provider engagement. There's a quote that I also share when I present on this from a physician where we had, implemented a pharmacist for them in their it was a digestive health clinic. And they said, you know, this was the best adding the pharmacist in a collaborative model was the best practice advancement in his 30 year career. So he didn't talk about the drugs, all these cool new drugs he gets to use. He said that the best practice advancement he had seen was including the pharmacist in the care model.
Kimber:And so I think about that in terms of that provider engagement. And then the last, you know, part of the quintuple aim of health equity, you know, this is, I think, still newer for us. We're still trying to navigate how we can best impact that. I think we can't do it, you know, solely ourselves in terms of the broader, health equity issues that when you think about population health and all of the social determinants of health. But I think we're making making inroads to that, and I do think that at least especially on medication access, having medication assistance programs and us connecting patients to that better.
Kimber:And then just I've seen, you know, plenty of pharmacists who through their interactions and asking questions, you know, can connect those patients to other other areas of access to improve their care.
Justin:You've mentioned a lot of different sectors, if you will, or areas in which pharmacists can be involved. But for those who are on the front lines, it probably still feels a little bit ethereal. Like, well, okay. Yeah. You're right. Pharmacists can do this, but how do we do it? Well, bring back a term that you've reminded us of of entrepreneurship. We've had Sue Paul on the podcast in the past. This is something that she is a big believer in and has talked about as well. So I'd love to know what would be your practical advice to pharmacists on how they could become effective intrepreneurs in the jobs, in the health systems that they're working in right now.
Kimber:Sure. And so I think, as I mentioned, an example for me of when I wrote my first business plan when I was, you know, just a newbie, you know, clinical pharmacist, you know, you can take that accountability, on yourself and and support your your leaders with some of those those ideas. So helping, to do some of that brainstorming around your planning, helping to facilitate opportunities, maybe proposing there be, like, times for open discussion to brainstorm on ideas. So when you think about what is entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship, you know, it's a lot about generating those innovative ideas. So the innovation part of it, I think, is one of the first first things that you can do, to help bring that.
Kimber:So whether it's just you bringing those ideas forward and not being quiet about it, but also maybe facilitating opportunities where you can actually have brainstorming sessions with others is one initial way. And then when it does come to the more like the example I was saying about, like, justifying those resources, be part of that solution to help to create that document, usually a business plan, even if it's just a one page executive summary that can be critical to getting something approved. Unfortunately, when I've heard of people who've been frustrated that they can't get resources approved, and then I say, well, you know, show me your your business plan. And then they they'll tell me, well, I I didn't write a business plan or I didn't have one. And it's like, well, that just makes it really hard then for your leader to get that approved because, ultimately, somebody needs to read something in most cases.
Kimber:I have definitely talked with some health systems who have, you know, pretty easier approval process, but most of the time, you do need to document, you know, what what is it that you're, what are the benefits of what you're proposing. Ideally, there would be a return on investment that you can calculate, but it doesn't always have to be that way. You just have to show what impact is it gonna have on the goals of the hospital. So if you can, help them to achieve their goals even if you can't measure the financial impact, summarizing that will definitely increase your chances of getting that approved. And who knows, that could be your future job that you're creating. You could be creating a job description and a business plan that's creating a new role within your organization.
Justin:Yeah. And in my experience, Kimber, there's there are a few things that are more satisfying, right, than seeing a need and then creating an opportunity for someone else to step in that persists even longer than your involvement maybe with an organization. The that's just a really satisfying thing that, you know, extends your impact on patient care beyond just the care that you might provide to those individual patients. So I agree fully.
Kimber:Well and thank you for saying that. One of my favorite quotes that I act I probably have on one of my websites that one of my prior team members, she now actually has my old position. She's, like, now well, even higher than me. She's a assistant director. But she had said a quote, and I I won't remember exactly, but she said that I've kinda created a ripple effect. So by the work that I did to justify the positions, it was like a stone in water that created an ongoing ripple effect that's continued to move. And and so I what you were saying kinda reminds me of how she phrased that. And, yes, it definitely feels wonderful for me. Obviously, you know, I wanna have this impact, and I would say that that was going back kinda to my decision making process of when I when I did decide to transition.
