Is being a Pharmacist less stressful than pharmacy school?

[tictac919]

Hi everyone,

I'm entering my fourth year of pharmacy school, and the curriculum can get pretty stressful and demanding (I'm handling it well so far though). I'm wondering if it'll be less taxing and stressful when I finally become a pharmacist. I'm aiming to get into clinical pharmacy and work in a hospital. Or will it be...more stressful?

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[Sine Cura]

Ask newly graduated PharmDs who are jobless if they find it stressful

 

[BC_89]

Hi everyone,

I'm entering my fourth year of pharmacy school, and the curriculum can get pretty stressful and demanding (I'm handling it well so far though). I'm wondering if it'll be less taxing and stressful when I finally become a pharmacist. I'm aiming to get into clinical pharmacy and work in a hospital. Or will it be...more stressful?

Have you not been interning while in school?

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Ask newly graduated PharmDs who are jobless if they find it stressful

This is a separate category of pharmacists altogether. There is “pharmacy student,” “jobless new grad” and “[employed] pharmacist.”

 

[azmiyu]

It doesn't end when you're a p4. For most people wanting to get into hospital pharmacy, expect an extra year of stress from residency. If you're not aiming for residency, you need to rethink your path. Even applying for residency sucks.

As for the stress, I think it's a different type of stress. As a student, you're worried about passing and getting your license. As a pharmacist, you're worried about not making a mistake and harming a patient, trying to hold onto your license, and stay up to date on pharmacy through self study.

 

[projektreverb]

Different kind of stress. Overall I’d say less stress.

 

[eeyore spice]

Less stressful by far, though I can only speak for one school. I've worked in a variety of settings since graduating; hospital was definitely the easiest, but good luck getting a clinical position without a residency. Actually, scratch that, you will not get a clinical position without a residency. I only got the privilege of working in a hospital as a temp, which I never thought I'd recommend but it's a great way to get experience and find out what setting fits you best.

 

[sunshine802]

It depends on what you find stressful. You should start interning to get experience if you haven’t done so yet. Most of the jobs are in retail, and its most likely you’ll do retail at some point of your career. Residencies are not easy to get into and are extremely stressful. Retail pharmacy is extremely stressful for some people. Hospital pharmacy is stressful in a completely different way. I find a lot of my peers who worked through school had a much easier transition than those who didn’t work at all, aside from unpaid school experiences. It can take months to thoroughly train a new technician, and in retail you need to be able to perform every single task of a technician, on top of your responsibilities as the pharmacist. You should also try working at several locations (i.e., if you’re interning at a chain pharmacy, pick up shifts at multiple locations). It’s helpful to see how different pharmacists work and counsel patients to develop your own style.

 

[spacecowgirl]

School stress is like being chased by a bear every so often. You have a test and then that part of the stress is over. Work stress is like being continuously chased by a carnivorous tortoise that never gets tired. It probably won't catch you, but the potential is always there. Unless you work retail in which case it is like a two headed saber toothed bear that never tires. I was in school for close to 10 years in some capacity and I laff and laff when I think about how "stressful" I thought it was. Work and having a family are much more stressful (but more rewarding) than school ever was. And for people with families who are in school, especially moms, nothing but mad respect. I cannot imagine.

 

[sozetone]

Hi everyone,

I'm entering my fourth year of pharmacy school, and the curriculum can get pretty stressful and demanding (I'm handling it well so far though). I'm wondering if it'll be less taxing and stressful when I finally become a pharmacist. I'm aiming to get into clinical pharmacy and work in a hospital. Or will it be...more stressful?

Well ill say this, i am a PIC at a WM in BFE colorado. Just got home from a hard day. Although almost every day is overly loaded ya know? This one in particular sucked. I am overloaded with new company initiatives, programs, goals, metrics, ...etc. We barely got the work done today. and why? because the companies have cut your help to the bone man. you cant get things done and manage anymore. Not efficiently anyway. So you end up hating your job and getting angry. Your helpless. Just waiting for the day your boss stops in and says "why did this not get done?" and you get a write up. Then your job is on the way to being over. any manager knows this. It's a terrible existence and i plan on exiting the field shortly to pursue other business options. So in short , YES!!! school was nothing compared to working. Without money, you are dead in the water right? and your family is counting on you. But your company is slowly pushing you to the brink of insanity or pushing you out the door. I cannot imagine this in a few years, my god i feel sooooo bad for the next generation pharmacists. They dont have a chance.

