Career Advancement as a Pharmacist

[bw6]

I am curious to hear everyone's thoughts on which field of practice (retail, hospital, clinical, geriatric, compounding, consulting, whatever..) in pharmacy has the most room for career advancement. It is pretty much established that retail pharmacists will start at a higher pay rate than most others, but I also understand that short of becoming a manager, there is not much room to move up. This is also a very subjective concept and I'm sure there will be quite a few opinions on this.

So where can you advance the most and what are some of the pay increases associated with these promotions (or continued education if applicable - e.g. masters in health system administration for hospital pharmacy administration, etc.)?

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[PharmEcon]

I would figure that some of the government positions i.e. FDA or CMS would have room to move up, especially if you stayed there for long. I recently went to a couple of talks from pharmDs who had worked their way up through those organizations.

In the end, you can probably move up in anything if you are capable of and know how to create and foster opportunities. (on second thought that is a pretty obvious statement, haha)

 

[SoylentGreen]

but I also understand that short of becoming a manager, there is not much room to move up.

That's pretty much what moving up is in any company. Managing more people.

The CEOs of Walgreens and CVS are (or were) both pharmacists. That's probably as high as you can go.

 

[owlegrad]

That's pretty much what moving up is in any company. Managing more people.

I had the same thought. Not sure what other sort of moving up there is, other than moving into management and climbing up the ladder.

 

[bw6]

I had the same thought. Not sure what other sort of moving up there is, other than moving into management and climbing up the ladder.

I'm familiar with the retail "ladder" so I was curious about career advancement in the other aforementioned fields of practice.

 

[Its Z]

PharmD then MHA route to hospital and health system admin (ceo or coo) is a nice track. As a young admin you will move around but a coo and CEO of a medium size hospital can easily make $300-$600k+...

 

[pharmasaur]

The CEO of USC Keck Hospital is a PharmD

http://keck.usc.edu/en/About/Admini...ck_hospital_of_usc_usc_norris_cancer_hospital

 

[bw6]

Interesting.. Both of those posts were very informative. Thank you both. I would love to hear more about health system, industry, government, or any other areas outside of retail.

 

[Trent Steele]

Definitely informatics

 

[SoylentGreen]

I know a pharmacist who advanced to the top of a small LTC pharmacy - he makes about $180K (he is not the owner). By "small" I mean they employ three pharmacists, including him.

 

[njrph007]

I have been pondering this same question. I work for a large retail chain, and have been for 10 years. While I love my job, I have reached a pay ceiling. At this point any growth is minimal and coincides with inflation. What can I do to advance my career and make more? Further education? Whatever I do, it seems I will have to leave retail to do it.
But for a PharmD who graduated in 2003, what options do I have?

 

[nafcillin]

I know a pharmacist who advanced to the top of a small LTC pharmacy - he makes about $180K (he is not the owner). By "small" I mean they employ three pharmacists, including him.

That's nice money. I wouldn't mind that at all