The truth about pharmacy job

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Let's be honest here. I am a P4 pharmacy student and I worked in many different kinds of pharmacy settings (hospital and retail). For most part, pharmacy job does not require much thinking. In order to be a good or "smart" pharmacist, you need to have a different kind of intelligent (you do not need to be good in math or science). You just need to pay attention to small detail, follow good directions and have common sense. For example, the person who makes little mistakes working in a store, restaurant, bar and etc, will be a good pharmacist.

Who is a "smart" pharmacist? It is not the person who knows a lot of drugs, math or science. It is the person who makes little mistakes.

99% of the mistakes that I have seen are common sense mistakes such as in my hospital forgetting to put a stop date on antibiotic or warfarin, forgetting to change the statins to QPM, wrongfully reading the doctor's handwriting and selecting a wrong drug, dose or patient, forgetting to sent bulk drugs or medication profile to the floor and etc. The people who are detailed oriented and have common sense intelligent tend to make the least mistakes and are seen by everyone as a "smart" pharmacist even though a lot those "smart pharmacist" don't know much about the drugs or the therapy.

I belong to the "dumb pharmacist" category. Even though, I know a lot of about drugs and science more than my peers, but I occasionally have brain fart and I make stupid mistakes.

This is the truth about pharmacy job.

Originally Posted by winter32842

Let's be honest here. I am a P4 pharmacy student and I worked in many different kinds of pharmacy settings (hospital and retail). For most part, pharmacy job does not require much thinking. In order to be a good or "smart" pharmacist, you need to have a different kind of intelligent (you do not need to be good in math or science). You just need to pay attention to small detail, follow good directions and have common sense. For example, the person who makes little mistakes working in a store, restaurant, bar and etc, will be a good pharmacist.

Who is a "smart" pharmacist? It is not the person who knows a lot of drugs, math or science. It is the person who makes little mistakes.

99% of the mistakes that I have seen are common sense mistakes such as in my hospital forgetting to put a stop date on antibiotic or warfarin, forgetting to change the statins to QPM, wrongfully reading the doctor's handwriting and selecting a wrong drug, dose or patient, forgetting to sent bulk drugs or medication profile to the floor and etc. The people who are detailed oriented and have common sense intelligent tend to make the least mistakes and are seen by everyone as a "smart" pharmacist even though a lot those "smart pharmacist" don't know much about the drugs or the therapy.

I belong to the "dumb pharmacist" category. Even though, I know a lot of about drugs and science more than my peers, but I occasionally have brain fart and I make stupid mistakes.

This is the truth about pharmacy job.

To add to your point, in retail, the smart pharmacists are those who keep the scores up, verify fast, and lack any emotion when answering phones

Is there such a thing as smart pharmacist? like smart phone?

So happy to see that you have the pharmacy profession all figured out as a P4.

Your career should be a piece of cake.

Originally Posted by winter32842

Let's be honest here. I am a P4 pharmacy student and I worked in many different kinds of pharmacy settings (hospital and retail). For most part, pharmacy job does not require much thinking. In order to be a good or "smart" pharmacist, you need to have a different kind of intelligent (you do not need to be good in math or science). You just need to pay attention to small detail, follow good directions and have common sense. For example, the person who makes little mistakes working in a store, restaurant, bar and etc, will be a good pharmacist.

Who is a "smart" pharmacist? It is not the person who knows a lot of drugs, math or science. It is the person who makes little mistakes.

99% of the mistakes that I have seen are common sense mistakes such as in my hospital forgetting to put a stop date on antibiotic or warfarin, forgetting to change the statins to QPM, wrongfully reading the doctor's handwriting and selecting a wrong drug, dose or patient, forgetting to sent bulk drugs or medication profile to the floor and etc. The people who are detailed oriented and have common sense intelligent tend to make the least mistakes and are seen by everyone as a "smart" pharmacist even though a lot those "smart pharmacist" don't know much about the drugs or the therapy.

I belong to the "dumb pharmacist" category. Even though, I know a lot of about drugs and science more than my peers, but I occasionally have brain fart and I make stupid mistakes.

This is the truth about pharmacy job.

all good points!

Originally Posted by 297point1

So happy to see that you have the pharmacy profession all figured out as a P4.

Your career should be a piece of cake.

Shnap!

Although you're an Admin, and no one in their right mind should 100% trust a a salesman.

Originally Posted by steveysmith54

all good points!