 

[wagrxm2000]

It's stress free when you have your staff trained properly.

 

[lord999]

It's stress free when you have your staff trained properly.

No offense, that sort of answer is something you can give when you're a bit too far from your first year of practice!

I think the first year in any practice is somewhat stressful, because sooner than later, you'll understand the responsibility and the pacing is something that you'll need to get used to. You are going to spend at least the first three months working on your own internal processes for verification and going about the business. It's going to be a conscious effort, and work on quality first, then speed follows. Normally, most figure it out in six months, but I was a slow horse, that comfort took me two years, but I had other things going on during that time.

When you have worked out your processes and thought patterns (as well as the exceptions), then I do agree with @wagrxm2000 mostly, but some patients (and providers) on some days...that's why they pay you the mid bucks, I suppose.

Overall, when you do get acclimated, I find general practice less stressful as the patterns become unconscious and instinctual, even with problem patients. Administration and having to figure out people when you're in a profession that tolerates what we kindly say as socially inept can be stressful but you asked for it. And there's a difference between a incompetent boss and a bad boss. If you do end up with a bad boss, then school has nothing on such a character if that person is sadistic enough...

 

[lord999]

Have you not been interning while in school?

Not the same, not the same at all, and I highly discourage my interns from thinking that it is comparable. It's the gulf between an NCO, a junior officer, and a field grade officer. Everyone does similar tasks, but there's a completely different mindset when accomplishing the mission between the three.

 

[owlegrad]

I mean would you tell a high school student that their lives will be less stressful once they get into college? I mean stress is relative but I doubt many people ever look back on their college days and think “boy am I glad that stress is over!”.

Most people probably find being a pharmacist more stressful than pharmacy school.

 

[BC_89]

Not the same, not the same at all, and I highly discourage my interns from thinking that it is comparable. It's the gulf between an NCO, a junior officer, and a field grade officer. Everyone does similar tasks, but there's a completely different mindset when accomplishing the mission between the three.

Even a bigger degree of shell shock or stress if one goes through without being an intern

 

[Twentytwelve2]

School is way more stressful. Information can be looked up at work. And work is actually FUN when you have awesome techs. We become like a pseudo-family.

 

[projektreverb]

School is way more stressful. Information can be looked up at work. And work is actually FUN when you have awesome techs. We become like a pseudo-family.

Exactly. Work becomes better when you realize that everyone is fighting the same fight. We’re in it together.

 

[rx2010]

I think it depends on where you work and who you're working with... While I was in school, I only found myself stressed when I was cramming for an exam or preparing for a presentation I was not ready for; I was not stressed on a daily basis. But when I was working retail as a pharmacist, I was stressed 100% of the time when I had a terrible staff. I later replaced all of my staff with new ones and the stress lessened, but I was still stressed 80% of the time because of the high work load required with not enough tech hours to get it done efficiently and on time (I had to come early and stay late many of times to complete everything). Now that I left retail and work at a hospital, I'm rarely stressed because my hospital is fully staffed so we aren't overworked and I like the majority of my coworkers. I'm only stressed when I'm working with the crappy people.

 

[sozetone]

It's stress free when you have your staff trained properly.

You HAVE to be a brainwashed corporate yes man........to believe what you are saying.

 

[wagrxm2000]

You HAVE to be a brainwashed corporate yes man........to believe what you are saying.

No I just know what I'm doing.

Let's look at some of the things Walgreens is doing that I achieve: High texting, refilling by app, 90 day, SATR, etc. One of the reasons stores fail after not training properly is not achieving their goals.

If you have an extremely low refill by app but another store is high, do you think the low store gets more hours? No, instead they are taking more refills over the phone. If two identical stores take 20 and 10 phone calls an hour with each call lasting 2 minutes, that's 20 minutes a person is wasting on the phone.

Another example, I'm getting my customers on board with SATR. Do you think a store where Mrs. Jones comes in 5 times a month compared to once a month gets more hours? Again no and I could go on.

You can call me brainwashed if it makes you feel better but continue to fall behind and you will hate your job more and more. Look at the stores that aren't doing anything to improve and their VBPT is always 60% or lower not 90% or higher like at my store.

You can say there isn't time but if you ignore everything and just continue to pout, well we'll see how long you last.