Kimber:I enjoyed being in an individual health system leadership, but I did wanna be able to have more impact and there's just was a lot more need out there. And so while I was a full time employee, I couldn't I didn't have time to help other other organizations and so I wanted to be able to help other organizations to justify these roles in technology so that they could advance practice. And so that's why, I really made the decision when I did compared to when I was originally planning, to transition was more like 5 years, but there was a bigger opportunity and a need. I will say that, you know, I am concerned, you know, this is not just a health system concern, but, you know, our challenging enrollment in pharmacy schools and and wanted to show that there really is a need out there and we can be part of the solution for the quintuple aim. So I kinda wanted to take that opportunity to prove to people that we do need pharmacy team members, especially pharmacists to be leading these, as we look at all of the additional upcoming needs of our aging population.
Justin:Yep. Absolutely. I wanna shift gears. As I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, you're an author as well. And so your book Pharmovation is one that focuses on advocating for resources, accelerating pharmacy careers, and a number of other things. What are some of those key takeaways that you wanted your readers to have from that book?
Kimber:Yeah. So the one of the first parts of the book is really the bigger picture, more of that strategic planning and knowing that there is a need and opportunity, for pharmacy. So making sure that we feel that, that there is this need and opportunity and then also empowering them. We can sometimes sit back and accept what's happening to us, but we as aspiring or current leaders can really be accountable for the entire medication use process and advocate with bold strategy to advance the profession. So that's kind of where it it starts from in terms of the mindset of what I wanted to get across and then talking about what are those opportunities in terms of the pharmacy, you know, enterprise.
Kimber:How do you do a business plan? So making sure, you know, they do understand the the steps and and why having a business plan is important and at least teaching what that executive summary and component should include. There is then examples, both for clinical services and technology to take it a step further than of examples. Like, these are areas when we think about the overall opportunity in the pharmacy enterprise that we can be looking at, again, from a situational analysis. Do we have these things?
Kimber:Can we be advocating, for them within our organization? And then the last part of the book in terms of a takeaway and, you know, I got feedback from folks about whether I should include this or not, but there is, like, some some chapters more on professional development. So it's it's then helping people to realize how they can be developing themselves and develop others with, again, all of that other information, but making sure that they're helping to advance their career. So I think about it in terms of that the bigger aspect of the advocating for resources, but also, advancing your your career.
Justin:It sounds like a lot of the focus of the book is really helping people to embrace that right mindset, and you even use the word, and I love that. I think we we need more of that. We need it in our pharmacy schools too. Right?
Kimber:Yes.
Justin:Teaching that mindset of looking for opportunities and then knowing how to achieve those. So kudos to you for writing the book. I think it's an excellent resource for pharmacists for sure. Wanna transition as we land the plane here in the next few minutes to some practical advice that you might have for different people. So my first question related to that is what strategies do you recommend for pharmacists that might be looking to be entrepreneurial and monetize their knowledge, skills, and expertise?
Kimber:Yeah. So definitely, you know, on the entrepreneur side of things, I just definitely encourage you to if you have that bug like I had, you know, to pursue it and to network and talk to other entrepreneurs who are doing that. The other book that I have is Pharmfluencers, which is the inspiring stories of pharmacy entrepreneurs. And that is a book there's definitely lots of pharmacist entrepreneurs out there, but I specifically wrote that book and interviewed these pharmacists because they are pharmacists who are supporting pharmacists, and they are monetizing their knowledge. Now a few of them do have some physical products or technology products.
Kimber:I know you've had Derek Borkowski on this on this podcast, and so he's in the book. I just think that would be a great place to start too to learn about how pharmacists are monetizing their knowledge in different ways. Again, from books to speaking, to events, to to things like that, to to be inspired and not let some of those external critics, you know, hold you back. So definitely pursue it if you have an interest. I would not say it's it's not for everybody.
