First generation VA pharmacist devoted to serving Veterans

Dalena Nguyen, a VA pharmacist, is a first generation American, born to parents who fled Vietnam in the 1980s to escape communism. She lost her 49-year-old father who suffered from hyperthyroidism and hypertension just two months before she started college. His death, due in large part to not taking his medications, prompted her to go to pharmacy school.

When her parents arrived in the U.S., they built a dry cleaning business. Their work ethic, a trait Nguyen saw even more clearly in her mother after her father passed away, was instilled in her and her four siblings.

“It really made me pursue a career in pharmacy because of the importance of adherence and medication education, especially with someone from Vietnam who has a health literacy barrier as well as a language barrier,” Nguyen said, speaking of her father’s passing.

Nguyen attended the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, which brought her to VA for clinical rotations. She quickly found a connection with her Veteran patients, many of whom, like her father, struggled with substance use disorder and came from varied cultural backgrounds.

“Pharmacy residency flipped my world upside down.”

“Having that one-on-one experience with Veterans was life-changing. I wasn’t planning to do a pharmacy residency until I did my VA rotation during pharmacy school. That totally flipped my world upside down. I saw the prominent role pharmacists have in VA and applied only to VA programs for residency,” she added.

She completed her residency at Orlando VA, learning to work at the top of her license as part of an interprofessional health care team.

“The scope of practice for pharmacists at VA is very unique. We can change medications right on the spot. We’re able to put in orders, order labs and then follow up with the patient routinely depending on what we need to be monitoring,” she said.

That level of involvement in direct patient care and vast opportunities to educate patients on their medications led Nguyen to her new career as a Primary Care staff pharmacist at Orlando VA.

Talk about medications in a way patients understand

“It’s really important that patients understand what their medication is for, how to use it, when to take it… that you talk about those things and especially in a way that patients can understand at their education level,” said Nguyen, whose father did not finish high school, a factor in his medication non-compliance.

She credits her year-long VA pharmacy residency with preparing her to work with the clinically complex Veteran population. Nguyen says the variety of clinical experiences built both her confidence and her skills as a pharmacist.

It also causes her to reflect on the sacrifices people make.

“Being here means a lot to me. My parents worked very hard to provide for me and my family, especially my mom. Seeing her strength and her perseverance really has built my character,” she said, adding that seeing some of the same issues her dad struggled with in her Veteran patients defined her commitment to care for them.

Learn more

VA conducts its training programs for more than 118,000 Health Professions Trainees annually in affiliation with over 1,400 educational institutions across the country, including 97% of the United States’ medical colleges. These academic affiliations, some of which began over 75 years ago, are coordinated by VA’s Office of Academic Affiliations. Find out more about VA’s academic mission by watching this video.