Introduction
With a B.A. in psychology and a decade of experience in organizational and human resource management, Dr. Schnelle, PharmD, MPH, DPLA, always had an interest in the medical side of psychology. It wasn’t until she worked alongside pharmacists on her team that she considered a career in pharmacy. Their encouragement led her to explore the field more seriously—and they were right. In pharmacy, she found the meaningful, patient-focused work she was seeking. Today, she makes high-impact decisions that benefit both patients and the broader community, and she thrives as part of a motivated team dedicated to improving lives.
Why Pharmacy
My B.A. was in psychology and I ended up working for a decade in organizational management in the area of human resource management. I had always wanted to pursue the medicinal side of psychology but at the time I had pharmacists that worked on my team. The pharmacists convinced me that I could find everything I was looking for in a pharmacy career. They were right! Every day I get to make high impact decisions that positively impact my patients and community. I love working with a highly motivated team that truly wants to make patients lives better.
Career Journey
When I was in pharmacy school I worked for a local hospital in a rigorous clinical intern program. They provided me with amazing training. When I graduated I went directly into hospital pharmacy working in critical care, internal medicine, labor and delivery, emergency medicine and infusion services at a county hospital.
From there I was recruited to work for the State of Kansas as Lead Clinical Pharmacist and Clinical Coordinator at the psychiatric acute care facility.
Gaining valuable operational knowledge a year later I accepted my current position as Director of Pharmacy at Cass Regional Medical Center as a member of the Cardinal Health Innovative Delivery Solutions Team.
I continue to work at the University of Kansas Health-System part-time and also am employed as a private contractor for public education grants related to substance use disorder and mental health in collaboration with the Kansas Pharmacist Association.
Current Role and Responsibilities
My day is fast and furious. As a manager I spend the majority of my time in the role of “fixer” and “visionary”. My work hours are fluid and I’m able to have a large amount of autonomy. I spend my days working on projects, assisting the pharmacy team and running the business of the pharmacy. I work with a lot of technology and brought a strong informatics background from my previous career.
Challenges
I wear many hats that in a larger institution would be shouldered by a full team. It can be hard to be the director, people manager, clinical manager, operations manager and informatics specialist all at the same time. This requires me to be very intentional with my time and set boundaries and goals that keep me from being overwhelmed.
Rewards
Building a positive team focused on patient outcomes. Removing traditional barriers and challenges in our profession in order to deliver excellent patient care in a rural environment.
I am a HUGE supporter of pharmacists working at the top of their license. Although I work at a rural hospital where decentralization of services is not the norm I knew that we could only shine if we got outside of the pharmacy. I remember telling my CEO that I wanted to put a pharmacist in the ED and he said, “No critical access hospital does that Tessa”. My response, "Well, I guess we’ll be the first”. Nine months ago we decentralized our pharmacists into ED, Infusion, Med/Surg and ICU and, as a result, our medication-related events went down 30% and our physician satisfaction with pharmacy services increased by 33%. The leadership in our hospital has supported us and continues to support the expansion of pharmacy services. We have a team that is committed to providing excellent patient care for rural patients and I get the opportunity to play a small role in impacting the health of my community while transforming pharmacy services.
Work/Life Balance
I believe in integration not balance. I know that sometimes my job will require a lot of me, but other times not as much and take advantage of those time when I can. I have had to be very careful about what opportunities I say yes to. If something doesn’t align into my areas of greatest interest or where I can truly enjoy volunteering my time I respectfully decline and provide a member of my network that would be a great fit.
Advice for Students and Aspiring Professionals
Pursue every opportunity to gain a large variety of experience. When I was on APPE rotations I was asked if I wanted to go for a week to BD Alaris nurse training on the hospitals new IV pumps. I said sure, but inside thought I am never going to use any of this. Fast-forward 3 years later in my DOP interview my shock when they asked about my BD Alaris experience with upgrades. Turns out my very first project was setting up a server and pumps for the hospital. Moral of the story you never know when those past experiences you never saw yourself using in the future actually do and if you took advantage and soak it all up you can confidently complete a variety of skills and tasks as a result.