The Side Effects Blog

Pharmacy Superpowers Nobody Talks About - Adverse Reactions
Pharmacy Superpowers Nobody Talks About
The hidden abilities you develop when your job requires both clinical precision and the emotional resilience of a hostage negotiator. Read more...
From Mortar & Pestle to the White House: Hubert Humphrey, America’s Most Political Pharmacist” - Adverse Reactions
From Mortar & Pestle to the White House: Hubert Humphrey, America’s Most Political Pharmacist”
Hubert Humphrey, Vice President of the United States, was a licensed pharmacist. How this forgotten credential shaped his approach to politics, healthcare policy, and leadership—and what it reveals about pharmacy's... Read more...
The Apothecary Era: When Pharmacists Were Basically Wizards with Mortars - Adverse Reactions
The Apothecary Era: When Pharmacists Were Basically Wizards with Mortars
Before "pharmacy" was a regulated profession with licensure and insurance denial forms, there were apothecaries. They were clinicians, scholars, and experts who understood medicine in a way that modern pharmacy... Read more...
Agatha Christie: Queen of Murder Mysteries… and a Former Pharmacy Worker - Adverse Reactions
Agatha Christie: Queen of Murder Mysteries… and a Former Pharmacy Worker
Agatha Christie: Queen of Murder Mysteries… and a Former Pharmacy Worker The Woman Who Knew How to Poison People (Professionally) Before Agatha Christie became the best-selling novelist of all time,... Read more...
Top 5 Things That Should Be Illegal (But Aren't) in Pharmacy - Adverse Reactions
Top 5 Things That Should Be Illegal (But Aren't) in Pharmacy
And Yet Here We Are Pharmacy is a highly regulated profession. We have federal laws, state laws, board rules, DEA numbers, audit trails, and approximately 47 forms for everything. But... Read more...
Ranked: Every APPE Rotation from Best to Absolute Rock Bottom - Adverse Reactions
Ranked: Every APPE Rotation from Best to Absolute Rock Bottom
A completely unscientific, deeply accurate ranking of every APPE rotation — from the one that changed your life to the one that involved a hallway and a project with no... Read more...
Happy Birthday to the Man Who Built Your Entire Profession - Adverse Reactions
Happy Birthday to the Man Who Built Your Entire Profession
Today, May 3rd, is the birthday of William Procter Jr. You probably weren’t taught to celebrate it. That’s exactly the problem. Read more...
10 Things Your Pharmacist Knows About You (That You Never Told Them) - Adverse Reactions
10 Things Your Pharmacist Knows About You (That You Never Told Them)
You walked in for a prescription. You left having been professionally evaluated. You just didn't know it. Read more...
How Coca-Cola Was Invented by a Pharmacist (And Why It Definitely Wouldn’t Get Past the FDA Today) - Adverse Reactions
How Coca-Cola Was Invented by a Pharmacist (And Why It Definitely Wouldn’t Get Past the FDA Today)
A pharmacist invented Coca-Cola in 1886. It contained cocaine, was marketed as a cure for morphine addiction, and had zero clinical trials. The FDA would like a word. Read more...
From NAPLEX to Your First Day: The Untold Story - Adverse Reactions
From NAPLEX to Your First Day: The Untold Story
Congratulations. You passed. Now brace yourself. You studied drug interactions at 2am. You survived rotations. You sat in a windowless testing center, filled in bubbles with your entire career on... Read more...
What Pharmacy Technicians Actually Do (Beyond Counting Pills) - Adverse Reactions
What Pharmacy Technicians Actually Do (Beyond Counting Pills)
Pharmacy technicians are far more than pill counters. They catch errors, manage complex inventory, navigate insurance systems, and provide essential patient care. Here's what they actually do—and why they're the... Read more...
Things Your Pharmacy Professor Said That Still Haunt You - Adverse Reactions
Things Your Pharmacy Professor Said That Still Haunt You
Some pharmacy professor quotes are motivational. Some are existential warnings. All of them are still ringing in your ears. Here's a rundown of the phrases that shaped how you practice—and... Read more...