Using Clinical Pharmacy to Help Patients

Krystal Edwards, Pharm.D., TTUHSC 50th Anniversary Profile School of Pharmacy

• By Mark Hendricks
• June 4, 2019

Smith’s Creek, Michigan resembles many small rural communities scattered across America. Located about 10 minutes down a dirt road outside Port Huron, the small enclave is best known to locals as the place where Thomas Edison was once tossed off a train for conducting ‘dangerous’ experiments. It’s the spot on the map where Krystal Edwards, Pharm.D., grew up, and though she never considered following in Edison’s footsteps, she did seem destined for a career related to pharmacy thanks to her parents’ influence.

“My mother worked as a pharmacy technician and my father was a drug store manager since about the age of 20,” Edwards recalls. “My brother and I spent a lot of time at my father’s work when we were growing up. Due to his long hours, it was how we were able to spend time with him. We would help stock shelves and such in the retail part of the store.”

Edwards, who is associate dean for career development for the TTUHSC Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy and a professor for the Department Pharmacy Practice on TTUHSC’s Dallas/Fort Worth campus, moved with her family to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during her sophomore year in high school. She says she spent many nights hanging out with a couple of pharmacists at the local CVS where her father was the store manager.

“The younger pharmacist became a friend and mentor to me, and I would go through the pharmacy and ask him what each medication was for and what side effects it could cause,” Edwards explains. “I would also listen to him counsel the patients and observe him filling prescriptions. It was a super fun time for me and I was greatly intrigued.”

After high school, Edwards attended the College of Charleston, but pharmacy school was still on her mind. When her application to the Medical University of South Carolina School of Pharmacy was accepted, she immediately enrolled and continued to work at CVS. Her intent was to earn a B.S. and then pursue a career in community pharmacy. However, pharmacy schools were in a period of transition that would see the B.S. degree replaced by a doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program. Edwards saw the proverbial handwriting on the wall and started working toward her post-B.S. Pharm.D.

Edwards’ education soon exposed her to clinical pharmacy through rotations in cardiology and drug information. Both of these experiences allowed her to interact with pharmacy residents and sparked her interest in pursuing clinical pharmacy as a career.

“I knew clinical pharmacy was where I wanted to go for my future,” Edwards insists. “I really enjoyed interacting in interdisciplinary collaborative practice settings and talking with patients, whether it be for medication histories, getting more information from them to be able to evaluate drug therapy or especially for counseling on medications.”

Following pharmacy school, Edwards completed residencies in pharmacy practice and primary care. She continued to work at CVS on weekends to hone her skills and to pay her bills. At the end of her residency training, Edwards’ husband, Joe, suggested they look for work in Texas. Joe was born in Austin and ended up in Fort Worth after high school where he worked until joining the Army.

Because Joe really liked Texas and the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Edwards agreed to look for work there. During her job search, Edwards ran across a faculty opening at the TTUHSC School of Pharmacy campus in Dallas. It seemed perfect because the position included the opportunity for Edwards to start a clinical practice at JPS Health Network.

“Kathy Snella and Cindy Raehl scared me during my interview, but I also knew they were huge names in pharmacy and could help launch my career,” Edwards says. “I liked the faculty I met on the Dallas campus and I loved the JPS clinic opportunity, so when I was offered the job, I accepted and have been here ever since.”

Today, Edwards has no regrets about that decision. She enjoys getting to know her patients and being a small part of their lives. Many of them call her by her first name and contact her between appointments for advice or with general questions about their health care. 

“They’ve come to trust me and value my opinion,” Edwards says. “My patients help me grow and often challenge me clinically to come up with individualized plans for them.”

As much as she enjoys working with patients, Edwards’ favorite part of her job might be teaching pharmacy students how to do so. As she guides them through rotations in her clinic, Edwards is most gratified when a student starts working one-on-one with a patient.

“It’s when a student offers to counsel or call and follow up with the patients that I see that they are invested in those patients’ lives and understand the importance of what they’ve been taught,” Edwards says.

Edwards also revels in the administrative tasks that go with her position as assistant dean for career development because she can teach students about things like developing effective CVs and honing their interview skills. Prior to taking on the added administrative duties, Edwards had already initiated the school’s Mock Residency Interviews program for fourth-year students and many of the career development sessions the school includes in its annual Career Fair. Now she works to expand those efforts and helps mentor other faculty members and residents to teach TTUHSC pharmacy students these skills. It’s all in a day’s work for Edwards, who took a chance on Texas and TTUHSC.

“I never expected to be at TTUHSC for more than a year or two just to get started in my clinical career, but here I am almost 17 years later and I wouldn’t be anywhere else!”