I've worked retail pharmacy exclusively since before I went to pharmacy school. (10+ years). The only hospital experience I have is from rotations in school more than 6 years ago. Haven't made an IV years and I'm sure my clincal and general hospital pharmacy knowledge base (drugs, kinetics, lab values, etc) has dwindled considerably. Can someone who has made the switch from a relative long stint in retail/chain pharmacy to hospital give me an idea of what the transition was like? Did you have to re-learn a lot and if so, was the hospital understanding of the situation or did they throw you right in the fire? I would love to possibly find something with a little less daily stress and also a regular daytime schedule now that we have 3 children that will be starting extracurricular activities, etc. in the next few years. Any input is appreciated.
Retail to hospital - easy transition?
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I think before we go into how easy the transition is, the first thing we have to look into is, how likely one would get hired into the hospital setting after being in retail for a considerable amount of time.
In that regards, I've heard that it is considerably hard.
In that regards, I've heard that it is considerably hard.
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We have a pharmacist who just moved to our hospital from Walgreens and he said that there's more to know. However he doesn't seem to have too much trouble keeping up, and he's not all that motivated 
. I wouldn't worry about it!
Enough with the doom in gloom. My area has one of the highest saturation rates in the whole country and I'm not hearing any of this kind of talk from anyone. A few people have had to move a reasonable distance from the city (1-2 hours), but they've all managed to find full-time jobs. We hired all of our interns without residencies this year, and we also hired all of our residents. It could change next year...who knows.
Regardless, you should be able to find a staff position somewhere
. I wouldn't worry about it!Enough with the doom in gloom. My area has one of the highest saturation rates in the whole country and I'm not hearing any of this kind of talk from anyone. A few people have had to move a reasonable distance from the city (1-2 hours), but they've all managed to find full-time jobs. We hired all of our interns without residencies this year, and we also hired all of our residents. It could change next year...who knows.
Regardless, you should be able to find a staff position somewhere
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I am just graduating currently so I do not have a lot of experience. However, even focusing my studies and internships on ambulatory care and then doing clinical rotations in the acute care setting has been challenging.
It is a whole new set of medications, disease processes, and organizational processes.
That being said, nearly all pharmacists I have met have been very intelligent, so I have no doubt that it may be difficult initially, but with motivation and effort that as one gains experience, most pharmacists could switch to either side of the profession. One just needs to sell the reasons for the switch to potential employers during the interview process I think.
It is a whole new set of medications, disease processes, and organizational processes.
That being said, nearly all pharmacists I have met have been very intelligent, so I have no doubt that it may be difficult initially, but with motivation and effort that as one gains experience, most pharmacists could switch to either side of the profession. One just needs to sell the reasons for the switch to potential employers during the interview process I think.
I worked at WAG for 5 1/2 years out of pharmacy school to pay off some loans and started at a teaching hospital last Sept. I gotta admit, I'm still learning something everyday. You have to be willing to grab a book and look up things that you don't know/can't remember.
I'm doing a staff/clinical hybrid type of position. Actually the clinical was much easier to jump into. Coumadin counseling, aminoglycoside dosing, helping residents prescribe antibiotics, etc. The things in the staff position are just a matter of looking it up. How fast can I infuse this? Can this go in NS? It has to be in glass? All kinda stuff, but it can be done for sure.
I'm enjoying it a lot, I'll never go back to retail full time. It's so nice to work (mainly) 7-3:30 M-F, get an hour for lunch, sit in a chair, etc.
I'm doing a staff/clinical hybrid type of position. Actually the clinical was much easier to jump into. Coumadin counseling, aminoglycoside dosing, helping residents prescribe antibiotics, etc. The things in the staff position are just a matter of looking it up. How fast can I infuse this? Can this go in NS? It has to be in glass? All kinda stuff, but it can be done for sure.
I'm enjoying it a lot, I'll never go back to retail full time. It's so nice to work (mainly) 7-3:30 M-F, get an hour for lunch, sit in a chair, etc.
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The learning curve will have an individual variation. But because inpatient critical care medications include both common oral meds sold outpatient and significant amount of medications you won't see used in outpatient, developing a comfort level of dispensing, advising, and providing expertise on these medications will take a long time.
This is why inpatient intern experience and/or residency can give you a head start.
Subjectively speaking, I will say 6 to 12 months for a retail pharmacist to fully train as an effective inpatient pharmacist.
This is why inpatient intern experience and/or residency can give you a head start.
Subjectively speaking, I will say 6 to 12 months for a retail pharmacist to fully train as an effective inpatient pharmacist.
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Agreed. And most hospitals probably won't put in the time to train someone who is completely new.
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And that job sounds fun!
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Im currently a pharmacy student and have worked as a hospital tech for a number of years. A few months back we hired a part time pharmacist who had previously just worked retail. She would work every other weekend for just one day. And apparently due to the lack of instruction provided to her by the hospital, and differences between what she knew and what she had to learn, she eventually got too overwhelmed by the job and left.
I also recently got a job as a retail tech. Second day on the job I was stressed out of my mind. Never nearly as much as I am at the hospital. But I'm knew, its understandable, right? So i just power through the stress and eventually i see improvement.
