I am interested in IT pharmacy but it seems like it's hard to break in without being there already as a hospital pharmacist? Anyone got any experience or advice on how one could get certified? Are there any residency spots for IT pharmacy opening up lately?
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How would one get WILLOW certified?
- Thread starter Lnsean
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The one place that hired me to do IT pharmacy (however I said no to the position) said once I got the job they would ship me out to another state for only a few days to get certified.
Why didn't I do it? The paycut. Going from 200k down to 95k a year, I was not having it.
Sure, my quality of life would have been much better, I would have had a social life, better friendships, and better relationships, but I would be spending more money that would be coming in.
Anyways, I don't know where you can get certified. The hospital that hired me said they would take care of getting me trained. Mind you, I have zero IT experience.
Why didn't I do it? The paycut. Going from 200k down to 95k a year, I was not having it.
Sure, my quality of life would have been much better, I would have had a social life, better friendships, and better relationships, but I would be spending more money that would be coming in.
Anyways, I don't know where you can get certified. The hospital that hired me said they would take care of getting me trained. Mind you, I have zero IT experience.
The one place that hired me to do IT pharmacy (however I said no to the position) said once I got the job they would ship me out to another state for only a few days to get certified.
Why didn't I do it? The paycut. Going from 200k down to 95k a year, I was not having it.
Sure, my quality of life would have been much better, I would have had a social life, better friendships, and better relationships, but I would be spending more money that would be coming in.
Anyways, I don't know where you can get certified. The hospital that hired me said they would take care of getting me trained. Mind you, I have zero IT experience.
how are you making 200k as a pharmacist (besides OT)?
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I am interested in IT pharmacy but it seems like it's hard to break in without being there already as a hospital pharmacist? Anyone got any experience or advice on how one could get certified? Are there any residency spots for IT pharmacy opening up lately?
Epic certification can only be obtained one way. You must work for an organization that is using Epic and they must send you to Epic HQ in Verona, WI to take their certification class. It's like going back to pharmacy school for three months. One week of class followed by exams and projects. Repeat every four weeks for three months.
Epic certification can only be obtained one way. You must work for an organization that is using Epic and they must send you to Epic HQ in Verona, WI to take their certification class. It's like going back to pharmacy school for three months. One week of class followed by exams and projects. Repeat every four weeks for three months.
This is correct. Using epic as an end user (pharmacist, nurse, doc) for clinical duties and being certified are very different. One does not need to be 'certified' in order to use epic in this manner. Being certified in an Epic application allows one to build it out and customize it to your organization's specifications. I went through both willow and beacon (oncology) certs, which are not difficult at all but do take a bit of time seeing as how you must travel to epic HQ and sit in their classes on their schedule (their HQ is really cool tho, reminds me of a super modern college campus... they make it pretty painless) ; the certifications only give you the most basic knowledge of manipulating the system. The rest is learned from colleagues over time. One must be sponsored from a healthcare organization or approved consulting firm in order to get certification. Epic is the most anal about getting certified in their programs and how the hospitals use them compared to the other EHR vendors, which is probably why they are quickly becoming the most common EHR in the large facilities imo.
Getting into the field would likely be very difficult without a hospital background, but I would still apply for every informatics job out there if you were interested, in addition to hospital jobs... Could get lucky. As for new grads, it would be close to impossible unless the director was your family or something.
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This is correct. Using epic as an end user (pharmacist, nurse, doc) for clinical duties and being certified are very different. One does not need to be 'certified' in order to use epic in this manner. Being certified in an Epic application allows one to build it out and customize it to your organization's specifications. I went through both willow and beacon (oncology) certs, which are not difficult at all but do take a bit of time seeing as how you must travel to epic HQ and sit in their classes on their schedule (their HQ is really cool tho, reminds me of a super modern college campus... they make it pretty painless) ; the certifications only give you the most basic knowledge of manipulating the system. The rest is learned from colleagues over time. One must be sponsored from a healthcare organization or approved consulting firm in order to get certification. Epic is the most anal about getting certified in their programs and how the hospitals use them compared to the other EHR vendors, which is probably why they are quickly becoming the most common EHR in the large facilities imo.
Getting into the field would likely be very difficult without a hospital background, but I would still apply for every informatics job out there if you were interested, in addition to hospital jobs... Could get lucky. As for new grads, it would be close to impossible unless the director was your family or something.
Thanks for the info...I despised hospital dispensing and therefore have not worked in a hospital setting...which makes it hard for me to break into informatics given that you need to know the workflow in that setting.
Thanks for the info...I despised hospital dispensing and therefore have not worked in a hospital setting...which makes it hard for me to break into informatics given that you need to know the workflow in that setting.
Knowledge of dispensing workflows are important, but only one aspect of being an informaticist. I would keep applying for both hospital and informatics jobs, if you get a hospital gig your chances go up significantly. There are openings, mostly in CA though.
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Knowledge of dispensing workflows are important, but only one aspect of being an informaticist. I would keep applying for both hospital and informatics jobs, if you get a hospital gig your chances go up significantly. There are openings, mostly in CA though.
Knowledge of MULTIPLE different workflows will greatly help you. But some hospital experience is definitely needed. There are residency spots but most (if not all) are PGY-2. What makes you so interested in informatics?
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Farmadiazepine only posted to let you know that s/he was offered an IT position (the one you are coveting) but turned it down while lowkey mentioning how much money s/he makes *cough*brag*cough* Notice he had nothing else to contribute to this conversation.how are you making 200k as a pharmacist (besides OT)?
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