Transition from retail to outpatient in a hosptial.

[ctpharm]

I worked 4 years in retail and just got an outpatient hosp job offer. Should I accept the offer?

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[Travex]

Yes. It's basically the same job except you don't have to worry about metrics or deal with corporate. What's not to like?

 

[Dred Pirate]

I was an intern for four years in a hospital outpatient setting (currently work inpatient but know our outpatient Rph's well) - usually better hours, not as crazy as environment (mostly health care workers who drop their scripts off at the beginning of their shift, and pick up as they leave. less metric BS - a no brainer as long as the salary cut isn't too bad

 

[BidingMyTime]

Why would you have applied for the job, if you didn't want it? Job-wise moving from retail to hospital (or retail to hospital), there will be a learning curve, but its not that steep. If the other aspects of the job work for you (salary, vacation, hours, retirement plan), then go for it.

 

[pharmdarling]

What was said above reflects my experience as well, it is basically the same job without some of the corporate issues. There was much more pharmacist and technician staffing in the hospital outpatient pharmacy, as we didn't have someone from corporate monitoring hours. As a result, the workload was lighter and the environment less stressful. The hours were better, as we were closed evenings and Sundays, but I know of hospital outpatient pharmacies that are open evenings...or even 24 hours. Our customers came from predominantly two groups: patients who were being discharged from the hospital or saw one of our providers in the clinic, or employees. The large employee base was nice in the sense that many of them understand insurance issues, doctor calls, etc. and were more understanding of that. The downside was that there was much less patient education/counseling as half of our patients were physicians, nurses, etc. Of course not every situation is the same, but I thought I'd share my experience.

 

[M0df]

The longer you will wait to make the move, the harder it will be to make the switch for financial reasons.

 

[BenJammin]

The longer you will wait to make the move, the harder it will be to make the switch for financial reasons.

This makes absolutely no sense.

 

[Momus]

This applies to all jobs. Should switch immediately. The longer you wait, the more you accumulate seniority benefits under your current job (golden handcuffs), when you switch most benefits will reset to 0, so don't wait around if you want to switch. Take as many sick days you have if you haven't by now (most sick days don't get paid out - accruing a lot of sick days is generally a mistake), and quit immediately right after your hire date for maximum $ (paid vacation/PTO). Also you better off maxing out your 401k before you quit for the year ASAP, since your new job might make you wait before you can contribute to your 401k.

 

[BenJammin]

It doesn't work like that at most places when it comes to paying out benefits. Sure you can use those sick days and PTO days but most employers don't match 401k and HSA at once, they do it over time to prevent people from taking advantage of the benefit then quitting. Unless you are in mountains of debt and live paycheck to paycheck, it really doesn't matter. These golden handcuffs you speak of are self-inflicted.

 

[Momus]

It doesn't work like that at most places when it comes to paying out benefits. Sure you can use those sick days and PTO days but most employers don't match 401k and HSA at once, they do it over time to prevent people from taking advantage of the benefit then quitting. Unless you are in mountains of debt and live paycheck to paycheck, it really doesn't matter. These golden handcuffs you speak of are self-inflicted.

I merely speak to take the tax advantage of 401k contribution, max it out early for some tax deduction and quit, so you are set until next year when you are eligible to contribute at your new job again. The match does not count at all since you need to be vested for many years before it will be 100% yours.