Declining my pharm school acceptance because i am having troubles in my tech job

[metformin800]

Sorry for the longest title. But recently i have decided to let go my pharm school acceptance. I have been working with chain for 9 months. But i only work 4-8 hrs week due to school, sometime none. Everytime i am at work there is atleast one thing that i don't know, mostly insurance issues. I sometime have trouble hearing people's name. I always notices my coworkers getting annoyed by my questions. Let me clear something i dont ask them same questions. But it seems like everytime we are super busy, that's where i come across stuff that i have never seen before. I have excellent grades but this job makes me look dumb. I even have had someone from work ask me if i really want to pursue this? How i am at this job is way different than what i am at school or my other jobs. The day my coworkers treats me makes me question if i really want to spend rest of life doing this. I like pharmacy but don't like this whole retail thing. I try talking to my parents about this, they mocked me by saying that i should drop all this and start working at Mcdonald. i wont have any problem there lol Their point is that every job has its own issue and since i don't work much i am having all this trouble. Once pharm school starts and i will come across this stuff more often and then i won't have trouble. I hightly doubt that. I am kind of person if something is for me i know. Lately i have realized may be pharmacy is not for me.

What do you guys think should i decline my acceptance? I don't want to regret this later in my life. Has anyone been in my shoes before? Hoping to get some advice..

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[Carboxide]

If you don't think you want to be a pharmacist anymore, decline asap.

 

[mentos]

Good choice.

 

[Hot Pharmacist]

Meditate on yourself child and you will hear the voice. Don't listen to the darkside.

 

[ldiot]

Go to dental school $$$

 

[PharmtoCS]

If you do not feel comfortable being a tech, then being a pharmacist will be much worse. The actual work environment is completely different from that of school. If you feel that being a tech is not for you, then you should decline before you rack up any additional loans.

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[angryrx]

Don't worry. Just try to develop some common sense and critical thinking skills.

There are lots of pharmacists that have troubles in their pharmacist jobs. But somehow, they find a place in our great (and dying) profession that can use them as they are.

 

[MrBonita]

Why don't you take a year off and work in a hospital as a tech and also use your degree to get part time work with your degree. Get a taste of what a hospital pharmacist does and also see what other line of work you can do. All I can tell you is that the students I went to school with who worked 1-2 years and then went to school were the hardest working students because they knew they had to get good grades to get a nice position in the pharmacy world. You should realize that retail is not the only pharmacy field and being raped daily in retail might just be enough to get you motivated to study to be at the top of your class. The truth is that retail will hire anyone, even out of country pharmacist. Retail is not the final destination unless you somehow decided not to try to get out of it.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I don't think your current experiences will have any bearing on your pharmacist experiences. There is a big learning curve for technicians, I would say a bare minimum of 6 - 9 months for a technician working full-time to become proficient. You are working only 4 - 8 hours/week, so while your co-workers might be thinking "s/he's been here 9 months, why doesn't s/he know everything?", in reality you will need to work far longer to become proficient, because of the small hours each week you are working.

Now whether or not you should decline your pharmacy acceptance.....I would *not* base that decision on your struggling in your 4 - 8 hour/week job. Whether think about the job of working in a pharmacy and if you can see yourself doing that for the next 50 + years (and yes, while I agree with the advice about getting hospital experience as a tech if you can, reality is 70+% of pharmacists end up working in retail, so if you can't see yourself working in retail, then you shouldn't pursue being a pharmacist.) And think about your grades, how much do you like to study, how much do you enjoy science, because this will be the determining factor in graduating from pharmacy school.

 

[confettiflyer]

Can you defer a year and volunteer at a hospital? Retail isn't the end all be all of pharmacy, especially if you're only there 4-8hrs a week.

But if you're also saying you don't think pharmacy is for you, decline or defer asap and take some time to figure it out.


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[Rukn]

It's not worth it

Good decision

 

[Pharmd = Phake Doctor]

The nice thing about hospital pharmacy is that you don't have to deal with insurance. But you do have to deal with nurses.

Just kidding. The nurses are awesome once you know how to deal with their phone calls. They work in a higher stress environment, so I sympathize with their plight.

 

[Z-Qualizer]

It sounds like your issue is specifically with retail pharmacy, not the profession as a whole.

I think you should take the acceptance to pharm school, work hard, get good grades, complete a PGY-5 residency, and shoot for a job in clinical pharmacy!!