 

[Sine Cura]

Dunno, trash customers, screaming, ****ty prescribers are stressors that are present at most pharmacies and crappy reclamation jobs are not stress-free.

Who said anything about not following basic compliance initiatives and digital/online/app initiatives. Most chain pharmacies require staff to push all of that and we do it because it's in our best interest with cut tech hours to push those initiatives regardless of how illiterate the typical customer is

 

[wagrxm2000]

Dunno, trash customers, screaming, ****ty prescribers are stressors that are present at most pharmacies and crappy reclamation jobs are not stress-free.

Who said anything about not following basic compliance initiatives and digital/online/app initiatives. Most chain pharmacies require staff to push all of that and we do it because it's in our best interest with cut tech hours to push those initiatives regardless of how illiterate the typical customer is

The stores I see struggling are the ones that are below average in these initiatives.

There's a store relatively close to mine that does a little less scripts per day but their store is an absolute mess. When I look at their numbers, hold time is high and VBPT is low. They rarely make their daily calls, they have very low text and I could go on.

Doubt it all you want but this is a main contributer other then not training properly.

 

[sozetone]

No I just know what I'm doing.

Let's look at some of the things Walgreens is doing that I achieve: High texting, refilling by app, 90 day, SATR, etc. One of the reasons stores fail after not training properly is not achieving their goals.

If you have an extremely low refill by app but another store is high, do you think the low store gets more hours? No, instead they are taking more refills over the phone. If two identical stores take 20 and 10 phone calls an hour with each call lasting 2 minutes, that's 20 minutes a person is wasting on the phone.

Another example, I'm getting my customers on board with SATR. Do you think a store where Mrs. Jones comes in 5 times a month compared to once a month gets more hours? Again no and I could go on.

You can call me brainwashed if it makes you feel better but continue to fall behind and you will hate your job more and more. Look at the stores that aren't doing anything to improve and their VBPT is always 60% or lower not 90% or higher like at my store.

You can say there isn't time but if you ignore everything and just continue to pout, well we'll see how long you last.

See how long i last? i've been out mentally for a good year or so now. I'm moving on to medicinal dispensaries pal. You can have this pharmacy thing. Keep pumping your star ratings....it's absolutely ridiculous. Your company missed it's profit goals and immediately shredded its staff to the bone to save the shareholders and CEO's at the expense of the stakeholders. And every other company is doing the same thing, so im NOT just ragging on WAG. This is NOT a profitable field anymore for any of us, and it is dying.....these jobs are unsustainable at best. I achieve all the same metrics you do, your no better or worse than me as a manager these days. The playing field is the same across the board. So dont get all high on your horse like your doing something special that we as PIC's are NOT doing to keep our jobs man. I'm just tired , you get it? i wanna put all this effort into my own thing and watch it grow. (no pun intended). If your close to retirement, then thats a good thing, If your ~40, as i am, then you need to think really long term. Dont think you are immune to the problem because you do your job! We are all on the same sinking ship, and im getting off.

The fact that your quoting all these acronyms for initiatives, metrics and so on tells me you dont get it.... your fighting an uphill battle, as i am too. The efforts we put in are futile as we will eventually see catastrophic change in this field. Why would a person care about doing this? it's almost self destructive. Nobody is LASTING these days. We just lost a manager yesterday, walked off the job. It's like a virus of revolving doors. Open your mind man....you can do better for yourself. I guess we just think differently about life ya know? no hard feelings bro....promise.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

It comes down to one thing: good techs. If you do all the initiatives but still fail at work flow, then your techs are too slow. You have to observe the work flow and see where you can implement new ideas/methods to improve the work flow. Work flow is THE most important aspect that will affect safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction scores. Tech too slow? Change the production tech. Tech still too slow? Assist in counting and have them do pick up. Tech still too slow? Assist them in typing/pulling/counting and have them do all pick ups. The pharmacist has to be flexible and adapt to their store's environment. Failure to adapt will lead to stress and plumetting metrics.

