pharmacist positions without direct patient interaction

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khydroxide

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Hey guys,

i was wondering if someone could give me some input on pharmacist positions with minimal patient interaction. I am looking for positions that do not involve face-face interaction with the patient. I know plenty about hospital staff pharmacist positions but does anyone work for a mail-order pharmacy, home infusion, or some other position? I would really appreciate if you could give me a brief job description and compensation info. I have been googling this stuff but i would rather hear it from someone who has had some experience in these fields. Thanks in advance.
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I'm spending my IPPE summer in just such a place where they don't interact with the patients as far as I can tell. This is a pharmacy that supplies the medications to hospices so the pharmacists interact mostly with nurses over the phone to get the orders. They fill it and a delivery guy takes the drugs away. The pharmacist mostly verifies, takes new scripts over the phone and does medication reviews where they screen for duplication, interactions, etc. and then suggest changes. They probably do more than that but I'm just an intern so I'm not sure about the exact job description and I have no clue about the compensation. Maybe somebody else works at a place like that and can give you a better description.
 
khydroxide said:
Hey guys,

i was wondering if someone could give me some input on pharmacist positions with minimal patient interaction. I am looking for positions that do not involve face-face interaction with the patient. I know plenty about hospital staff pharmacist positions but does anyone work for a mail-order pharmacy, home infusion, or some other position? I would really appreciate if you could give me a brief job description and compensation info. I have been googling this stuff but i would rather hear it from someone who has had some experience in these fields. Thanks in advance.
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Nuclear pharmacy would fit the bill. All you do is make specialized drugs for the hospitals, so you'll never see any patients. I suppose the two main barriers towards getting into a nuclear pharmacy are 1.) You have to be a night owl, as their shifts basically start around midnight, and 2.) There aren't that many nuclear pharmacies out there.

If you want to learn more, Spiriva has a great write-up on nuclear pharmacy: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=555396 .

--Garfield3d
 
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I was gonna suggest academia, but some of the students may become your "patients" if they ask for recommendations about medications or ask for medical advice.
 
crazybob said:
I was gonna suggest academia, but some of the students may become your "patients" if they ask for recommendations about medications or ask for medical advice.
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Seems like OP is worried more about a certain kind of person that is often the "patient model" in pharmacy. I doubt students would ever fall into that, so academia is likely a good option.
 
Hospitals, yes but just make sure it is a hospital in which pharmacists don't actually have a lot of patient contact. At the hospital I work for, the mobile pharmacists do get a lot of patient interaction- including interaction with the patient's family. I would steer clear of ICU and hem/onc if you don't like that stuff.

In fact, you should probably stick to mail order or IT or something like that.
 
khydroxide said:
Hey guys,

i was wondering if someone could give me some input on pharmacist positions with minimal patient interaction. I am looking for positions that do not involve face-face interaction with the patient. I know plenty about hospital staff pharmacist positions but does anyone work for a mail-order pharmacy, home infusion, or some other position? I would really appreciate if you could give me a brief job description and compensation info. I have been googling this stuff but i would rather hear it from someone who has had some experience in these fields. Thanks in advance.
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I would love a job like that too. :)
 
Passion4Sci said:
Yea pretty much hospital is perfect for that. AmCare is like, the only part of hospital pharmacy that has any pt contact at all.
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oh yeah? I had no idea as an inpatient clinical pharmacist I would interact with patients and their families on a daily basis.

I love it when first years let me know how my job works :cool:
 
njac said:
oh yeah? I had no idea as an inpatient clinical pharmacist I would interact with patients and their families on a daily basis.

I love it when first years let me know how my job works :cool:
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I was able to avoid all patient interaction. Except when I was forced to do the stupid ass clinical shift and I had to do Coumadin teaching...
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
I was able to avoid all patient interaction. Except when I was forced to do the stupid ass clinical shift and I had to do Coumadin teaching...
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I agree - many inpatient jobs have zero patient interaction. But I would hardly state that ambulatory care is the only time where you get patient interaction.
 
njac said:
oh yeah? I had no idea as an inpatient clinical pharmacist I would interact with patients and their families on a daily basis.

