Why are so many people here negative about Pharmacy?

[Steven12]

Out of everywhere in the internet, I expect this place to be where pharmacists talk and discuss how they are interested in this field. Why are everyone who are pharmacy students / pharmacists saying it's a bad field? Shouldn't they pursue somewhere else then? Why regret when pursuing already. This makes no sense

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[waiter]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_handcuffs

 

[Steven12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_handcuffs

So people sway others away in order to hope that the market won't saturate more than it is (decreasing their employment rate)? Im not sure what it means.

 

[waiter]

So people sway others away in order to hope that the market won't saturate more than it is (decreasing their employment rate)? Im not sure what it means.

It means it's awful but the money is there so we have to stay. This is the place to vent.

 

[mentos]

It used to be great, but it gets worse every year. It's a dying profession. Most of us graduated with 6 figures of debt so it's not practical to switch careers at this point.

 

[rph3664]

It used to be great, but it gets worse every year. It's a dying profession. Most of us graduated with 6 figures of debt so it's not practical to switch careers at this point.

Or switching careers, or even jobs, is difficult because of responsibilities (i.e. children).

In just a few years, it mutated into something completely unrecognizable relative to what it was before.

 

[PharmtoCS]

The gross pay is still decent if you're already licensed as a pharmacist, especially if you have already spent the effort and loans to become licensed. However, to start from the beginning and rack up $200k+ in loans while spending another 4 years in school would not be worth it. There are better choices, i.e. computer programming, engineering, and finance. In upcoming years though, more of us graduates might have to write off our PharmDs as sunk costs as the job market gets worse.

It tends to be us pharmacists and pharmacy students who complain the most because we have actually been in the trenches. Many pre-pharms have a warped positive view of the field because they have not yet faced real challenges and held real responsibilities.

 

[jhyw73]

Or switching careers, or even jobs, is difficult because of responsibilities (i.e. children).

In just a few years, it mutated into something completely unrecognizable relative to what it was before.

 

[mentos]

Yes it's very risky to switch jobs now. Job security is low and we are due for another recession. Any or all of these things are bound to happen: Stock market crash (Dow is highest since 2008), real estate crash (average every 7 years), student loan crisis (every one expects loan forgiveness), pharmacy school bubble bursts (more PharmDs than jobs), higher taxes if Bernie gets elected (to pay for free college), etc.

 

[npage148]

People happy/content with their jobs/life/cars don't post on message boards as often. We are getting paid over 1$/min to do a job thats more than not fairly comfortsble

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Out of everywhere in the internet, I expect this place to be where pharmacists talk and discuss how they are interested in this field. Why are everyone who are pharmacy students / pharmacists saying it's a bad field? Shouldn't they pursue somewhere else then? Why regret when pursuing already. This makes no sense

The hard truth is that, like anything in life, you get out what you put in.

The doom sayers here are all probably just mediocre people who would've felt the same way as an M.D., chef, artist, or anything else.

They say they're here to "vent", but what they really want is affirmation from an echo chamber.

Instead of actually doing something to improve their profession, or at the very least having the courage to improve their own lives, they want a safe place to complain.

Make no mistake: their dissatisfaction is their fault, and theirs alone.

They do not represent the broad population of pharmacists.

SDN just has a problem.

 

[Chalupa_Batman86]

You seriously think it's complaining to tell potential pharmacy students to go work in a retail setting as a technician or clerk before applying to school? Lol, #academia

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

You seriously think it's complaining to tell potential pharmacy students to go work in a retail setting as a technician or clerk before applying to school? Lol, #academia

"I'm going to cherry pick the one practical thing that happens related to the topic being discussed"

Bruh.

Get real.

 

[Chalupa_Batman86]

"I'm going to cherry pick the one practical thing that happens related to the topic being discussed"

Bruh.

Get real.

LULZ this.

 

[GypsyHummus]

Because life is so difficult when you make 120K+ per year.