 

[sozetone]

look we can quibble all day about what it means to have a "good" store....blah...blah. The big picture is these companies are struggling to make a profit right? reimbursements are down right? Adherence is killing us right? Medicare part D and state medicade and the STAR system.... all cost control methods being implemented by the government payers which results in decreased profits for all companies. We cannot control this as pharmacists! my point is this, you need to change your way of thinking about pharmacy. We should not be spending our days, months, and years trying to fight an uphill battle. This field is dying and becoming nothing more than a standard job with revolving doors. The incentive to truly care for people and help society is being ripped out from under us, along with the incentive to work period.....If you want to change your career path at this point I feel you are wise. If you want to struggle day after day working for companies who in turn are struggling to remain profitable, thats the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

 

[rx2010]

It comes down to one thing: good techs. If you do all the initiatives but still fail at work flow, then your techs are too slow. You have to observe the work flow and see where you can implement new ideas/methods to improve the work flow. Work flow is THE most important aspect that will affect safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction scores. Tech too slow? Change the production tech. Tech still too slow? Assist in counting and have them do pick up. Tech still too slow? Assist them in typing/pulling/counting and have them do all pick ups. The pharmacist has to be flexible and adapt to their store's environment. Failure to adapt will lead to stress and plumetting metrics.

I definitely agree your techs matter and also having the pharmacist being flexible. Trust me, I was one of those pharmacists that was back and forth between every single station in the pharmacy throughout the entire shift (drop off/data entry, dispensing, front register, drive thru, phone calls, etc). With the right tech, we were able to manage with just us two. The tech you have can make or break you. However, the problem is when you aren't allocated enough tech hours to be able to have an efficient work flow... The store I used to work at was given very minimal tech hours each week. What I did with those hours were up to me. But let me tell you, the hours I was allocated for the week was much less than the number of hours we were opened for the week. If I recall correctly, my pharmacy was open 78 hours a week and I was only allocated like 40-50 hours of tech hours a week. Since I went at least 6 months without a partner, I had floaters coming in and out; I scheduled a tech to be there anytime there was a floater and I would open and close with no tech on my shifts and also work Sundays with no tech the entire shift. Try doing that long term especially during cold and flu season when you're constantly pressured to give as many flu shots as possible all while also running the entire pharmacy by yourself the entire shift or half of the shift. Not to mention the many other vaccines that are offered at your pharmacy that are available year round and then add MTM to that as well. I left a few months after my company started to pilot MTM at few stores, which I stupidly volunteered to be part of that pilot. I can't imagine how things are now with MTM fully implemented throughout the company.

That was my experience at the store I was at. I just could not do that long term. I was stressed out the majority of the time and got burnt out very quickly. There were days when I literally could not get out of bed and can barely move because I was so exhausted. I spent my entire off day laying in bed or on the couch because I had no energy to do anything.

If I ever lose my current job, I would think very long and hard before going back to retail pharmacy. If I can't find any other pharmacy job besides retail, I might consider switching careers. The reason I would be able to go that route is because I have absolutely no debt and enough savings to allow me to switch careers even if it doesn't pay as much as what I was making as a pharmacist. I would not be desperate financially to have to return to retail pharmacy. My quality of life is more important.

 

[wagrxm2000]

See how long i last? i've been out mentally for a good year or so now. I'm moving on to medicinal dispensaries pal. You can have this pharmacy thing. Keep pumping your star ratings....it's absolutely ridiculous. Your company missed it's profit goals and immediately shredded its staff to the bone to save the shareholders and CEO's at the expense of the stakeholders. And every other company is doing the same thing, so im NOT just ragging on WAG. This is NOT a profitable field anymore for any of us, and it is dying.....these jobs are unsustainable at best. I achieve all the same metrics you do, your no better or worse than me as a manager these days. The playing field is the same across the board. So dont get all high on your horse like your doing something special that we as PIC's are NOT doing to keep our jobs man. I'm just tired , you get it? i wanna put all this effort into my own thing and watch it grow. (no pun intended). If your close to retirement, then thats a good thing, If your ~40, as i am, then you need to think really long term. Dont think you are immune to the problem because you do your job! We are all on the same sinking ship, and im getting off.

The fact that your quoting all these acronyms for initiatives, metrics and so on tells me you dont get it.... your fighting an uphill battle, as i am too. The efforts we put in are futile as we will eventually see catastrophic change in this field. Why would a person care about doing this? it's almost self destructive. Nobody is LASTING these days. We just lost a manager yesterday, walked off the job. It's like a virus of revolving doors. Open your mind man....you can do better for yourself. I guess we just think differently about life ya know? no hard feelings bro....promise.

Yes I am still in my 40s but I am also thinking about retiring when the right time presents itself. My family planned appropriately.

If you are achieving all your goals like you say then I don't know what to tell you but something tells me that isn't true.