I love it when first years let me know how my job works :cool:
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Should've added at my hospital, sorry chief.

Don't need to get your panties in a bunch.
 
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rxlea said:
The nit pickers are out in full force this month.
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I wouldn't call njac a nit picker. She's a well respected poster who's been around for a while, has actually attended and graduated from pharmacy school, completed a residency and is actually PRACTICING pharmacy... Honestly, it IS annoying when pre-pharms or "accepted but not yet attending" pharmacy students make definitive statements about what it's like to be in pharmacy school or sweeping generalizations about the field. Learn from the people with more experience. It's an opportunity.
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I wouldn't call njac a nit picker. She's a well respected poster who's been around for a while, has actually attended and graduated from pharmacy school, completed a residency and is actually PRACTICING pharmacy... Honestly, it IS annoying when pre-pharms or "accepted but not yet attending" pharmacy students make definitive statements about what it's like to be in pharmacy school or sweeping generalizations about the field. Learn from the people with more experience. It's an opportunity.
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Duly noted. But, I don't think anyone means to dismiss what she is saying. We are sharing our own experiences about the workplace (at least I was). Things are obviously going to be different everywhere. I actually prefer when practicing pharmacists, residents, and pharmacy students share their perspective..and, I have learned a lot. My only issue is that so many people think that all pre-pharms know nothing about the field when, in fact, many of us have worked in the field for several years under the guidance of experienced pharmacists. Not everyone is talking out their ass.
 
rxlea said:
Duly noted. But, I don't think anyone means to dismiss what she is saying. We are sharing our own experiences about the workplace (at least I was). Things are obviously going to be different everywhere. I actually prefer when practicing pharmacists, residents, and pharmacy students share their perspective..and, I have learned a lot. My only issue is that so many people think that all pre-pharms know nothing about the field when, in fact, many of us have worked in the field for several years under the guidance of experienced pharmacists. Not everyone is talking out their ass.
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I don't think pre-pharms know nothing. I was pre-pharm once. But I do recognize NOW that when I was a pre-pharm, I had no idea what I didn't know. Now, as a pharmacy student in my last year, I still don't know what it's like to be a pharmacist, because I haven't been one.

In THIS thread, an inaccurate statement was made and someone with more experience corrected it. I don't think that's nit picking.
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I don't think pre-pharms know nothing. I was pre-pharm once. But I do recognize NOW that when I was a pre-pharm, I had no idea what I didn't know. Now, as a pharmacy student in my last year, I still don't know what it's like to be a pharmacist, because I haven't been one.

In THIS thread, an inaccurate statement was made and someone with more experience corrected it. I don't think that's nit picking.
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OK- you're right. It's not.

EDIT: my apologies njac. I respect your experience and the knowledge you have to share with us. And, I hope that you share more of it. My comment wasn't actually directed towards you but was meant more as a casual remark that there is a lot of "correcting" go on in these forums (like grammar, forgetting words, etc) in an attempt to discount what people are saying. So, once again, I am sorry.
 
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At my hospital (a midsize VAMC) inpatient "staff" or "rotating" pharmacists have very little to no patient contact. Clinical pharmacists have varying degress of patient interaction. Outpatient pharmacists rotate through different work stations throughout the week and probably interact with patients about 50% of the time. Ambulatory care clinical pharmacists (anti-coagulation, diabetes) have a lot of patient contact.
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I wouldn't call njac a nit picker. She's a well respected poster who's been around for a while, has actually attended and graduated from pharmacy school, completed a residency and is actually PRACTICING pharmacy... Honestly, it IS annoying when pre-pharms or "accepted but not yet attending" pharmacy students make definitive statements about what it's like to be in pharmacy school or sweeping generalizations about the field. Learn from the people with more experience. It's an opportunity.
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:thumbup: :thumbup:

And I would honestly find it most prudent for the OP to get down further and really figure out what it is about patient interaction that they dislike and are trying to avoid. Is it that they don't like conversing with people? Don't like the stress of being put on the spot? Lack communication skills?, etc. etc.