What about when you're asked to dose tacrolimus as an infusion on an NPO/vent transplant patient, or when dapto is written for Mrsa coverage for a patient who is r/o PNA who you can't give vanc/linezolid to per nephrology? Point is, and the order entry points u made are also valid points, but you need to be well rounded, combining not just order entry scrutinizing skills, but also clinical knowledge. They may eventually get software to make order entry flawless (though I doubt it), but will have a much harder time coming up with something that could provide answers to clinical judgement calls for tough ID, dosing, etc type questions.

Originally Posted by tongiecc

What about when you're asked to dose tacrolimus as an infusion on an NPO/vent transplant patient, or when dapto is written for Mrsa coverage for a patient who is r/o PNA who you can't give vanc/linezolid to per nephrology? Point is, and the order entry points u made are also valid points, but you need to be well rounded, combining not just order entry scrutinizing skills, but also clinical knowledge. They may eventually get software to make order entry flawless (though I doubt it), but will have a much harder time coming up with something that could provide answers to clinical judgement calls for tough ID, dosing, etc type questions.

Do you see that much in a retail setting though?

Originally Posted by RockHardIce

To add to your point, in retail, the smart pharmacists are those who keep the scores up, verify fast, and lack any emotion when answering phones

Answering the phone with emotion wastes time! I need the extra 5 seconds to verify the waiter before the 15mins are up!


Actually, answering the phone is usually a waste of time. 99% of phone calls go like this:
Them: "did my doctor call in my norcos yet?"
Me: "Let me check. No, we still havent heard back from them."
Awkward 6-8 seconds of silence.
Me: "Did you have any other questions?"
Them: "no."
Me thinking: "then why the %^&* where you silent wasting my precious seconds as these waiters are about to turn red"
Then me thinking "I hate this job. I should of went to optometry school."


Then I spend the next few minutes contemplating how to get out of pharmacy but still make enough money to pay my loans.

Originally Posted by LazyMooch

Do you see that much in a retail setting though?

No "clinical" in retail is like this:


I got this skin thingy. What can I use on it?

Now take that question and repeat it 5 thousand times a day.

I swear pharmacy should have a dermatology specialty.

Originally Posted by Ilikechemicals

Answering the phone with emotion wastes time! I need the extra 5 seconds to verify the waiter before the 15mins are up!


Actually, answering the phone is usually a waste of time. 99% of phone calls go like this:
Them: "did my doctor call in my norcos yet?"
Me: "Let me check. No, we still havent heard back from them."
Awkward 6-8 seconds of silence.
Me: "Did you have any other questions?"
Them: "no."
Me thinking: "then why the %^&* where you silent wasting my precious seconds as these waiters are about to turn red"
Then me thinking "I hate this job. I should of went to optometry school."


Then I spend the next few minutes contemplating how to get out of pharmacy but still make enough money to pay my loans.

Even worse, our waiters don't turn red from yellow... evvverrrr! thats why floaters get killer(negatively) wait times. Welcome to McPharmacy world: "Would you like some pickles and onions on your vicodin sandwich?"

Originally Posted by Ilikechemicals

Answering the phone with emotion wastes time! I need the extra 5 seconds to verify the waiter before the 15mins are up!


Actually, answering the phone is usually a waste of time. 99% of phone calls go like this:
Them: "did my doctor call in my norcos yet?"
Me: "Let me check. No, we still havent heard back from them."
Awkward 6-8 seconds of silence.
Me: "Did you have any other questions?"
Them: "no."
Me thinking: "then why the %^&* where you silent wasting my precious seconds as these waiters are about to turn red"
Then me thinking "I hate this job. I should of went to optometry school."


Then I spend the next few minutes contemplating how to get out of pharmacy but still make enough money to pay my loans.

You should join angry pharmacists. I think you'll make a good post over there.

Originally Posted by 5minutes

you should join angry pharmacists. I think you'll make a good post over there.

this

Originally Posted by Ilikechemicals

Answering the phone with emotion wastes time! I need the extra 5 seconds to verify the waiter before the 15mins are up!


Actually, answering the phone is usually a waste of time. 99% of phone calls go like this:
Them: "did my doctor call in my norcos yet?"
Me: "Let me check. No, we still havent heard back from them."
Awkward 6-8 seconds of silence.
Me: "Did you have any other questions?"
Them: "no."
Me thinking: "then why the %^&* where you silent wasting my precious seconds as these waiters are about to turn red"
Then me thinking "I hate this job. I should of went to optometry school."


Then I spend the next few minutes contemplating how to get out of pharmacy but still make enough money to pay my loans.

Yep!