 

[maria1oh]

I once worked at mcdonalds when I was a teenager. I only lasted for 1 week. it was so freaking stressful. I could never memorize what went on each sandwich. Also typing in the orders at the cash register was difficult trying to listen to people ramble on with their orders. Not to mention figuring out how to ring up certain things on the register wasn't easy either. I had to constantly ask how to ring up certain items. At least with cvs you just have to scan things. I was clueless as to how to clean out the ice cream machine or fryers. There were so many rules and regulations on how to handle the food. Proper storage and refrigerator/freezer logs for inspectors. Also several mcdonalds are open 24/7 so you'll end up getting stuck on overnight shifts.

 

[sosoreal]

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[Caffeine QAM]

Let me present both sides of the argument. Pharmacists have to deal with more responsibilities than technicians. If something went wrong, the issue will be brought to the pharmacist - the pharmacist is held accountable for issues, whether or not he or she was the source of the problem or not. Additionally, pharmacists should be able to deal with anything the technicians do. In retail, this includes typing and resolving insurance issues. It will not get any easier as a pharmacist, and if you hate it now, there's a good chance you will hate it later. It's a good sign that you have good grades, but good grades alone are not an approximation or indicator of job performance. Not only that, but good grades in pre-pharmacy education means even less (relative to grades in pharmacy school). Communication skills, critical thinking, problem solving, adaptability, time-management, learning efficiently...those are the skills that you will need to be a successful pharmacist. If you're having trouble keeping up working 4-8 hours a week now, it will be even harder during pharmacy school when you'll be interning at least double the hours of what you work now, and where the workload from school will be much more difficult. Employers are not likely to cut you slack in regards to work performance just because you are busy with school - they expect that, as a pharmacy student, you are able to time-manage effectively and at the same time, adapt quickly and do your job well at work (and not call off all the time because you have exams to study for).

On the other hand, it's possible retail simply is just not for you and that that you would enjoy and/or excel at working in a non-retail setting more, depending on what your interests are (maybe related to why you applied to pharmacy school in the first place?). I can't speak for you, as I don't know what your strengths or interests are. You said that you like pharmacy - what is it about pharmacy that you like? The only way to know how you'll feel about other settings is to get as much experience (shadowing, volunteering, etc.) in those settings as much as possible, as suggested by Confetti. If those opportunities are not available, do as much research and make connections to people who work in those settings as you can and see if you find something that fits you. There are many non-tradiational routes to consider - regulatory science, health policy/economics/outcomes research, clinical research, industry, medical science information (usually a subset of industry)...some programs offer dual degrees that are geared towards certain areas of practice, eg. PharmD/JD if you're interested in law, PharmD/MBA if you want to be manage a business. In general, it is harder to get into these kinds of positions. They are very special interests - most pharmacy graduates either end up in retail or hospital practice. Don't expect to get a hospital job without doing a residency though. It's possible to do so, but it's becoming increasingly difficult each year.

 

[priyankathaker8]

Sorry for the longest title. But recently i have decided to let go my pharm school acceptance. I have been working with chain for 9 months. But i only work 4-8 hrs week due to school, sometime none. Everytime i am at work there is atleast one thing that i don't know, mostly insurance issues. I sometime have trouble hearing people's name. I always notices my coworkers getting annoyed by my questions. Let me clear something i dont ask them same questions. But it seems like everytime we are super busy, that's where i come across stuff that i have never seen before. I have excellent grades but this job makes me look dumb. I even have had someone from work ask me if i really want to pursue this? How i am at this job is way different than what i am at school or my other jobs. The day my coworkers treats me makes me question if i really want to spend rest of life doing this. I like pharmacy but don't like this whole retail thing. I try talking to my parents about this, they mocked me by saying that i should drop all this and start working at Mcdonald. i wont have any problem there lol Their point is that every job has its own issue and since i don't work much i am having all this trouble. Once pharm school starts and i will come across this stuff more often and then i won't have trouble. I hightly doubt that. I am kind of person if something is for me i know. Lately i have realized may be pharmacy is not for me.

What do you guys think should i decline my acceptance? I don't want to regret this later in my life. Has anyone been in my shoes before? Hoping to get some advice..

I think you should take a job at a hospital, just to see the difference. Don't solely make your decision because of the retail side of pharmacy. Retail sucks but I think if you work at a hospital, you'll be able to figure out if pharmacy is something you want to do.

 

[Dred Pirate]

The nice thing about hospital pharmacy is that you don't have to deal with insurance. But you do have to deal with nurses.

Just kidding. The nurses are awesome once you know how to deal with their phone calls. They work in a higher stress environment, so I sympathize with their plight.