So, OP- you'll be far more successful finding the right niche in pharmacy if you nail that down. Because finding a job with "minimal patient interaction" may not be the perfect fit for you if it entails obligations and skills that you are neglecting.
 
rxlea said:
EDIT: my apologies njac. I respect your experience and the knowledge you have to share with us. And, I hope that you share more of it. My comment wasn't actually directed towards you but was meant more as a casual remark that there is a lot of "correcting" go on in these forums (like grammar, forgetting words, etc) in an attempt to discount what people are saying. So, once again, I am sorry.
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I agree with you about the correcting of grammar, missing words, etc. That's super annoying and not necessary. Although I hate to see text speak on the forums... but that's a topic for another thread. :)
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I agree with you about the correcting of grammar, missing words, etc. That's super annoying and not necessary. Although I hate to see text speak on the forums... but that's a topic for another thread. :)
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lmfao that reminds me...this is off topic but worth sharing. My girlfriend teaches at the university and she tells me how many times students turn in papers with "text speak". It is actually pretty sad to see how many people cannot write coherently. Maybe that is why pharmacy schools make essay writing a part of their interview process. Anyone can have a personal statement written for them, but they sure as hell cannot fake an essay exercise :)
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I agree with you about the correcting of grammar, missing words, etc. That's super annoying and not necessary. Although I hate to see text speak on the forums... but that's a topic for another thread. :)
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Guilty! :p

If there was a shame-faced emoticon (side-note - my spell checker is fine with "emoticon". When did that become a word?) I would use it here:
 
rxlea said:
lmfao that reminds me...this is off topic but worth sharing. My girlfriend teaches at the university and she tells me how many times students turn in papers with "text speak". It is actually pretty sad to see how many people cannot write coherently. Maybe that is why pharmacy schools make essay writing a part of their interview process. Anyone can have a personal statement written for them, but they sure as hell cannot fake an essay exercise :)
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I don't mind LOL and ROFL and OMG and WTF and stuff like that. I just don't like u and ur and "n" and B4 and stuff like that. So I guess not all text speak is created equal!

owlegrad said:
Guilty! :p

If there was a shame-faced emoticon (side-note - my spell checker is fine with "emoticon". When did that become a word?) I would use it here:
Click to expand...

Haha... you can use this one: :oops:

:p
 
All4MyDaughter said:
I wouldn't call njac a nit picker. She's a well respected poster who's been around for a while, has actually attended and graduated from pharmacy school, completed a residency and is actually PRACTICING pharmacy... Honestly, it IS annoying when pre-pharms or "accepted but not yet attending" pharmacy students make definitive statements about what it's like to be in pharmacy school or sweeping generalizations about the field. Learn from the people with more experience. It's an opportunity.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes, I should've added "at the hospital I'm at" there.

To be fair, however, not all "pre-pharm" knowledge, or lack of, can be generalized either.

Many of us have worked for years in a variety of settings as technicians, and through observational learning can pick up quite a lot about the profession. Eat lunch with enough RPhs in hospitals, retail joints and at conferences you go to for your undergraduate club and the wealth of knowledge gained through years of different pharmacy schools is at your disposal.
 
rxlea said:
lmfao that reminds me...this is off topic but worth sharing. My girlfriend teaches at the university and she tells me how many times students turn in papers with "text speak". It is actually pretty sad to see how many people cannot write coherently. Maybe that is why pharmacy schools make essay writing a part of their interview process. Anyone can have a personal statement written for them, but they sure as hell cannot fake an essay exercise :)
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We had a doc use text speak on one of his order last week..." bid b4 meals". Awesome.
 
you should send a message back TY TTYl
 
Rxbound said:
We had a doc use text speak on one of his order last week..." bid b4 meals". Awesome.
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as if orders arent easy enough to mistake as they normally are, let's add in some numbers!
 
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