We enjoy ourselves in the pharmacy. We have two kinds of days, half where we are getting everything done because we are having a busy day and the other half where we are just chilling because it's a below average script day. Oh and this comes from a higher then average script store. I don't believe in working in those extremely high script count stores that everyone here seems to work at even though that's the norm for a store.

Keep writing your long sob story posts but I think you should stop and look at your store because I guarantee I could fix it. It's what I used to do in my early years. There's a good chance it's just bad workflow. People need to ask themselves why, why is their store horrible and others aren't? If the answer is not enough hours or our customers are yelling at us nonstop, that's not the reason. All stores are dealing with that. So ask yourself why.

Do I think there is a career here for new pharmacists? No but that doesn't change the fact that us 40 somethings could make it to retirement.

It comes down to one thing: good techs. If you do all the initiatives but still fail at work flow, then your techs are too slow. You have to observe the work flow and see where you can implement new ideas/methods to improve the work flow. Work flow is THE most important aspect that will affect safety, efficiency, and customer satisfaction scores. Tech too slow? Change the production tech. Tech still too slow? Assist in counting and have them do pick up. Tech still too slow? Assist them in typing/pulling/counting and have them do all pick ups. The pharmacist has to be flexible and adapt to their store's environment. Failure to adapt will lead to stress and plumetting metrics.

This 100%. You need trained techs and then trained DHs ready to jump in.

 

[Sine Cura]

Demographics, location, and staff are the main determinants of store quality for a given company. First two dictate insurance and ceiling on Rx volume and types of problems that your store will have to deal with (clinics, education level of patients, frequency of acute rx and discharge Rx, drop off foot traffic etc), and staff training and whether there's a "sufficient" amount of people determine whether the store can deal with most of the problems in a timely fashion and along with doing all your corporate initiatives. You cannot fix demographics or location and for a given company there may be some peculiarities like Walmart hammering people on this opioid stewardship thing as well as auditing input accuracy

"Tech too slow" => either they adapt or find another job, same as it should be for pharmacists. I don't expect filling 70 an hour or typing 50 Rx an hour for everyone but move the needle.

CVS is a bad company but if you can handle working at a 900/week store not in a college town and not upper middle class or high % of "professional" class people (you know douchebags like lawyers and trophy wife SAHM) and low Medicaid % (a sweet spot), it's typically preferable to a complex Walmart SC selling >2k/week and everything is locked up, even the analgesic section.

 

[sozetone]

Yes I am still in my 40s but I am also thinking about retiring when the right time presents itself. My family planned appropriately.

If you are achieving all your goals like you say then I don't know what to tell you but something tells me that isn't true.

We enjoy ourselves in the pharmacy. We have two kinds of days, half where we are getting everything done because we are having a busy day and the other half where we are just chilling because it's a below average script day. Oh and this comes from a higher then average script store. I don't believe in working in those extremely high script count stores that everyone here seems to work at even though that's the norm for a store.

Keep writing your long sob story posts but I think you should stop and look at your store because I guarantee I could fix it. It's what I used to do in my early years. There's a good chance it's just bad workflow. People need to ask themselves why, why is their store horrible and others aren't? If the answer is not enough hours or our customers are yelling at us nonstop, that's not the reason. All stores are dealing with that. So ask yourself why.

Do I think there is a career here for new pharmacists? No but that doesn't change the fact that us 40 somethings could make it to retirement.



This 100%. You need trained techs and then trained DHs ready to jump in.

My store is top in the market, have you been listening? YOU dont need to fix anything. stick to walgreens, they got your back.

 

[sozetone]

I definitely agree your techs matter and also having the pharmacist being flexible. Trust me, I was one of those pharmacists that was back and forth between every single station in the pharmacy throughout the entire shift (drop off/data entry, dispensing, front register, drive thru, phone calls, etc). With the right tech, we were able to manage with just us two. The tech you have can make or break you. However, the problem is when you aren't allocated enough tech hours to be able to have an efficient work flow... The store I used to work at was given very minimal tech hours each week. What I did with those hours were up to me. But let me tell you, the hours I was allocated for the week was much less than the number of hours we were opened for the week. If I recall correctly, my pharmacy was open 78 hours a week and I was only allocated like 40-50 hours of tech hours a week. Since I went at least 6 months without a partner, I had floaters coming in and out; I scheduled a tech to be there anytime there was a floater and I would open and close with no tech on my shifts and also work Sundays with no tech the entire shift. Try doing that long term especially during cold and flu season when you're constantly pressured to give as many flu shots as possible all while also running the entire pharmacy by yourself the entire shift or half of the shift. Not to mention the many other vaccines that are offered at your pharmacy that are available year round and then add MTM to that as well. I left a few months after my company started to pilot MTM at few stores, which I stupidly volunteered to be part of that pilot. I can't imagine how things are now with MTM fully implemented throughout the company.