I work more with RN's than fellow RPh's - I had one (who I consider a good friend and have worked with for 5 years) say - "well my time costs more than yours," I gave her an odd look - she says "no? ok similiar?" I said "probably not" She said "You make more than me?" I just smiled - I don't think most RN's know what we make, I felt a little bad bc she is a great RN, and deals with crap (literally) that I would never imagine dealing with

 

[FunnyPharm2019]

if you can get a hospital job, DO IT. even if it's only for a short time (1 year). not only will you see something different from retail; you're also setting yourself up for better internships once you start Pharm school (in my experience, hospitals and Kaiser-like places much prefer to hire people who already have hospital experience).


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[Nellie Synclaire]

Each profession will present with different types of stress, so you'll need to develop coping skills and stress management no matter what you decide to do. The great thing about pharmacy is that you can pick your stress, so if retail isn't an attractive option you can work clinically, in the industry for pharmaceutical company, you can check out informatics pharmacists --so many options! However, being a pharmacist will require thick skin, so if its not for you don't do something you will regret

 

[happy_cheese]

I had the exact same experience you had....I worked part-time in retail as tech for 4 months. When I was working I felt so useless and dumb because I always came across something I couldn't figure out. Other techs are annoyed by my questions...mad customers...etc

I wanted to share with you because I want to let you know you are not alone. But I feel if you decide to decline your pharm school acceptance, it should be because you found your true passion , not because of what other people think about you, or what they said you should be doing instead.

I agree with Z-Qualizer that maybe you just hate the retail part. Stay true to yourself! =D

 

[metformin800]

Go to dental school $$$

Yeah, money is good but i don't know i see myself digging in someone mouth..

 

[metformin800]

If you do not feel comfortable being a tech, then being a pharmacist will be much worse. The actual work environment is completely different from that of school. If you feel that being a tech is not for you, then you should decline before you rack up any additional loans.

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That's true, i got month to decide..Hopefully i will be able to make right decision..

 

[metformin800]

I had the exact same experience you had....I worked part-time in retail as tech for 4 months. When I was working I felt so useless and dumb because I always came across something I couldn't figure out. Other techs are annoyed by my questions...mad customers...etc

I wanted to share with you because I want to let you know you are not alone. But I feel if you decide to decline your pharm school acceptance, it should be because you found your true passion , not because of what other people think about you, or what they said you should be doing instead.

I agree with Z-Qualizer that maybe you just hate the retail part. Stay true to yourself! =D

This is exactly what i needed to hear, thank you so much!

 

[metformin800]

take notes and study them on your day off.....that was what I did. I got yelled at by customers, pharmacists, techs by asking a lot of stupid questions and got a lot of customer complaints. I didn't use common sense. I remained calm and do research on what I need to know on my day off. It took me years before I learn common sense. Hospital pharmacists are nasty too not just retail. Don't give up.

Use common sense!!!! They don't teach that in school. You need to learn common sense on the job and in real life. Most people quit/stressed out because they don't use common sense.

So true about common sense. As i said earlier this job makes me look dumber and dumber everyday. Other techs thinks that i can't make judgment on my own. Sure if i would have worked more and actully knew actually what i was supposed to know. I could guess things around too but that's not right. I just don't want to make any mistake and luckily i haven't made any. About taking notes, that's great idea but i don't think i have time. I am already left alone with pharmacist on busy hours so i don't get much time. Part of all this because people i work with didn't bother to train me in our home store, they just relied on computer training. And when there is something comes up to me and i have no idea they get all annoyed and ignores me when i call them. I wil work extra hard from now on, thank you for your response..

 

[metformin800]

if you can get a hospital job, DO IT. even if it's only for a short time (1 year). not only will you see something different from retail; you're also setting yourself up for better internships once you start Pharm school (in my experience, hospitals and Kaiser-like places much prefer to hire people who already have hospital experience).


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Hospital has always been my goal, i have volunteered in one for almost year. Their pharmacy staff knows me and also got recommedation letter from them for my pharm school app..I no longer volunteer but i will try to find out if they take interns.