I work in a pharmacy, and our pharmacist consistently says the work is difficult, but the pay is super nice. He seems at peace (not happy) reflecting upon his situation. One thing Ive noticed about pharmacists is that they either deal with stress via humor in which case they are fun to work with, or they go coo coo, and they are miserable. There is very rarely a middle ground.

If you can handle being stressed out, seems like a good profession.

 

[Sine Cura]

To OP, you do realize that happy and satisfied people generally don't create original posts on online forums regardless of the subject, whether it be about their exemplary customer service experience at Huge Mass Merchandiser or their amazing job with excellent quality of life where they make 56 relevant clinical recommendations a day, all of which are accepted by prescribers.

Even for the majority of the people who work chain retail, they get paid so it offsets all the annoying customer bull****.

And if someone asks a question or for insight about a problem, a lot of times the replies don't even address the OP. It is easier to be part of the ****-talking peanut gallery and go "**** CVS" or "**** new pharmacy schools."

 

[Reirrac]

Basically the idea is to make the current situation public knowledge. Schools give misleading information regarding job outlooks while charging you a six figure tuition. They certainly promote the idea that pharmacists will be clinical specialists, but most available jobs are in retail with dispensing being the primary job function, and offers the most pay. A lot of people have problems with the discrepancy between what is being promoted and taught at your expense with questionable rewards for the cost and effort.

 

[gwarm01]

The hard truth is that, like anything in life, you get out what you put in.

The doom sayers here are all probably just mediocre people who would've felt the same way as an M.D., chef, artist, or anything else.

They say they're here to "vent", but what they really want is affirmation from an echo chamber.

Instead of actually doing something to improve their profession, or at the very least having the courage to improve their own lives, they want a safe place to complain.

This post is offensively dismissive of the fact that there are very real problems in pharmacy right now, and potential students need to be informed of the risks they are taking.

 

[MrBonita]

There are plenty of nice jobs out there but those are not the Jobs offered to you at the job fair at pharmacy schools. best chance of landing a nice job is to go to top tier school and also get good grades and be active at school. If you are just a plain grad and average. Expect to land Walgreens or cvs. Some people who go to pharmacy school have friends and family who help them land a nice job that is not cvs or Walgreens. Unfortunately people come on here because they went to an expensive private school and did not have a nice job lined up and ended up at cvs or Walgreens and are in huge dept. listen to advice and avoid that route.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

This post is offensively dismissive of the fact that there are very real problems in pharmacy right now, and potential students need to be informed of the risks they are taking.

Cry me a river.

Those are not mutually exclusive things, and the fact that pharmacy has problems isn't an excuse for the people I posted about.

Just because you don't like something doesn't make it offensive. That is a problem with how you perceive it.
Pharmacy does have huge issues.

 

[gwarm01]

Just because you don't like something doesn't make it offensive. That is a problem with how you perceive it.

Not to be pedantic, but that is literally the meaning of the word offensive.

 

[Carol is Alpha]

So we have to genetically engineered supermen to succeed at pharmacy now?

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Not to be pedantic, but that is literally the meaning of the word offensive.

 

[gwarm01]

Is that Jeff Gerstmann?

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

So we have to genetically engineered supermen to succeed at pharmacy now?

What do you think the K in KPM stands for?

"KHAAAN performance measures"

 

[Carol is Alpha]

Dude, you couldn't get laid at a Star trek convention

 

[BenJammin]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_handcuffs

Generally speaking, those are inapplicable in pharmacy. Especially if you work for a chain. No such thing as golden handcuffs in chain pharmacy outside of supervisors/district managers.

 

[Chalupa_Batman86]

There are plenty of nice jobs out there but those are not the Jobs offered to you at the job fair at pharmacy schools. best chance of landing a nice job is to go to top tier school and also get good grades and be active at school. If you are just a plain grad and average. Expect to land Walgreens or cvs. Some people who go to pharmacy school have friends and family who help them land a nice job that is not cvs or Walgreens. Unfortunately people come on here because they went to an expensive private school and did not have a nice job lined up and ended up at cvs or Walgreens and are in huge dept. listen to advice and avoid that route.