That was my experience at the store I was at. I just could not do that long term. I was stressed out the majority of the time and got burnt out very quickly. There were days when I literally could not get out of bed and can barely move because I was so exhausted. I spent my entire off day laying in bed or on the couch because I had no energy to do anything.

If I ever lose my current job, I would think very long and hard before going back to retail pharmacy. If I can't find any other pharmacy job besides retail, I might consider switching careers. The reason I would be able to go that route is because I have absolutely no debt and enough savings to allow me to switch careers even if it doesn't pay as much as what I was making as a pharmacist. I would not be desperate financially to have to return to retail pharmacy. My quality of life is more important.

there ya go... QUALITY OF LIFE.......thats the thing i never hear anymore. just hear people blathering on about how to get your store in "great" shape and do better......etc. It's time to admit no matter how hard we push or how well our stores run, it's a dead end. the upcoming changes to pharmacy are going to be catastrophic for all of us. We dont know what they will be exactly, but you can assume its negative. Do you see jobs suddenly blooming with higher pay? of course not...so find something that provides a better quality of life because this is it, done and over....dont waste it.

 

[wagrxm2000]

My quality of life is amazing

Sorry for not making that obvious.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

My quality of life is amazing

Sorry for not making that obvious.

Not related. But what do you do to improve adherence scores- besides 90ds conversion? We have continued doing conversions but every month our score has not improved.

 

[lord999]

Yes I am still in my 40s but I am also thinking about retiring when the right time presents itself. My family planned appropriately.

And that's actually one of the keys to longevity, the ability to walk away. It really changes the power dynamic between supervision and workers, that if I am a decent worker but you're treating me poorly enough, I can walk away.

That said, I highly doubt most normal pharmacists (even hospital) are going to be survivors into our 60s, I fully expect the chains and institutions to grey-hair (and high salary) layoff to rightsize the cost per prescription line. Make your money now, while you can, because it is very doubtful that you'll get to choose when you end your career.

 

[sozetone]

And that's actually one of the keys to longevity, the ability to walk away. It really changes the power dynamic between supervision and workers, that if I am a decent worker but you're treating me poorly enough, I can walk away.

That said, I highly doubt most normal pharmacists (even hospital) are going to be survivors into our 60s, I fully expect the chains and institutions to grey-hair (and high salary) layoff to rightsize the cost per prescription line. Make your money now, while you can, because it is very doubtful that you'll get to choose when you end your career.

Finally some sensible thought process going on. long term thinking is important. good job.

 

[sozetone]

My quality of life is amazing

Sorry for not making that obvious.

yeah i suppose working for a struggling pharmacy chain provides a better quality of life than owning a successful business of your own. that makes sense.

 

[wagrxm2000]

yeah i suppose working for a struggling pharmacy chain provides a better quality of life than owning a successful business of your own. that makes sense.

I'd rather leave the pharmacy and not have to worry then run my own pharmacy.

Look I'm not saying every pharmacist loves their job but stop trying to act like everyone has it so bad right now. There are a ton of thriving pharmacies.

Not everyone is in the same boat as you.

 

[sozetone]

I'd rather leave the pharmacy and not have to worry then run my own pharmacy.

Look I'm not saying every pharmacist loves their job but stop trying to act like everyone has it so bad right now. There are a ton of thriving pharmacies.

Not everyone is in the same boat as you.

I would never open a traditional retail pharmacy. fastest growing industry in america is marijuana. Quickly dying industry is traditional retail pharmacy. It's a no brainer, thats all im saying. You can do other things though, restaurant, Coin laundromats, ...on and on. To Make a good living. No, not everyone is in the same boat, but the majority are. and Retail pharmacies are simply surviving, they are NOT thriving. those days are over. Big money has been crushed. There are always exceptions, but again the majority are struggling to make ends meet these days. And more problems are on the way, so stay tuned.

