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Does anybody know a good, accurate source to read up on potential problems in the field of pharmacy? I'm trying to prep myself for upcoming interviews. Thanks a bunch.
Well, the main problem is that there are a lot of people getting older and there aren't enough pharmacists to go around in the system.
Healthcare has to also focus on preventive medicine, and there are a lot of health disparities that have to be fixed.
I agree 100%. If I was asked that question, I would answer that we need to focus more on preventative medicine. The US spends the most in the world on healthcare (I think its like a $1.5 trillion market) and we are by far from being the healthiest people in the world doesn't. Clearly something is wrong. Preventative medicine would help lower the incidence of chronic disease, and ultimately reduce health care costs in the long term. Unfortunately, our society is one that demands instant satisfaction. If we don't see results right away, we assume that intervention is not worth it. We also need to rework the healthcare system so that everyone has access to primary care.
Well, the main problem is that there are a lot of people getting older and there aren't enough pharmacists to go around in the system.
Healthcare has to also focus on preventive medicine, and there are a lot of health disparities that have to be fixed.
One more thing...
These $4 lists are turning pharmacies into a free-for-all. While it's an excellent way to attract patients into a pharmacy and also a great resource for all of those people without insurance, I think it takes away from the integrity of the profession. Would anyone ever question a doctor about why their medical office visit copay is so high??
Last time I checked, there were enough pharmacists to go around.
Really, then why do most companies never have more than one pharmacist working at the same time, other than extremely high volume situations.
I agree but I still remember reading somewhere there is a shortage of about 1,500 pharmacists.That one is easy--corporate greed. Profit maximization is the name of the game in retail. Retail pharmacies are understaffed, in general.
I agree but I still remember reading somewhere there is a shortage of about 1,500 pharmacists.
Absolutely not true. My teacher (that used to be a pharmacist) said that the country has a shortage of about 7000 pharmacist. I am curious though, where did you find that number?
You're claiming this is ABSOLUTELY NOT true because your teacher said so...wow. The point is, there is a shortage.
did you notice that I asked him to tell me where he found this info and he didn't answer yet so then I would be able to change my views if what he said is true. .
If what he said was true? I thought you just said that it was ABSOLUTELY NOT true.
Ahh, nevermind, just read the post that sparked this discussion.
Easy way to resolve this situation... Someone find a source for this information. End of discussion.
http://www.uspharmacist.com/index.asp?show=article&page=8_1008.htm
I found out this website said that we might need 100,000 more pharmacist by 2020. I calculated how many pharmacist we will need per year (average) and this article was published in 2002. So, I did 100,000 amount of pharmacist divided by 18 years and that came out 5,555.55 pharmacist jobs will be opened per year (average).
Another website:
This one is more updated. This one was made in 2005 by msnbc and they said 157,000 shortages by 2020.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9956386/
Again I did the same calculation (157,000 pharmacist jobs open/15 years) and got 10,466.66 pharmacist jobs opens up per year until 2020 (average).
So the shortage can vary. I said that 1500 is a small number if it was nationwide because the amount of drug orders are becoming more and more crazy every year and we will always need more pharmacist.
I second that. The truth is there is a shortage, noone knows how much. Like the post above it is dependant on location. We all know Florida and California as well as other desirable are in less demand. Now if you go to say Idaho, im sure they are in extreme demand. Now for the record my teacher says there is a shortage of 1,200,000 pharmacist FTW.Well, my teacher said you and your teacher are toolbags.
What you're forgetting is that a good amount of the older pharmacists are going to retire soon, opening up positions. Asides from that, I do plan on settling down in a rural area when I'm done with pharmacy school and residency, honestly, the roads in New York City are so boring, the cops are nazis about speeding. There's no point in buying a Merc SL or a BMW M Class in NYC because you can't do anything with them until like 2AM.
I wanna live somewhere, where I can regularly go 100+mph, with crap loads of hard corners, mountainous driving, sounds like the Poconos are my destination.
Dude, I think Colorado needs you!! driving in the mountains is a very crazyyyy thing to do. I always go 160+ mph in my audi in vail or breck!!!
yes u r right i agree with u its our dream that the pharmacist can do its real role to day and tomorrow by the way iam egyptian pharmacy student and wish to be agood friend in this disscutionhttp://www.uspharmacist.com/index.asp?show=article&page=8_1008.htm
I found out this website said that we might need 100,000 more pharmacist by 2020. I calculated how many pharmacist we will need per year (average) and this article was published in 2002. So, I did 100,000 amount of pharmacist divided by 18 years and that came out 5,555.55 pharmacist jobs will be opened per year (average).
Another website:
This one is more updated. This one was made in 2005 by msnbc and they said 157,000 shortages by 2020.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9956386/
Again I did the same calculation (157,000 pharmacist jobs open/15 years) and got 10,466.66 pharmacist jobs opens up per year until 2020 (average).
So the shortage can vary. I said that 1500 is a small number if it was nationwide because the amount of drug orders are becoming more and more crazy every year and we will always need more pharmacist.
I thought i was being blatantly obvious. I was mocking a bit about random quotes by teachers or papers. nice post though.UNmorbust, if you are not being sarcastic about what your teacher said. . . listen to people who are out there working already instead!
This is a really good post to get focused. I think so far we've covered:
1. shortage of pharmacists
2. need to focus on preventive medicine
3. affordable and accessible insurance plans
anything else to add?