 

[metformin800]

Let me present both sides of the argument. Pharmacists have to deal with more responsibilities than technicians. If something went wrong, the issue will be brought to the pharmacist - the pharmacist is held accountable for issues, whether or not he or she was the source of the problem or not. Additionally, pharmacists should be able to deal with anything the technicians do. In retail, this includes typing and resolving insurance issues. It will not get any easier as a pharmacist, and if you hate it now, there's a good chance you will hate it later. It's a good sign that you have good grades, but good grades alone are not an approximation or indicator of job performance. Not only that, but good grades in pre-pharmacy education means even less (relative to grades in pharmacy school). Communication skills, critical thinking, problem solving, adaptability, time-management, learning efficiently...those are the skills that you will need to be a successful pharmacist. If you're having trouble keeping up working 4-8 hours a week now, it will be even harder during pharmacy school when you'll be interning at least double the hours of what you work now, and where the workload from school will be much more difficult. Employers are not likely to cut you slack in regards to work performance just because you are busy with school - they expect that, as a pharmacy student, you are able to time-manage effectively and at the same time, adapt quickly and do your job well at work (and not call off all the time because you have exams to study for).

On the other hand, it's possible retail simply is just not for you and that that you would enjoy and/or excel at working in a non-retail setting more, depending on what your interests are (maybe related to why you applied to pharmacy school in the first place?). I can't speak for you, as I don't know what your strengths or interests are. You said that you like pharmacy - what is it about pharmacy that you like? The only way to know how you'll feel about other settings is to get as much experience (shadowing, volunteering, etc.) in those settings as much as possible, as suggested by Confetti. If those opportunities are not available, do as much research and make connections to people who work in those settings as you can and see if you find something that fits you. There are many non-tradiational routes to consider - regulatory science, health policy/economics/outcomes research, clinical research, industry, medical science information (usually a subset of industry)...some programs offer dual degrees that are geared towards certain areas of practice, eg. PharmD/JD if you're interested in law, PharmD/MBA if you want to be manage a business. In general, it is harder to get into these kinds of positions. They are very special interests - most pharmacy graduates either end up in retail or hospital practice. Don't expect to get a hospital job without doing a residency though. It's possible to do so, but it's becoming increasingly difficult each year.

I would like to thank you for your detailed response. I do agree with most of things here. I know i need to work extra hard to excel in my job. I have volunteered in hospital pharmacy for one year but in that time i wasn't able to shadow pharmacist. I mostly interacted with their techs but i remember seeing pharmacist entering orders and staring at computer screen all time. Though they never actually made anything like retail Rph do. I can definately see myself working like that. I love working in quite place where i have to deal with least people, i could work much much faster rate. I would also love to make rounds around hospital speaking to patients. Lately, i have been looking into mail order because all you do there is verify scripts. I know it's boring to some but i see myself doing it. So let's see. Since you talked about industry, do you know if companies like Johnson & Johnson or Merck would hire pharmacist?

 

[metformin800]

I once worked at mcdonalds when I was a teenager. I only lasted for 1 week. it was so freaking stressful. I could never memorize what went on each sandwich. Also typing in the orders at the cash register was difficult trying to listen to people ramble on with their orders. Not to mention figuring out how to ring up certain things on the register wasn't easy either. I had to constantly ask how to ring up certain items. At least with cvs you just have to scan things. I was clueless as to how to clean out the ice cream machine or fryers. There were so many rules and regulations on how to handle the food. Proper storage and refrigerator/freezer logs for inspectors. Also several mcdonalds are open 24/7 so you'll end up getting stuck on overnight shifts.

Haha i had friend who has similar experience she stayed there for 2 weeks only!! Actually, one of my family member own similar kind of business. i have been helping them out every summer from high school. Honestly, working there is so easy like i literally have everything memorized. But i don't do food storage or anything like so i wouldn't know what its likes to be doing that. I bet its lot of work..

Actually at pharmacy, i have had people calling not knowing names of meds they were calling about.Sometimes its so hard to understand them, they would talk fast or very low, they would talk about all the BS we don't need to know. Expect us to fill their scripts in no time like, get pissed off it takes time.Sometimes i feel like i work in fast food because of kind of people i deal with ..

 

[metformin800]

It sounds like your issue is specifically with retail pharmacy, not the profession as a whole.

I think you should take the acceptance to pharm school, work hard, get good grades, complete a PGY-5 residency, and shoot for a job in clinical pharmacy!!

PGY-5????? I thought you only needed until PGY-2..

 

[metformin800]

Why don't you take a year off and work in a hospital as a tech and also use your degree to get part time work with your degree. Get a taste of what a hospital pharmacist does and also see what other line of work you can do. All I can tell you is that the students I went to school with who worked 1-2 years and then went to school were the hardest working students because they knew they had to get good grades to get a nice position in the pharmacy world. You should realize that retail is not the only pharmacy field and being raped daily in retail might just be enough to get you motivated to study to be at the top of your class. The truth is that retail will hire anyone, even out of country pharmacist. Retail is not the final destination unless you somehow decided not to try to get out of it.