Speaking of getting out of pharmacy... I've been reading about how to retire in Mexico all afternoon.
But then I snapped out of it...

Originally Posted by Ilikechemicals

No "clinical" in retail is like this:


I got this skin thingy. What can I use on it?

Now take that question and repeat it 5 thousand times a day.

I swear pharmacy should have a dermatology specialty.

Even better are the people who want their skin rashes diagnosed over the phone. I told a dermatologist who was in a club with me about that, and she just .

Originally Posted by winter32842

Let's be honest here. I am a P4 pharmacy student and I worked in many different kinds of pharmacy settings (hospital and retail). For most part, pharmacy job does not require much thinking. In order to be a good or "smart" pharmacist, you need to have a different kind of intelligent (you do not need to be good in math or science). You just need to pay attention to small detail, follow good directions and have common sense. For example, the person who makes little mistakes working in a store, restaurant, bar and etc, will be a good pharmacist.

Who is a "smart" pharmacist? It is not the person who knows a lot of drugs, math or science. It is the person who makes little mistakes.

99% of the mistakes that I have seen are common sense mistakes such as in my hospital forgetting to put a stop date on antibiotic or warfarin, forgetting to change the statins to QPM, wrongfully reading the doctor's handwriting and selecting a wrong drug, dose or patient, forgetting to sent bulk drugs or medication profile to the floor and etc. The people who are detailed oriented and have common sense intelligent tend to make the least mistakes and are seen by everyone as a "smart" pharmacist even though a lot those "smart pharmacist" don't know much about the drugs or the therapy.

I belong to the "dumb pharmacist" category. Even though, I know a lot of about drugs and science more than my peers, but I occasionally have brain fart and I make stupid mistakes.

This is the truth about pharmacy job.

Good points. A smart pharmacist is simply the guy with the street smarts to stay out of "trouble". The clinical knowledge helps add to that.

Winter, if you think you feel dumb right now, wait until you forget to log a C-II, or fill a forged prescription, or dispense a wrong drug, or any number of potentially critical errors. And believe me, at some time, all of those things will happen to you. The consequences will depend on whether this is a pattern, and how you react to it. Most of them are situations where if you tell the truth, you won't get in trouble and the patient will be surprisingly understanding.

The most critical error I have ever personally seen was made by the best tech and best pharmacist we had. Long story made short: A patient got 2 1/2 times the morphine they should have, and this infusion wasn't even in the right sized bag! It got by the tech, the pharmacist, AND the nurse. The patient was given Narcan and recovered, but man, that was scary when I got the call from the floor - and relieved that at least it wasn't me, but I sure could tell when the people involved found out what they had done because they were for some time.

A pharmacist is someone who wanted a job that paid high so decided on pharmacy school. Then, after graduation, got a dose of reality and realized how boring and tedious it is but still put up with it because his/her main goal was money.

Originally Posted by RxMTM

A pharmacist is someone who wanted a job that paid high so decided on pharmacy school. Then, after graduation, got a dose of reality and realized how boring and tedious it is but still put up with it because his/her main goal was money.

that is kinda accurate. most in it for money

Originally Posted by RxMTM

A pharmacist is someone who wanted a job that paid high so decided on pharmacy school. Then, after graduation, got a dose of reality and realized how boring and tedious it is but still put up with it because his/her main goal was money.

winner.

Originally Posted by Ilikechemicals

No "clinical" in retail is like this:


I got this skin thingy. What can I use on it?

Now take that question and repeat it 5 thousand times a day.

I swear pharmacy should have a dermatology specialty.

Intersperse a couple hundred where is the bathroom, toilet paper, lighter fluid questions and add in a couple hundred laxative questions from old people who seem to be obsessed with their poop and you have nailed it!

Originally Posted by RxMTM

A pharmacist is someone who wanted a job that paid high so decided on pharmacy school. Then, after graduation, got a dose of reality and realized how boring and tedious it is but still put up with it because his/her main goal was money.

People like this usually don't get through school, and if they do, don't last very long in the profession.

Originally Posted by rph3664

People like this usually don't get through school, and if they do, don't last very long in the profession.

you would be surprised how common this in a lot of people

Originally Posted by rph3664

People like this usually don't get through school, and if they do, don't last very long in the profession.

I have not talked to a single person (in real life) who was pursuing pharmacy for something other than money.

Originally Posted by LazyMooch

I have not talked to a single person (in real life) who was pursuing pharmacy for something other than money.

Come talk to me at a conference

Originally Posted by LazyMooch

I have not talked to a single person (in real life) who was pursuing pharmacy for something other than money.

