What Pharmacist Positions don't have to work in weekend, evening?

[GoRx]

Besides specialist, management and industry, what are the other opportunities for pharmacist that don't have to work in the weekend and evening?

I am working at a hospital, which needs a lot of weekends and evening coverage. I can't have my family life now.

Any suggestion?

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[type b pharmD]

Long term care, home infusion, pharmacy benefits administrator (working for insurance) , drug information (working for a company like micromedex), some work from home jobs, or work at a hospital that has a large staff for its patient load .. you will only have to rotate through once a month or so.

 

[SELDANE]

Many outpatient clinics within government institutions (ie., VA hospitals, military bases) have set day time hours and are usually closed weekends. Needless to say there is usually a pay decrease when taking these positions, however the lifestyle can't be beat.

 

[GoRx]

How easy to get a job in such facilities? Any residency experience needed? I am really tired of working in weekend and afternoon shift.

Long term care, home infusion, pharmacy benefits administrator (working for insurance) , drug information (working for a company like micromedex), some work from home jobs, or work at a hospital that has a large staff for its patient load .. you will only have to rotate through once a month or so.

 

[type b pharmD]

How easy to get a job in such facilities? Any residency experience needed? I am really tired of working in weekend and afternoon shift.

Look around man, if you are qualified, you're qualified!

 

[xiphoid2010]

one weekend a month and you are complaining? C'mon. Hospital rotates weekends, and that's a good thing. You actually have week days off to do some errands, not to mention the weekends you get a nice shift-differential for some extra play money.

 

[GoRx]

If I had one weekend per month, I wouldn't complain for sure. We I have to work every other weekend, which is too much. Plus, I don't see any sign of improving. According to our older pharmacist, this schedule has been for more than 20 years

one weekend a month and you are complaining? C'mon. Hospital rotates weekends, and that's a good thing. You actually have week days off to do some errands, not to mention the weekends you get a nice shift-differential for some extra play money.

 

[J ROD]

Long-term care, home infusion

I know there may be some call...but the jobs are pretty much 8-5.

 

[J ROD]

Also, look around at other hospitals.....my hospital rotates 1 weekend/month.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Yeah. Hospitals may require fewer weekends than retail or even LTC, since they have more bodies. Lol

We have 2.5 pharmacists, so the pharmacists at my retail job work every 3rd weekend.

 

[J ROD]

I am about to be done with my 4th yr and long-term care is the best I have seen in terms of pay, work, and hrs.

 

[StaviZFingerZ]

open a pharmacy school. no weekends.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Unfortunately for the OP, pharmacy is filled with women who completely forgot to account for that whole "I want a family life" thing BEFORE they went into healthcare, so those types of jobs are at a big time premium. The type that get 50 applications for one position in major cities.

You might be able to move to BFE and find a small time clinic or independent pharmacy that only opens 5 days a week.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Unfortunately for the OP, pharmacy is filled with women who completely forgot to account for that whole "I want a family life" thing BEFORE they went into healthcare, so those types of jobs are at a big time premium. The type that get 50 applications for one position in major cities.

You might be able to move to BFE and find a small time clinic or independent pharmacy that only opens 5 days a week.

What about the women who don't "want a family life"? What should they do? Bust ass?

 

[J ROD]

What about the women who don't "want a family life"? What should they do? Bust ass?

call me!!

 

[PharmDstudent]

call me!!

I'm thinking oral surgery should do the trick. So that would be med school and dental school... a great way to avoid "family life". Would you still want me to give you a ring? Lol

 

[Style]

I am about to be done with my 4th yr and long-term care is the best I have seen in terms of pay, work, and hrs.

Are you talking about as far as a balance of the three areas mentioned (pay, work, and hours) that LTC is the best?