Sparda. . . do you know any pharmacists retiring anytime soon? I have been in pharmacy for a while now and in fact, we actually have old pharmacists coming back to work. Pharmacists did not always make 6 figures and many of them do not have pensions. In addition, there really isnt much physical limitations to being one.
My problems with problems of pharmacy:
1. Too much information being presented to us by computers for us to focus on what really matters, leading to medication errors.
2. Obsolete barriers that prevents pharmacist from doing what they can do best. Barriers includes legislations, public perception, and other things.
3. Devaluation of pharmacy services with drive thrus and 4 dollar generics.
The three that you mentioned above such as shortage of pharmacist, needs to focus on preventive medicine, and affordable and accessible insurance plan is not potential problems of pharmacy but potential problems of healthcare in general. Say it and I guarantee you the admission staff knows you have no idea of anything relating to pharmacy or have any pharmacy experience at all.
Sparda. . . do you know any pharmacists retiring anytime soon? I have been in pharmacy for a while now and in fact, we actually have old pharmacists coming back to work. Pharmacists did not always make 6 figures and many of them do not have pensions. In addition, there really isnt much physical limitations to being one.
My problems with problems of pharmacy:
1. Too much information being presented to us by computers for us to focus on what really matters, leading to medication errors.
2. Obsolete barriers that prevents pharmacist from doing what they can do best. Barriers includes legislations, public perception, and other things.
3. Devaluation of pharmacy services with drive thrus and 4 dollar generics.
The three that you mentioned above such as shortage of pharmacist, needs to focus on preventive medicine, and affordable and accessible insurance plan is not potential problems of pharmacy but potential problems of healthcare in general. Say it and I guarantee you the admission staff knows you have no idea of anything relating to pharmacy or have any pharmacy experience at all.
One more thing...
These $4 lists are turning pharmacies into a free-for-all. While it's an excellent way to attract patients into a pharmacy and also a great resource for all of those people without insurance, I think it takes away from the integrity of the profession. Would anyone ever question a doctor about why their medical office visit copay is so high??
That is a good question. How is it possible for a pharmacist to make 100K a year if the prescriptions are costing patients $4 dollars only??? Are these people on medicaid or are these drugs really that cheap??? I figure the drug itself proberly cost MORE then $4 to produce..
Well, look at the places where the $4 generic lists are offered: Target and Wal-Mart. These huge stores rely on the idea that while these patients are waiting for their $4 prescriptions they will go out into the store, spend $100 by other things, and their losses are accounted for.
The drug companies charge enough money to recoup the amount of money that they invested in the drug to bring it to the market as well as to pay for all of the other drugs that did not make it to the market. Drug companies also have to finance the research for the drugs of the future. Generic companies are not developing the the drugs of the future, they are only stealing the development of the large pharma companines and trying to make a profit off of it. Once the big pharma companies go under due to the loss of their patents, who will bring new drugs to the market?
P.S.
No small pharma company can afford to bring a drug through all fo the clinical phases and to market without the help of a large pharm company.
..the discovery and development of one new drug costs around $800 million (taking failures into account) and takes an average of 10 to 12 years. This degree of investment, with such a late return on this investment, is unparalleled in human activity ..However, you can't deny that it costs a lot of money to bring new drugs to the market (I've heard estimates as low as $200 million and as high as $800 million). Someone has to foot that bill. I read somewhere that if FDA regulations in the 30's and 40's were as stringent as they are now, penicillin would never have come to the market.
The thing with big pharma is it has stifled innovation because of money (and greed, too). In the story of penicillin, pharmaceutical companies were unwilling to produce the drug until it was a proven success and there was a high demand for it during WWII. If you only make proven drugs, you will never make new ones.
does anyone know if the retail pharmacy profession will be outsourced? are they already outsourcing pharmacist? I hate to graduate from 6-8+ years of school with debts and not be able to find a job
does anyone know if the retail pharmacy profession will be outsourced? are they already outsourcing pharmacist? I hate to graduate from 6-8+ years of school with debts and not be able to find a job
I don't know about outsourced, like by having pharmacists in India doing our jobs because there are licensing issues with that. But there is a good possibility of a robots having major roles in pharmacy. That could mean really bad news for pharmacy technicians, but you still need pharmacists in the retail setting to counsel, make sure the robot isn't screwing up, etc.
When I say robots, I mean these things:
A technology that should and could be in place in the pharmacy is bar code prescriptions. Basically, the MD types up the prescription on a certain kind of paper, that has a bar code on it, like on the back. On the front, would be all the normal information necessary. But when the prescription gets to the pharmacy, the pharmacist scans the bar code, which automatically enters the encoded prescription information into the computer system, and if the insurance goes through, the robot is activated and counts the medication, which is checked by the pharmacist, and then the pharmacist dispenses it and can counsel as well.
Say goodbye to the pharmacy technician.
hiDoes anybody know a good, accurate source to read up on potential problems in the field of pharmacy? I'm trying to prep myself for upcoming interviews. Thanks a bunch.
WOW which pharmacy is this?? Most pharm techs are proberly pre-pharm students anyways! LOL....
hi
iam egyptian pharmacy student and i want to have friends frm usa pharmacy students and discuss with them
and to add my mail
mail:[email protected]
Sparda, you will NEVER find a retail pharmacy with more than one pharmacists on shift unless it is a 24 hour store with overlaps. The reason for this as one of the poster mentioned before is corporate greed. I have seen pharmacists push out 400-500 a day, and a few stores 1k. Most companies (Duane reade) have a central filling station. Some companies require chronic medications to be mail ordered (NYC is heavily unionized). etc