I am not saying that the two situations are exactly the same. What if I didnt see that improvement? What if i didnt see myself getting better the second day? Would I keep going? Maybe after a month of no improvement and stressful days I will decide to quit.
It all depends on you as a person and how you deal with the situation. You WILL have to learn something different in the hospital setting. And you CAN manage it. But you might decide that you dont want to once you start. That is the only thing that will determine if you will be able to make a good hospital pharmacist.
And it doesnt matter how good of a retail pharmacist you are now, either. Just saying.
I also recently got a job as a retail tech. Second day on the job I was stressed out of my mind. Never nearly as much as I am at the hospital. But I'm knew, its understandable, right? So i just power through the stress and eventually i see improvement.
I am not saying that the two situations are exactly the same. What if I didnt see that improvement? What if i didnt see myself getting better the second day? Would I keep going? Maybe after a month of no improvement and stressful days I will decide to quit.
It all depends on you as a person and how you deal with the situation. You WILL have to learn something different in the hospital setting. And you CAN manage it. But you might decide that you dont want to once you start. That is the only thing that will determine if you will be able to make a good hospital pharmacist.
And it doesnt matter how good of a retail pharmacist you are now, either. Just saying.
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Its not that they won't...they don't have to with so many residency trained graduates. If you were a DOP who would you rather hire?
It is, I honestly couldn't imagine going back to retail full time ever again.
You know, I understand what your saying, but at the same time, it's not 100% true. In my situation, I came in and instead of focusing on what I had to learn, I had them focus on what I brought to the table. I work well with others, and I showed them in the interview how I did that. It was very important to them b/c the person I replaced was let go due to personal conflicts with co-workers. When they asked me how comfortable I was with certain things that I may not have seen in retail, I told them I was very excited to learn new things, and while I might be slower in the beginning, I'm very good at using resources and figuring things out on my own, and once I get it, I've got it. Another thing is, when you work a staff position in the hospital, a retail pharmacist will come in and bring a work ethic. I'm used to working at a certain pace, and it does rub off on people.
I applied for a position that had other applicants, all with hospital practice experience and on paper, I should have been the first one cut, but I ended up getting it. At my six month evaluation, the DOP said they were so glad they hired me.
If there's a job you want, go after it and tell them why you deserve it and what you will do for them. Don't go in focusing on the negatives, and even though other applicants may have more experience and/or a residency, that's not the end all be all of it, just believe in yourself. If you don't believe your the guy for the job, you aren't going to convince anybody else of the fact.
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I agree with you. The problem is getting an interview. I have no doubt a good experienced retail pharmacist who is looking for a change will blow most anyone out of the water at an interview especially new grads. If you think about it a retail pharmacist with 5 to 10 years experience is probably the best person you could hire for a staff position in a hospital. You get someone who is used to working their butt off, used to working nights and weekends, works well under pressure with minimal staffing and works well with others. You can't beat those qualities in a pharmacist. Again, the problem is getting an interview and not tossed in the trashcan because there are 10 residency trained applicants along with yours.
Can you imagine a retail Pharmacist in a hospital. What? I get to sit down? Take a lunch...whats that? Wait...I can go to the bathroom more than once every 12 hours??? Man it would be heaven and you would have someone who would bust thier butt for you every second of the day because they know what it's like on the other side and they do not want to go back.
You described me exactly right there
I remember my first day, I didn't take a lunch until almost the end of the day, hadn't taken a "lunch break" in years, and an hour at that!!
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Man, you guys brought out some good points for me in a future interview!
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I don't know man.. I hired a Walmart pharmacist for part time once.. he was suppose to work every other weekend..but that SOB would call me on friday to say he couldn't work...I ended up working his shifts every time.. That f**ker had me working more weekends than anyone else..
I also hired a CVS guy once.. took 2 years to train him. I don't know how many times I had to cover his arse for making mistakes.
Then I hired an Albertson's DM... he ended up becoming the DOP as I left that hospital. But he interned and worked as a hospital pharmacist out of school.
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Moral of the story: 3rd time is a charm?
mmmm... NO! The Albertson guy was the first hire. The CVS guy was the 2nd hire.. and the Walmart dood was the 3rd hire in this series.
Of course there were others here and there.
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In light of the new sequence, how about moral of the story is: They don't make 'em like the used to
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In light of the new sequence, how about moral of the story is: They don't make 'em like the used to
lol...
I switched to hospital after over 8 years in retail. The only hospital experience I had was the rotations I had in my last year of college. I definitely did not feel that it was an easy transition. I was lucky that I got 6 to 8 weeks of training. It was over a year before I felt anywhere near comfortable. I've been in hospital now for 7 years and very happy to have made the change. I even went back to get my PharmD, mainly just to increase my knowledge base. In the last seven years, we have hired at least 6 more pharmacists at my hospital who have only had retail experience. Half of them made it, half of them went back to retail.
That sounds fantastic, Rebel78! In retail, other pharmacists say you are stupid when you don't know something. . .
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It can be a very hard transition.....I have seen several make it and some not at my hospital.
It basically comes down to the will to learn what you dont know.
The two sides are really different.
It basically comes down to the will to learn what you dont know.
The two sides are really different.
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Definitely not easy by any means. I agree it takes about a year to feel comfortable making that transition. If you are interested in continuous learning, it's certainly doable, albeit stressful.
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