 

[wagrxm2000]

I would never open a traditional retail pharmacy. fastest growing industry in america is marijuana. Quickly dying industry is traditional retail pharmacy. It's a no brainer, thats all im saying. You can do other things though, restaurant, Coin laundromats, ...on and on. To Make a good living. No, not everyone is in the same boat, but the majority are. and Retail pharmacies are simply surviving, they are NOT thriving. those days are over. Big money has been crushed. There are always exceptions, but again the majority are struggling to make ends meet these days. And more problems are on the way, so stay tuned.

Now you are just making things up to fit your agenda. I have rarely met a long term pharmacist who was struggling in life living in the Midwest.

Let me ask you something. I assume you entered pharmacy school in the 90s. What was your reason? It definitely wasn't to become rich. What has changed? I'm not talking about the job itself but you.

You say pharmacists aren't thriving but us long term pharmacists didn't even have goals of retiring early. We didn't enter the job for the money. My wife and I will most likely be retiring in our 50s after the kids are out of the house. My original plan was to be doing this well into my 60s but this job has done so much more for us.

 

[sozetone]

Now you are just making things up to fit your agenda. I have rarely met a long term pharmacist who was struggling in life living in the Midwest.

Let me ask you something. I assume you entered pharmacy school in the 90s. What was your reason? It definitely wasn't to become rich. What has changed? I'm not talking about the job itself but you.

You say pharmacists aren't thriving but us long term pharmacists didn't even have goals of retiring early. We didn't enter the job for the money. My wife and I will most likely be retiring in our 50s after the kids are out of the house. My original plan was to be doing this well into my 60s but this job has done so much more for us.

Look i'm exhausted of going back and forth with you. you have your opinions, i have mine. I respect yours. In the meantime, You go your way, and i'll go mine. Take care.

 

[beautifulrobot]

I have a non-traditional, non-clinical, non-supervisory pharmacist job. It is generally very low stress. Occassionally i have to deal with tight deadlines, or give presentations to bigwigs and at high profile public meetings, and that can be a little stressful. Dealing with frequent leadership changes and threats of reduction in force is kind of like that carnivorous tortoise @spacecowgirl mentioned: its low grade stress that keeps a small fire under my butt to never take anything for granted.

One thing that gets to me more than stressful situations is the monotony and boredom. I can find ways to overcome it, mostly by finding meaning in activities outside of work, but ultimately I am very career-focused and derive a lot of meaning and satisfaction from completing structured / externally imposed assignments. If you're anything like me, you may find out that the stress isn't what bothers you that much - but rather the lack of gratification and sense of self-fulfillment that occurs when there are no longer exams to score well on, and the path to success is no longer clearly demarcated.

Tl;dr - work is different kind of stress than school. Whether work is ultimately more stressful largely depends on the setting you work in and your specific preferences for what kind of problems you enjoy solving.

 

[sozetone]

I have a non-traditional, non-clinical, non-supervisory pharmacist job. It is generally very low stress. Occassionally i have to deal with tight deadlines, or give presentations to bigwigs and at high profile public meetings, and that can be a little stressful. Dealing with frequent leadership changes and threats of reduction in force is kind of like that carnivorous tortoise @spacecowgirl mentioned: its low grade stress that keeps a small fire under my butt to never take anything for granted.

One thing that gets to me more than stressful situations is the monotony and boredom. I can find ways to overcome it, mostly by finding meaning in activities outside of work, but ultimately I am very career-focused and derive a lot of meaning and satisfaction from completing structured / externally imposed assignments. If you're anything like me, you may find out that the stress isn't what bothers you that much - but rather the lack of gratification and sense of self-fulfillment that occurs when there are no longer exams to score well on, and the path to success is no longer clearly demarcated.

Tl;dr - work is different kind of stress than school. Whether work is ultimately more stressful largely depends on the setting you work in and your specific preferences for what kind of problems you enjoy solving.

well put man.....

 

[Wickett]

Not related. But what do you do to improve adherence scores- besides 90ds conversion? We have continued doing conversions but every month our score has not improved.

Med sync and/or autofill on the important maintenance meds, as well as text notification signup and doing calls on things in the bin >7 days will work wonders. I also keep a list of people known for being non adherent and periodically check their profiles to see if things are due and call them about filling. Also doing MTMs and going through outliers on EQuiPP and getting those resolved took my adherence scores from the low 70s when I took over my store to the upper 80s to low 90s on nearly everything...and I work with a very low income/"difficult" patient population that typically has poor adherence. Most stores in my company known for being low performers on adherence tend to be led by people that are either too lazy to do these checks or just throw their hands up in the air and claim they have no control over whether people pick up their stuff.

