Scaffolding: Why Pharmacists are like Teachers

The branch of a tree does not simply appear from thin air. It builds from a bud.

Great teachers make branches from buds. They are capable of dissecting what students already know in order to build new knowledge from a foundation of existing knowledge. They ask the right questions that promote the right discussion. Gauging the foundation, they provide the environment for upwards growth at the right pace and progression. In other words, they provide scaffolding to new knowledge and set up a future generation to take over where someone else left off.

Not fully ready for expanded scope of prescribing? What scaffolding are you building to get there?

Not ready for your most experienced pharmacy assistant to take holidays while the others take over?

What scaffolding are you building to get there?

Thinking about selling your pharmacy in the next two years?

What scaffolding are you building to optimize the one chance you get?

The skill of scaffolding requires a personal in-depth mastery of the material, as well as the ability to manipulate and communicate it. As pharmacists do in patient counselling, teachers use the feedback provided by student responses to assess what the learners know and what they do not. Intuitively, the evolution of our species depends on enough teachers having this skill, just as your pharmacy team requires that you have it. If knowledge of the early telephone is not passed on through generations, we do not have mobile technology today. The world’s greatest leaps take time and are measured in steps built from scaffolds. Pharmacy leaders must either be great teachers, or surround themselves by great ones. If not, the overall strategy dies with a leader, and you know what happens next.

Who and what are you teaching in your pharmacy? What scaffolding are you building?