PharmD

Is being a pharmacist something you have always wanted to be? Do you know what they actually do? Are you willing to take years of pharmaceutical and chemistry related courses to achieve your goal? These are some questions you may want to ask yourself and find the answers to. You do not want to jump head first into the world of pharmacy without knowing what is ahead and waiting for you. Doing your homework now will save you plenty of time, frustration, and money later on if you decide this path is not for you. Some questions you need to ask yourself and ponder upon are listed below.

I only have to count pills and take home a nice paycheck, right?
No, counting pills isn’t all that a retail, community, outpatient pharmacist does. In fact, many pharmacies employ technicians to do the counting and order entry while the pharmacists review the prepared medications and perform the final check. Unless the pharmacy does not have specially trained staff, pharmacists may be involved in the order entry of prescriptions, resolving insurance claims with insurance companies, record keeping management, controlled substance and non-controlled substance inventory management, account management, compounding medications, prescription record management, training and managing staff, etc. Pharmacists also provide patient counseling on medications by informing customers of side effects, drug interactions, proper dosage and administration, monitoring, and what to do if there was a missed dose or an overdosage. Counseling sessions, medication therapy management (MTM), vaccine administrations (eg flu vaccine), and community events are also important community programs the pharmacist may be involved in. Pharmacists in the community setting are on the front lines of patient support as they are readily accessible and will need to keep up with the latest information about new drugs or new drug updates. Needless to say, pharmacists could receive a lot of blame and criticism from others for areas that are not under their control such as patient insurance coverage denials, slow service, medication refill problems, etc. Pharmacists thus will need to be able to communicate well with the public and remain calm while under duress from demanding customers and a line that doesn’t seem to get shorter. If you don’t like dealing with disgruntled customers and receiving the brunt of blame in which you had no part in, you may want to rethink this career. Having patience as a pharmacist is an essentail key to having a long successful career as a pharmacist.

Pharmacy school is not like medical school…so it should be a breeze?
While it is well known that medical schools could be more rigorous than many other graduate professions, comparing pharmacy schools to medical schools or dental schools is like comparing apples and oranges. They are similar yes, but in the fact that they deal with medications and are a health specialty, but they are very diverse curriculums. Pharmacy schools are for those who enjoy pharmaceuticals, chemistry, and pharmacology. Nearly four years is devoted to all things pharmaceutical such as medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, pharmocokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacology, biostatistics, pharmacy calculations, pharmacotherapy, etc. Therefore, if chemistry isn’t for you, then this may not be the best career choice. Medical school trains students to properly diagnose and treat patients, and so a thorough study of the human body, diseases and medical conditions, and treatment options are topics heavily emphasized. Medical doctors have to endure years or residency and even fellowship for specialized fields of medicine, whereas residency and fellowships are only optional for pharmacy students.

Working in a pharmacy, whether in the community or hospital setting, is the best way to gauge whether you want to be a pharmacist or not.

Many students who are considering entering the world of pharmacy may wonder where pharmacists work and what they actually do. They may hear hear from many others who briefly say it is a respectable field with great pay. This post describes two of the many more interesting and common opportunities available for future pharmacists. Pharmacy careers have evolved to becoming more diverse and specialized in many aspects. Traditionally, pharmacists were more than likely found in a neighborhood drugstore carefully preparing medications into individual patient containers or using deft compounding techniques and mixtures and dispensing the products to their intended customers. These pharmacists are commonly known as community pharmacists. Nowadays, new pharmacy students will be exposed to many other career opportunities that may interest them in the pharmacy world. They may find out more about these other areas of work from their pharmacy curriculum, talking to their peers or instructors, and from internships or rotations.

Other than the traditional community pharmacy vocation, pharmacists are also found in institutional settings such as hospitals. Whether it be hospitals, long term nursing homes, or specialized institutional settings such as rehabilitation or behavioral health centers, pharmacists in these settings may dispense and prepare medications for acute care or chronic care needs. The inventory of medications dispensed may differ from a community pharmacy setting in that medications given in the acute care setting may include different routes of administration that need to be handled by a trained and licensed professional such as a doctor, physician assistant, nurse, anesthetist, etc. Some of these include intravenous and epidural routes of administration. Pharmacists in these settings dispense, advise, recommend, counsel, and monitor proper medication handling and usage. Pharmacists may also consult and work with a team of healthcare professionals as the in-house drug information expert; these ‘consultant’ pharmacists may be more commonly known as clinical pharmacists. Clinical pharmacists specialize in a particular branch of clinical care (eg pediatrics, geriatrics, critical care). Clinical pharmacists may have received advanced training as a post-doctoral resident, or have years of practice experience. They may choose to validate their knowledge and adding titles to their name by earning advanced certifications in their specialities such as nuclear pharmacy, nutrition support, ambulatory care, pharmacotherapy, oncology, and psychiatry from the Board of Pharmacy Specialties or in specialities (Diabetes, Geriatrics, Anticoagulation) offered from other certification organizations. You could check with each of the certification board on the requirements to obtain these certifications.

Management is another area of interest to experienced pharmacists. Whether it be in community or hospital settings, pharmacists who are interested in administration and the overall mission of their department within their organization may choose to pursue a career in administration. Although not required, pharmacists may pursue another advanced degree such as a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) or another related field (MPH) to further develop their skills. Many pharmacy schools offer dual-degree pharmacy programs where a student can earn two degrees in one program: Doctor of Pharmacy and another degree such as an MBA. Pharmacy administrators, managers or directors as they are more commonly known, handle the overall operations of a pharmacy. This could include more or less managing employees (pharmacists, technicians), reviewing their performances and schedules, managing department budget, handling inventory and product recall issues, complying with every pertinent state and federal pharmacy law as to the proper practice of pharmacy, attending meetings, and handling complaints. Managers usually have a higher pay in salary and a typical Monday thru Friday schedule. However, they may have to work on-call after hours and weekends, as well as cover for their employees in the event of staff shortages.