 

[Sine Cura]

It's a fact you can't control ****ty clinics or IQ

 

[King2440]

Comparing WAG and WAL are two different animals. Hate to say it but the quality and education of patients (as a WHOLE) at WAL is typically lower. No offense to anyone. More cash paid, inner city areas, hence leading to low digital engagement, more phone calls, more patients not taking responsible etc. It doesn’t mean you are bad at what you do though, but you have to put more care in for your patients. And this can just snowball from here.

And to say pharmacy is thriving is semi-correct. The pharmacy COMPANIES and OWNERS are thriving. Supply >>>> Demand. The folks that work for them (us RPh) are doing every little thing we can to stay relevant and avoid that target on our backs.

 

[mentos]

Assuming you have a full time offer and your student loan debt isn't outrageous, life is infinitely better after school. Especially when your loans are paid off, you have disposable and investment income.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I found school far less stressful than actually working......and it took up far less time as well. However I certainly prefer the freedom of working, over the constrictedness of school.

 

[Nguyen]

School was a different kind of stress for me- the constant projects, always having something due next day or next week, pleasing your preceptors for possible future jobs/LORs/grades, etc. Being a pharmacist, however, is on a whole different level. All the decisions and actions you make or take is on YOUR license. You won't have a preceptor approving or disapproving your recommendations/actions. All questions come to you and you're expected to know or find out one way or another. I can tell you this- if you plan on working at a teaching hospital, then completing a PGY-1 should be your TOP priority right now. To conclude, being a pharmacist is way more stressful than school no matter what area you practice in (retail, hospital, etc.). Just my experience as a recently graduate of 2018 who has been working two jobs for 1 year now (hospital and mail order).

 

[PharmEE95]

Well ill say this, i am a PIC at a WM in BFE colorado. Just got home from a hard day. Although almost every day is overly loaded ya know? This one in particular sucked. I am overloaded with new company initiatives, programs, goals, metrics, ...etc. We barely got the work done today. and why? because the companies have cut your help to the bone man. you cant get things done and manage anymore. Not efficiently anyway. So you end up hating your job and getting angry. Your helpless. Just waiting for the day your boss stops in and says "why did this not get done?" and you get a write up. Then your job is on the way to being over. any manager knows this. It's a terrible existence and i plan on exiting the field shortly to pursue other business options. So in short , YES!!! school was nothing compared to working. Without money, you are dead in the water right? and your family is counting on you. But your company is slowly pushing you to the brink of insanity or pushing you out the door. I cannot imagine this in a few years, my god i feel sooooo bad for the next generation pharmacists. They dont have a chance.

You were terrible at your job. Please don't discourage others from making 120K+ after four years of professional school, still in their twenties, just because you personally weren't suited for pharmacy. Should have gone for the trades maybe, less interaction with customers standing in line. Oh yes, there's less saturation as well. Less debt too...weren't these things all that you were complaining about?

 

[King2440]

You were terrible at your job. Please don't discourage others from making 120K+ after four years of professional school, still in their twenties, just because you personally weren't suited for pharmacy. Should have gone for the trades maybe, less interaction with customers standing in line. Oh yes, there's less saturation as well. Less debt too...weren't these things all that you were complaining about?

Are you another dean of a pharmacy school posting made up crap?

What rock have you been under? Very few new grads are starting at 120k. Maybe only the cream of the crop. Most new grads are getting 48 hour PRN and about $52 an hour. And that’s IF they get a job.

 

[sozetone]

You were terrible at your job. Please don't discourage others from making 120K+ after four years of professional school, still in their twenties, just because you personally weren't suited for pharmacy. Should have gone for the trades maybe, less interaction with customers standing in line. Oh yes, there's less saturation as well. Less debt too...weren't these things all that you were complaining about?

Bro iv'e been a tech since 97', and Rph since 2012, dont you talk to me like that. I'm great at what i do. Always have been, or i wouldnt have gone to school for it. Unlike the "new" generation, that went to school because they assumed they would be a good fit. Dont you dare talk to me like that......When i decided to go to school the field was still booming and blossoming. I wasnt stupid like this new generation to do it anyway in the face of assured failure.