 

[Tinkerbell22]

I've always been interested in LTC, but that is good to know. I don't want children, but 8-5 sounds so appealing. I don't care about major cities since did 4-5 years in Miami and I'll be doing 4 years in Atlanta... I'll be ready for whatever by the time I am 27. LOL

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I've always been interested in LTC, but that is good to know. I don't want children, but 8-5 sounds so appealing. I don't care about major cities since did 4-5 years in Miami and I'll be doing 4 years in Atlanta... I'll be ready for whatever by the time I am 27. LOL

I was at an LTC the other day to meet a friend and the pharmacist who let me in the building was wearing khaki shorts, sandals, Hawaiian t-shirt and a big smile! It was a laid back environment, they work hard but in a closed door office setting.

 

[MountainPharmD]

I was at an LTC the other day to meet a friend and the pharmacist who let me in the building was wearing khaki shorts, sandals, Hawaiian t-shirt and a big smile! It was a laid back environment, they work hard but in a closed door office setting.

They do noy get paid as much as retail and lets be honest, its only one step above mail order. That is its boring as hell.

I interviewd for a LTC company a few months ago. I showed up in the business suit ready to roll. The pharmacist who interviewd me had on jeans and a T-shirt. It took me about 5 minutes to decide I didn't want anything to do with the job. Mind numbing and boring doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

They do noy get paid as much as retail and lets be honest, its only one step above mail order. That is its boring as hell.

I interviewd for a LTC company a few months ago. I showed up in the business suit ready to roll. The pharmacist who interviewd me had on jeans and a T-shirt. It took me about 5 minutes to decide I didn't want anything to do with the job. Mind numbing and boring doesn't even begin to describe it.

I agree, I find it boring as well. I did an IPPE rotation in a smaller LTC 2 years ago and it was boring for the most part, but the office comradery was fun.

I just do not see myself surviving in retail for very long without developing a drinking problem. I will fall back on the family business before I sell my soul to retail. No way, no how!

 

[type b pharmD]

I agree, I find it boring as well. I did an IPPE rotation in a smaller LTC 2 years ago and it was boring for the most part, but the office comradery was fun.

I just do not see myself surviving in retail for very long without developing a drinking problem. I will fall back on the family business before I sell my soul to retail. No way, no how!

Do you guys feel the same way about nuclear then? All it is really is just standing around in a room sterile compounding the same drugs over and over again with the same 2-3 people.

I got a question for mountainpharmD though. I'm just curious - lets say you had to choose between continuing to work for retail or taking an LTC job , you would stay with cvs?

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

Do you guys feel the same way about nuclear then? All it is really is just standing around in a room sterile compounding the same drugs over and over again with the same 2-3 people.

I got a question for mountainpharmD though. I'm just curious - lets say you had to choose between continuing to work for retail or taking an LTC job , you would stay with cvs?

He already answered that question, you will find it above my previous post.

I have no experience in Nuclear pharmacy, it seems like it would be repetitive but an interesting and unique side of pharmacy. I am sure it fits some people's interests very well. The hours and zero patient contact knock it off my list of future possibilities.

I am still up in the air about what I want to pursue after graduation. I am planning on applying for a residency but in what I do not know. Right now Managed care residencies, IHS residencies, ambulatory focused PGY1, and general PGY1 all sound interesting. Hopefully my 4th year will help me narrow down my interests. I was lucky enough to land P4 rotations in most of my areas of interest.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Do you guys feel the same way about nuclear then? All it is really is just standing around in a room sterile compounding the same drugs over and over again with the same 2-3 people.

I got a question for mountainpharmD though. I'm just curious - lets say you had to choose between continuing to work for retail or taking an LTC job , you would stay with cvs?

I would never ever lower myself to work for CVS.

I did have the choice and I choose to stay in retail. I changed companies but I am still in retail.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I would never ever lower myself to work for CVS.

I did have the choice and I choose to stay in retail. I changed companies but I am still in retail.

Are you still trying to get into the VA system? It seems like you have only bad things to say about retail overall.

VA definitely has its own problems and bureaucracy but I still think it is a great place for pharmacists to work, inpatient and outpatient.

 

[J ROD]

LTC is boring but I rather be bored than work in retail hell......

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

LTC is boring but I rather be bored than work in retail hell......

When I hear idiot store managers telling the pharmacists I work with that they need to clean better and walk customers to items when a customer inquires about the location of toilet paper, my heart saddens...