I volunteered at hospial pharmacy for one year before starting this job. They didn't have any opening back then but i will check back with them again. I have planned to stay in top 10% of my pharmacy class, hopefull i will able to do it. Do you think getting involve in EC while in pharm school increasing my chances to land job at hospital..

 

[Caffeine QAM]

I can definately see myself working like that. I love working in quite place where i have to deal with least people, i could work much much faster rate. I would also love to make rounds around hospital speaking to patients.

Hospital pharmacists have do deal with people all the time. You deal with patients, nurses, physicians, other pharmacists. There's always issues that need to be resolved with people.

Since you talked about industry, do you know if companies like Johnson & Johnson or Merck would hire pharmacist?

Yes; typically pharmaceutical companies use phamacists as medical science liasons who are basically drug information experts specifically in their products. Some pharmacists in industry end up in other roles that are more business-sided versus clinical/drug info. Industry jobs are very tough to land. As mentioned, most graduates will end up in retail or hospital.

 

[PharmtoCS]

PGY-5????? I thought you only needed until PGY-2..

Most likely sarcasm. With the saturation of pharmacy school graduates and most students wanting to avoid retail, hospitals have become much pickier. i.e. they want at least a PGY1 now. PGY3s are already being discussed.

And yes, about 65-70% of the jobs are in retail. Do not go into pharmacy if you cannot handle or are unwilling to go into retail.

 

[Z-Qualizer]

PGY-5????? I thought you only needed until PGY-2..

Most likely sarcasm. With the saturation of pharmacy school graduates and most students wanting to avoid retail, hospitals have become much pickier. i.e. they want at least a PGY1 now. PGY3s are already being discussed.

And yes, about 65-70% of the jobs are in retail. Do not go into pharmacy if you cannot handle or are unwilling to go into retail.

Yeah 1/2 sarcastic, 1/2 serious... PGY-2 is now, in 2016... but the OP hasn't matriculated yet, so imagine 4+ years from now? PGY-5 might be an exaggerating a bit, but PGY-3 or PGY-4 wouldn't totally shock me.

 

[Pharmd = Phake Doctor]

Most likely sarcasm. With the saturation of pharmacy school graduates and most students wanting to avoid retail, hospitals have become much pickier. i.e. they want at least a PGY1 now. PGY3s are already being discussed.

And yes, about 65-70% of the jobs are in retail. Do not go into pharmacy if you cannot handle or are unwilling to go into retail.

People are magically thinking that hospital is way better than retail. They are going to enter a world of pain if they have a rosy picture of the hospital setting.

• You don't think hospitals have metrics? Think again. With decreasing reimbursement, hospitals have to slash budgets. There's a bean counter at our hospital who is tightening the screws on the pharmacy. Pharmacists and techs have to go home early or risk decreasing the productivity metric. If you go over, then people get even less hours or get fired. Need the forty hours? You'll have to use PTO or do PRN elsewhere.
• You don't think you'll get yelled at in the hospital? Everybody from the janitors to the physicians will yell at you to get that all-important, absolutely-vital drug up to them ASAP. If you come off rude or indignant to a nurse, nurse aide, respiratory tech, nurse practitioner, physician assistant or (God forbid) the physician, then you will get written up or worse. But if they treat you like trash, you will have no way to counter such treatment (pharmacists cannot write up people in my hospital; let that sink in.)
• You think the hospital job will ensure that you get quality time with your family and kids? Think again. You may have to work multiple different shifts consecutively. I worked a late night shift followed by an early morning shift followed by an overnight shift. Same goes for many of the pharmacists I work with. They will also make you work those hours on weekends and holidays.
• You think that 'clinical' title is going to make you more valuable than the staff pharmacists or even those retail pharmacists at CVS or Wags? Too many times, I have seen the clinical pharmacist get upset because the physicians outright rejected or decided to not follow the pharmacists treatment plan. Be ready to be seen as a excessive and unnecessary luxury by the physicians, nurse, bean counters. The hospital hires more NPs and PAs and treats them alot better than the clinical pharmacists.

I also work retail PRN. There is a lot more stress and chaos, but don't think for a second that hospital work is a cakewalk. With all the new schools and their (ever-decreasing quality of) students who lack the work ethic and physical fortitude to work retail coming out, hospitals will go the way of retail sooner or later.

PS - I love pharmacy, I wouldn't go into any other career. But I just get perplexed when I meet other students who have never worked a day in a pharmacy and have no clue what it entails.