About to graduate pharmacy school but don't know what to pursue

[codone]

I am about to graduate pharmacy school in 8 months and I have no idea what I want to do and I am starting to freak out. My intentions coming into pharmacy school were to do a residency since I like complex problems and I loved the clinical setting. After finishing my acute care rotations, I feel like I should have went to med school because I love knowing the whole problem (pathophysiology) instead of just the medications, and diagnosing patients is something I am really interested in. I also like to invest my time into what I am learning and I feel like medical school covers almost everything. The only residency programs I would think of doing are informatics or an ID fellowship relating to PK/PD data.

In pharmacy, I feel like most of what we learn is useless, especially the medicinal chemistry. Sure it is nice to know/understand how it works, but it is theoretical and can't use it in practice. No physician cares about the chemical structure, in my opinion. What we are left with is therapeutics (mostly based off guidelines) and a basic understanding of pathophysiology. I feel like I am a walking database of guidelines, brand names, and rare side effects. We can't do anything unless a physician okays it.

Now I am looking for other career options like going to med school, learning programming and getting into software development or biomedical engineering. I feel like I haven't entered my educational prime yet and I love learning. Has anyone experienced a situation similar to this and how did you resolve it?

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[kendrick lamar]

Yes. Were you in a 0-6 program? Feel free to PM me to talk in more detail

 

[codone]

Yes. Were you in a 0-6 program? Feel free to PM me to talk in more detail

I am in an accelerated 3 year program

 

[30Percent]

Depending on other life factors (e.g. married, kids, financial situation) you can still go to medical school. I've met a medical student that was a former clinical pharmacist (with a residency) that decided to switch for the very same reasons you mentioned in your post. From what I remember she was married and her husband had a career that allowed him to relocate with her.

 

[aldolase]

Depending on other life factors (e.g. married, kids, financial situation) you can still go to medical school. I've met a medical student that was a former clinical pharmacist (with a residency) that decided to switch for the very same reasons you mentioned in your post. From what I remember she was married and her husband had a career that allowed him to relocate with her.

Wow. That's a lot of years in school. I thought a clinical pharmacist with residency would have more autonomy. No ?

 

[kendrick lamar]

Wow. That's a lot of years in school. I thought a clinical pharmacist with residency would have more autonomy. No ?

Yea I have heard a ton of people who pursue MD after PharmD, not necessarily for the autonomy but because utilising the medical knowledge is more intriguing to some people. This was my case when I was on my internal medicine rotation. I didn't know many kids from my class who went the MD route, only one, but have definitely considered it

 

[kendrick lamar]

I would strongly suggest talking to some doctors and getting the contact information of the attending physician you may have rounded with, esp if you're in a teaching institute. I just graduated so I haven't thought about it a lot yet, as I need a job lol. Some of my friends who are doctors have mixed feelings on whether to do med school or not. I know it's one of those things you absolutely positively need to know you can't imagine doing something else, so I'll work before I figure out if I really can't stand what I'm doing to weigh out the benefit/risk of going to med school

 

[farmadiazepine]

Another one of these children.

 

[rxwaiting]

Sounds like you're a candidate for high volume retail LOL

 

[kendrick lamar]

lol idk if we're solely to blame tho, a lot of pharmacy schools market clinical pharmacy like it's a physician assistant program. Especially in
the 0-6 program, it's hard to sort expectation from reality at age 17

 

[aldolase]

What about PA ? Much shorter than med school and you can diagnose/prescribe like you want to.

 

[oldstock]

What about PA ? Much shorter than med school and you can diagnose/prescribe like you want to.

I cant answer for the OP or other people but if I took on all the time and trouble to jump to medicine from PharmD, I would go all the way. No 1/2 a$$

 

[codone]

I cant answer for the OP or other people but if I took on all the time and trouble to jump to medicine from PharmD, I would go all the way. No 1/2 a$$

Yes, this is how I exactly feel (no offence to PA's).

 

[knight on horse]

Interesting. Seems like you would need exceptionally strong science background to do well with it