No setting is perfect but at least in LTC you are not on your feet all day in a glass cage.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

LTC is boring but I rather be bored than work in retail hell......

When I hear idiot store managers telling the pharmacists I work with that they need to clean better and walk customers to items when a customer inquires about the location of toilet paper, my heart saddens...

No setting is perfect but at least in LTC you are not on your feet all day in a glass cage.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I got kicked off of an LTC rotation because I told the preceptor he was wasting my time and his rotation was pointless. I guess I'll never get to work for Omnicare. Oh darn...

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I got kicked off of an LTC rotation because I told the preceptor he was wasting my time and his rotation was pointless. I guess I'll never get to work for Omnicare. Oh darn...

Did he respond to your comment right then?

 

[MountainPharmD]

Are you still trying to get into the VA system? It seems like you have only bad things to say about retail overall.

VA definitely has its own problems and bureaucracy but I still think it is a great place for pharmacists to work, inpatient and outpatient.

I tried and struck out. Its not what you know with the VA its who you know. I do not know anyone here nor did I graduated from Texas Tech.

I have bad things to say about the direction retail is heading along with the corporate destruction of the profession.

 

[MountainPharmD]

When I hear idiot store managers telling the pharmacists I work with that they need to clean better and walk customers to items when a customer inquires about the location of toilet paper, my heart saddens...

No setting is perfect but at least in LTC you are not on your feet all day in a glass cage.

Store managers are all the same. They are minor annoyances that can be managed. Most are idiots and some just don't know any better. Every now and then you run into a good one that knows their place when it comes to pharmacy. When you've been a Pharmacy Manager for awhile you learn to how to deal with them.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Did he respond to your comment right then?

No, he called the school and told them a bunch of lies about how I was making the pharmacists there "irate" and that I was "belittling his work."

He was the only pharmacist there I talked to the entire time...and I criticized his rotation in a surprisingly mature and rational manner...

But, whatever, I got moved to a much better rotation with Internal Medicine at WVUH (I think the school considered that a "punishment rotation" for some reason...they really didn't "get" me at all...but I digress.)...and I learned me some valuable things. To compare, at Omnicare I literally put pills in boxes for 10 hours a day...and that's IT. I learned nothing...at all...

 

[WVUPharm2007]

When I hear idiot store managers telling the pharmacists I work with that they need to clean better and walk customers to items when a customer inquires about the location of toilet paper, my heart saddens....

If some little bitch with a business degree tried to direct me to do anything, I would go ballistic...

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I tried and struck out. Its not what you know with the VA its who you know. I do not know anyone here nor did I graduated from Texas Tech.

Definitely seems that way. I am trying to keep and make as many contacts with them as I can. Kaiser seems the same way, it is about who you know.

I would not give up on the VA though, try again in the future. I enjoy serving veterans and listening to war stories so it works out well. Last week for lunch I went out and sat down with some random guy in the waiting area and heard some interesting Korean War stories. A lot of these old guys are alone, so sitting and talking to them can really brighten up their day!

Even when they give me grief, I am willing to take it from someone who risked their life to defend this country.

 

[J ROD]

When I hear idiot store managers telling the pharmacists I work with that they need to clean better and walk customers to items when a customer inquires about the location of toilet paper, my heart saddens...

No setting is perfect but at least in LTC you are not on your feet all day in a glass cage.

It is a sweet deal if you just want an easy job with a good paycheck and more time for your family.

Personally, I need more challenge but to each their own.

And, I did not to school and get a doctorate to be disrespected the way retail treats its pharmacist. I refuse to do some of their

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

If some little bitch with a business degree tried to direct me to do anything, I would go ballistic...

I have to suppress my urge to flip out on them all the time. Usually I just tell them- "due to the current workload and patient's waiting, I will need them to come back at another time to discuss whatever BS they want to discuss" then I walk off. I only have to do this if the pharmacy manager is not there, he knows how to deal with them and they do not give him ****.

Retail...blah. But I would still love to follow in Dr. M's footsteps!