A Pharmacist Being a pharmacist is a lot harder than you probably thought. Pharmacists in a hospital have many, many responsibilities. They must be very careful to measure the drug correctly, because a small error can be potentially fatal. Pharmacists need to know what many medications do and whether there are side effects and incompatibilities with other medications the patient may be taking. For example, a person may be taking a medication for another problem, and if the doctor and pharmacist fail to notice that condition, the prescribed medication could cause a deadly interaction. This doesn't happen with all medications, but it happens with some, and you definitely don't want a result like that. The pharmacist must also make sure that the patient does not have allergies to that type of drug. Pharmacists should also know generic brands of medications that could save the patient money. They need to know any differences between the brand name and the generic name, such as drug interactions, side effects, and how it should be taken. Some pharmacist responsibilities include preparing intravenous solutions and operating the TPN, which draws intravenous solutions and adds vitamins such as amino acids. They also fill storage containers in the emergency room, where doctors can get them if a patient needs them immediately. Charles Rudolph Walgreen Sr. is the founder of Walgreens. When he was twenty, he borrowed twenty dollars and moved from Dixon, Illinois, to Chicago. During pharmacy school, he worked for pharmacies during the day and went to school at night. When the United States went to war with Spain in 1898, Walgreen was drafted as a private. There were many diseases in Cuba and Walgreen got sick. The doctor was so sure that Walgreen would die, that he put Walgreen's name on the casualty list and the newspapers reported his death! When Walgreen returned from the war, he worked as a pharmacist for a man named Isaac W. . Blood. He later purchased Blood's pharmacy. Customer service was very important to Walgreen. He often answered the phone himself, then told the deliveryman what the prescription was and where to deliver it. He would converse with the customer, so that the prescription usually arrived before the customer had hung up the phone. In 1909 he purchased one of Chicago's busiest pharmacies with a partner,