Unit III: The World of Work

Lesson 2: “Relevant aspects of my major”

I. Starting Up:
1. Look at the picture carefully. Write a short paragraph
explaining what you see.

What I see in the images above are different tasks performed by a pharmacist such as
customer service, work in laboratories, and drug control.

2. Find the six words that come to your mind from the picture.
1. pharmacy. 2. Medicines. 3. laboratory
4. Health. 5. Health. 6. Attention.

3. Can you describe, in two words, what is the message suggested by the
picture?

a- Worked

b- Pharmacist

II. Reading Section

A. Before reading
1. Look at the following picture and give your opinion about it.
What does this picture suggest to you?
 talk about not giving up and in the future seeing yourself reaping the fruits of our
efforts.

2. Write as many words as you can that are related to the question below.
design and use of information
systems
medicine managers

health care

How do
drug distribution control
pharmacists
contribute
to society? inspection and
purchase
evaluation of
laboratories

advice availability

health care medication accessibility

B. While Reading

1. Read the text to do the following exercises.

a. Circle “signal words” that express contrast.
b. Underline “signal words” that show differences.

How do pharmacists contribute to society?

You will find pharmacists in various areas such as pharmaceutical companies, contract
research organizations, government, insurance, universities, and professional
associations. When it comes to direct patient care and impact, you may be most
familiar with the pharmacist in your community pharmacy or hospital who
administered a flu shot, or provided counseling on your prescription.

So why does society find us useful? There are several reasons.

First, pharmacists are legally responsible to perform certain duties. For example, only
a pharmacist is allowed to perform the “practice of pharmacy”. So, pharmacists may
have roles that no other professional can legally do. Because pharmacists have the
unique credentials for certain jobs.

Another profession that specializes in patient care with medications by blending a

variety of sciences such as pharmacology (how drugs act in the body) with the most
apparently similar roles are nurses and physicians, who are certainly also important.
But they do not receive the same specialization in drug therapy that pharmacists do.
If you compare nursing, pharmacy, and physician curricula, you can see what I mean.
There are many thousands of aspects of medications pharmacists learn about,
including drug interactions, how drugs work, chemical structure, the diseases treated,
and side effects. I still have hundreds of lecture pages and index cards from college
with this kind of information.

Utilizing raw sciences, pharmacists also learn how to treat patients, such as
determining the appropriate pharmacotherapy specific to the patient, counseling,
communicating drug information, and evaluating literature. In addition, our training
goes beyond the classroom to sites like pharmacies and hospitals where we practice
what we learn.

On the other hand, there are certainly professionals who may focus more in scientific
areas like pharmacology such as pharmacologists. However, they are not as exposed
to translating the science into the clinical aspects of treating patients.

After completing a pharmacy program, graduates must also pass exams to obtain
licenses to practice. These are some reasons you probably want a pharmacist behind
the counter dispensing your medications.

Thus, pharmacists have a unique skill set and training that spans science and
medicine. From administering vaccines, reviewing patient profiles, ensuring proper
therapy, to counseling, running and assessing clinical trials, evaluating safety and
efficacy of products, developing business, providing drug information, or acting as a
liaison between the Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry,
pharmacists are playing diverse roles in society.

2. Create a diagram using the most important information from the text. Pay
special attention to the reasons society find pharmacists useful. Be creative in
this activity.

pharmacists are legally responsible to

perform certain duties. For example,
only a pharmacist is allowed to perform
the “practice of pharmacy”. So,
pharmacists may have roles that no
other professional can legally do.
Because pharmacists have the unique
credentials for certain jobs.

reasons society find pharmacists have a unique skill set and

pharmacists useful training that spans science and medicine.
From administering vaccines, reviewing
patient profiles, ensuring proper therapy, to
counseling, running and assessing clinical
trials, evaluating safety and efficacy of
products, developing business, providing
drug information, or acting as a liaison
between the Food and Drug Administration
and the pharmaceutical industry,
pharmacists are playing diverse roles in
society.
C. Post reading.
1. Read the text again. Underline ideas in complete sentences where you find
contrast and circle the ones that show comparison.

III. Grammar focus:

Signal words/phrases for Contrast:
These words are used when we want to talk about similarities and differences. We can
use adjectives in their comparative forms. Some signal words and phrases of
comparison and contrast:

Comparison
Like, similarly, as well as, also,
same as, alike, too, in the same
way, likewise.
Contrast
however, but, on the other hand, although,
though, while, whereas, in contrast, than,
meanwhile, conversely, yet, unlike, instead,
rather, on the contrary, otherwise, after all,
nevertheless.

To express difference is common to apply: different from, not the same as…
--adapted from Mikulecky, A Short Course in Teaching Reading
,p.175.
*Note: see the list in the supplemental material at the end of this unit for more signal words for
contrast.

IV. Writing Session

According to the reading try to create complete contradictory sentences.
Example: Pharmacy is a great major, however most students want to study medicine.
Drug stores are in the community, but they don´t contribute to it.

Contradictory sentences
1- pharmacy or hospital pharmacist but not only framcai and hospital pharmacist
2- legally responsible but more responsible than others
3- they can learn to treat patients but they do not receive the same specialization
4- pharmacists are performing great roles in society but are not exposed to focus on this
5- pharmacists compare medical and nursing studies but they do not compare these
studies

Homework
1- Write sentences comparing your major with others. (use signal words)
Example: - Social Work has the similar vision as Social communication
- Social Science studies geography, history, etc. meanwhile Natural Science
studies plants, and animals

• pharmacists are as smart as doctors

• Medications are getting better than before
• pharmacies are more important than bars