If I was in it for the money, I wouldn't be in my 2nd year of residency right now.

Originally Posted by LazyMooch

I have not talked to a single person (in real life) who was pursuing pharmacy for something other than money.

Come talk to me at a conference, I love my job!

Originally Posted by LazyMooch

I have not talked to a single person (in real life) who was pursuing pharmacy for something other than money.

How sad for them. I've been working in pharmacies since I was in high school and I still enjoy going to work every day. I think I would be miserable doing something that I didn't find fulfilling, no matter how much money I was making, but to each his own I guess.

Hmm, if I were in a career solely for money, I would probably have chosen cyber crime because it could be much more lucrative.

Originally Posted by rph3664

People like this usually don't get through school, and if they do, don't last very long in the profession.

good one! I've had Pharmacy Managers tell me it was all for the money and they are still happy about their decision. They're not new grads, though, and have been in the profession for around 15 years...so I guess they still have time to not hold their jobs...what's very long? 20 years? 30?

I just got told!

Maybe I should clarify? I have only experienced the retail side of pharmacy and have yet to meet an individual not in it for the money.

I'm just speaking from what I have seen. The most common answers I get for "why I entered pharmacy school" are:

1. wanted a stable job with good income
2. It pays well
3. didn't want to be on call like a doctor and have to spend a lot of time working
4. parents told me it was the best idea
5. didn't know what else to do
6. I want to develop medicines
7. not sure. I was graduating and needed to choose something

Originally Posted by RxMTM

I'm just speaking from what I have seen. The most common answers I get for "why I entered pharmacy school" are:

1. wanted a stable job with good income
2. It pays well
3. didn't want to be on call like a doctor and have to spend a lot of time working
4. parents told me it was the best idea
5. didn't know what else to do
6. I want to develop medicines
7. not sure. I was graduating and needed to choose something

I laugh at the number 6 folks.

Originally Posted by LazyMooch

I laugh at the number 6 folks.

Its not wrong. I initially went to pharmacy school for that reason. While working as a medicinal chemist at pfizer, I saw a job posting for pharm.d in the clinical trials division, paying $130k back in 2005. Cha Ching$$$ Of course, then all the big pharms hit rock bottom shortly after that.

Originally Posted by Ilikechemicals

Answering the phone with emotion wastes time! I need the extra 5 seconds to verify the waiter before the 15mins are up!


Actually, answering the phone is usually a waste of time. 99% of phone calls go like this:
Them: "did my doctor call in my norcos yet?"
Me: "Let me check. No, we still havent heard back from them."
Awkward 6-8 seconds of silence.
Me: "Did you have any other questions?"
Them: "no."
Me thinking: "then why the %^&* where you silent wasting my precious seconds as these waiters are about to turn red"
Then me thinking "I hate this job. I should of went to optometry school."


Then I spend the next few minutes contemplating how to get out of pharmacy but still make enough money to pay my loans.

Originally Posted by BrightLight

Hmm, if I were in a career solely for money, I would probably have chosen cyber crime because it could be much more lucrative.

Preventing or committing?

Originally Posted by xiphoid2010

Its not wrong. I initially went to pharmacy school for that reason. While working as a medicinal chemist at pfizer, I saw a job posting for pharm.d in the clinical trials division, paying $130k back in 2005. Cha Ching$$$ Of course, then all the big pharms hit rock bottom shortly after that.

I would leave that up to the chemists.

Originally Posted by RxMTM

I would leave that up to the chemists.

Why would you have a chemist run a clinical trial

This post is rubbish. You should have both common sense and clinical expertise as a professional. Common sense doesn't trump clinical knowledge. Missing either one places your patients in danger.

Originally Posted by RxMTM

A pharmacist is someone who wanted a job that paid high so decided on pharmacy school. Then, after graduation, got a dose of reality and realized how boring and tedious it is but still put up with it because his/her main goal was money.

I am literally speechless with how win this post is.

Originally Posted by xiphoid2010

Its not wrong. I initially went to pharmacy school for that reason. While working as a medicinal chemist at pfizer, I saw a job posting for pharm.d in the clinical trials division, paying $130k back in 2005. Cha Ching$$$ Of course, then all the big pharms hit rock bottom shortly after that.

So you are a PharmD/PhD?

Originally Posted by PharmDstudent

Yep!

Speaking of getting out of pharmacy... I've been reading about how to retire in Mexico all afternoon.
But then I snapped out of it...

We might need to start a Thread for other career choices for pharmacists...
I thought baking cakes would be fun