Kimber:There's definitely people I've talked to or coached who, turns out that they really didn't wanna be an entrepreneur. They actually just wanted an opportunity for more entrepreneurship and career growth within their organizations. And so they didn't necessarily want some of the aspects that come with being an entrepreneur. And so it's not for everybody, but explore it, learn about it. It is it's definitely something you could potentially do on the side and can be part of a longer term career plan to support you in into the future.
Justin:Oh, that's great advice. And and also you've brought up the idea of mindset. So how can pharmacists embrace a more innovative mindset? What are some of those things that we should be doing every day to think beyond just the mundane everyday that we might experience?
Kimber:Yes. I, so, part of it is still that kinda situational analysis, so making sure you're you're thinking and learning from from other people. So in reading in other journals, not just pharmacy journals, exposing yourself to other, publications, news that is out there that we can be thinking about. You know, even honestly, like, learning from, like, Disney and other other areas. So so broadening what you're you're learning about is one thing, and then definitely looking for those problems.
Kimber:I actually enjoyed one of your podcasts with Jim O'Donnell where he talks about design thinking and some strategies that he uses with when he sees a problem, like quickly brainstorming, some ideas about it. So I love that, you know, because I have, like, a a part of my planner, which is kinda future, which is where I will jot down those kind of ideas. So when I see, like, a pain point and we may not be able to address it right then and there, but there is there is a pain point there. It's an opportunity and so you can brainstorm on it or bring it to your strategic planning brainstorming sessions that I suggested that you have, to to address that. So another opportunity that people can expose themselves to is like a hackathon, type of experience.
Kimber:And what I like about those is people come together with ideas and you have people from diverse backgrounds to brainstorm on an area of opportunity or need and bring those ideas potentially, you know, to, like, a a venture capital type group of you know, within the hackathon, there's usually a panel that you would be presenting your ideas to. And I've participated in those in person as well as online, and those can bring ideas or, again, different ways of thinking because, again, you're exposed to people who are not just the pharmacist and pharmacy team members, but you're being exposed to other professionals or and even private people who can help you brainstorm.
Justin:Well, I'm a big hackathon fan myself and have participated in some. We've sent students to some and other places. It's just great to get differing perspectives even on the same idea and sometimes it just opens up a world of possibilities. So I mean, I would advocate for being involved with the healthcare hackathon as well if you ever get the opportunity. I guess the last question here is simply, I'd love to let listeners know where they can go to find out more information about the different work that you do with The Kimber Boothe Group and your books and other things. So where can they go to find out more information and get in touch with you?
Kimber:Sure. Yeah. So the main thing would be go to my website. It is my my name right now, kimberboothe.com. On there, you can, you know, click a link to get my contact information.
Kimber:I also have a link on there if you go to kimberboothe.com/tenways or just scroll to the bottom where I have some of these tips that I've compiled, it's a quick read around the things that I say about, you know, advocating for resources, our profession, and to advancing your career. You can go to kimberboothe.com/books where you can get, samples of my books, or to order them. And if you love LinkedIn like I do, please also reach out to me on LinkedIn, which is, linkedin.com/in/kimberboothe.
Justin:Great. Well, Kimber, it's been absolute pleasure to have you here and to learn about what you do. I'm even more excited about some ideas I have to say, how can we advocate for where pharmacists can advance health? Right? And so let's keep on doing that hard work and thinking with an innovative mindset and pushing forward. So again, thanks for joining us on the podcast today.
Kimber:Thank you. It's my pleasure to be here. And I wanna thank you and applaud you for this innovation center that you have and this podcast because it's definitely been a part of my development and a motivator for me. So thank you so much.
Justin:Absolutely. We'll keep it going.
Narrator:You have been listening to DISRxUPT, a podcast from the Cedarville University Center For Pharmacy Innovation. If you enjoyed listening today, please subscribe and share this podcast with others. Thanks for listening.