New pharmacy school students or even graduates of a pharmacy school are sometimes heard commenting, “Why did I (they) become a pharmacist?” This may suggest that the decision to become a pharmacist may have been a mistake for them, and they were only able to perceive the practice of endless processing of medication orders, incessant phone calls, and resolving clinical drug therapy questions until after they had finished their PharmD program and started their jobs. Needless to say, this is not an ideal beginning to what awaits them for the rest of their careers if they stay in the industry. The first week of work could be a moment similar to a deer in front of headlights when they have had no exposure to the practice of pharmacy whether in a retail or hospital environment prior to graduation or even matriculating in a pharmacy school. To save on years of frustration, and to avoid any potential career decision mistakes, it would behoove interested candidates of pharmacy schools to work or volunteer in a pharmacy setting to see if the job is the right fit.

Research, research, research. One has to know their profession as to what awaits them before making an enormous commitment in time, hard work, finances, and happiness. A PharmD program in addition to an undergraduate curriculum may take years (6-8 years) depending on the institution. Some PharmD programs accept two years of specific undergraduate study prior to being eligible to apply to the program; this could last another four years. Regardless, it takes a considerable amount of time from the point of studying for the pharmacy college admission tests (PCATs) to the point of passing the pharmacy licensure boards.

Pharmacy school tuition is not cheap. Tuition overall usually goes up, similar to taxes. Know of any legitimate pharmacy schools that continually reduce tuition? Know of any states that continually lower taxes? Probably not. Tuition, room and board, fees, miscellaneous charges, books could add up. This is significant especially in these rough economic times with high interest rates for college loans. If you have no issues with finances, or if you have well-to-do parents subsidizing the entire cost of pharmacy school expenses, then maybe it isn’t much of a problem. However, most people (or parents) will be spending a lot of investment into pharmacy education, and changing your career after discovering it is not what you plan on doing for the rest of your life will have wasted much time and money. Just think, if a career change is made afterwards, one has to go back to the drawing board and figure out what else they want to do with their life. This requires another dose of commitment, time, and money.

Time and money are enough reasons to do some research. Checking the job prospects is another good idea. Are there enough jobs in the market for your location? If you work in a pharmacy, ask the pharmacists whether there are enough jobs for newly minted pharmacy graduates, and what the salary expectations are. If you know of any new pharmacy graduates, ask them if they have a job, and the degree of difficulty in obtaining a job or an interview. “How long does it take to find a job?” How is the job market?” or “Have you found a job yet” would be some good questions to ask.

Just spending a few months working in a pharmacy setting and observing the lifestyle, workload, and attitudes of pharmacists may provide enough information for one to have perspectives of whether it would be a good fit. It would most likely save years of time, finances, and regret later on if one discovers it isn’t a good fit. The concept of research and experience goes the same for almost any occupation of choice. No one person could be 100% sure of whether one career is right for them until they actually work in the field for some time. However most people would be more than 0% sure that if they spend quality time in researching the industry in question, they will have gained valuable insight about their career compatibility.

Job searches can be stressful, especially during these tough economic times. During the final year of pharmacy school, students will have to head out into the ‘real’ world and use the skills and education gathered through years of rigorous study, and apply them behind the counter, the patient bedside, or various other settings. Many students may decide to forgo a job search and pursue further training and study as a resident or a fellow in the many residency and fellowship programs that are available throughout this country. These post-graduate programs may last a year to several years depending on the program. The compensation of residencies and fellowships are much less than the average salary earned from a full-time pharmacist. Therefore those that enter the additional years of post-graduate training will have to weigh the cost for themselves as to the financial impact they may incur by foregoing the pharmacist’s potential salary considering the rising interests accrued from their college loans as well as many other factors.

For those that want to dive into the pharmacist workforce, a good quick and easy starting point is to ask people you know for any job openings available such as friends, family, or even employers you have worked for or currently work for as an intern or technician. These resources are immediately available to you. Many future pharmacists check job search websites or career search engines such as this – Pharmacist Jobs. Searching for the title of the position sought after (i.e. pharmacist) and the location via zip code will display openings that are available in the area of choice. Each site may list different data depending on the amount of employers that have accounts on the website.

Another method of searching for job openings is to check on career or employment section of the company’s website itself. Many human resource departments will refer candidates to the website to apply for openings. Listings may be updated frequency, so if a position is not available upon initial observation, checking back every few weeks may produce different results. Some websites have displayed the job application status after submitting applications, and others may require a phone call for an update. Most often, an email or call may be received if the employers are interested.

Using headhunters, job agents, or a contracting agency may also lessen the burden of dealing with the job search as these resources will usually do the work of contacting available employers and speaking with human resources personnel on your behalf.

Above are just some of the methods of starting a job search. Job searches can obviously be stressful, especially if the candidate has been having a difficult time locking in a position. Much patience is required, even more during this tough economy. Regardless, preparation is always needed when the job opportunity presents itself. Similar to pharmacy school interviews, candidates will have to do their best to convince their employers that they are right for the position they seek. Having a good interview, a spelling/grammar error-free curriculum vitae, presentable appearance, great references, and displaying confidence with the right attitude could go a long way.