Retail pharmacy will soon require a PGY-1. There has to be a way to control the hoard of applications to CVS and Walgreen's. I feel terrible for the millenials. Us old geezers have it slightly better. Those that didn't throw it away on cars and parties, anyway.

 

[Caffeine QAM]

Depends on what you mean by negativity. There are those who complain and there are those who present facts and arguments in a relative objective manner that shed light on the many negative aspects of the pharmacy profession. I don't believe the latter stems from an attitude of negativity. Being realistic calls for pointing out the negatives. Many students and prospective students don't have the experience to know what it's really like in the profession. The things they have heard and are told are often sugar-coated distortions of reality.

People do discuss their interests in the field, but frankly, many people enter the profession for the wrong reasons. I personally enjoy what I do, but it doesn't mean there aren't things about pharmacy practice that frustrate me. Discussing the problems with our profession is just as important, if not more important than discussing what we enjoy about it.

 

[TheBlaah]

I find that a good number of the doomsayers are current pharmacy students who are either jaded from working as interns or apprehensive in the face of having to find a job in the worsening job market.

That isn't to say there aren't a few pharmacists that are constantly poo-pooing on everything; I can think of a few usernames off the top of my head. They're really aren't even the majority though. They're just loud and frequent.

 

[PAtoPharm]

I attended an interview at a well-known pharmacy school a few weeks ago, and it was interesting to note that during one of their presentations, they displayed a screenshot of a several-years-old BLS job growth predictions webpage that predicted 20-25% growth in the pharmacy profession through 2024. It made me wonder if they simply didn't know about the revised predictions, or if they did know about them and simply didn't want to address the issue.

 

[Rukn]

I attended an interview at a well-known pharmacy school a few weeks ago, and it was interesting to note that during one of their presentations, they displayed a screenshot of a several-years-old BLS job growth predictions webpage that predicted 20-25% growth in the pharmacy profession through 2024. It made me wonder if they simply didn't know about the revised predictions, or if they did know about them and simply didn't want to address the issue.

This kind of deception is sickening

 

[Reirrac]

I attended an interview at a well-known pharmacy school a few weeks ago, and it was interesting to note that during one of their presentations, they displayed a screenshot of a several-years-old BLS job growth predictions webpage that predicted 20-25% growth in the pharmacy profession through 2024. It made me wonder if they simply didn't know about the revised predictions, or if they did know about them and simply didn't want to address the issue.

See, this is what we're talking about; misleading students into believing their future will be good if they join the program and pay tuition for it. I'm sure they knew about the updated BLS report, yet they are using outdated data to make the outlook look good. That's scientific misconduct right there.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Out of everywhere in the internet, I expect this place to be where pharmacists talk and discuss how they are interested in this field. Why are everyone who are pharmacy students / pharmacists saying it's a bad field? Shouldn't they pursue somewhere else then? Why regret when pursuing already. This makes no sense

I have always found it interesting how this forum doesn't represent how pharmacists in my area feel about their job.

There's simply too many younger pharmacists and students here that realize their lives may not be that great with the current job outlook. They look at other pharmacists and wish they had their position.

My job is great and I'm locked in here for the rest of my career. It's going to be hard for students to say that.

 

[npage148]

Man. Even a thread complaining about chicken little pharm has degraded into chicken little hysterics

 

[BenJammin]

My job is great and I'm locked in here for the rest of my career. .

Dangerous.

 

[lane one]

Out of everywhere in the internet, I expect this place to be where pharmacists talk and discuss how they are interested in this field. Why are everyone who are pharmacy students / pharmacists saying it's a bad field? Shouldn't they pursue somewhere else then? Why regret when pursuing already. This makes no sense

This makes no sense to you because you have been led to believe that pharmacy practice is something that it is not. I love being a pharmacist and am grateful for my pay, but there are few things that the pharmacy schools, forbes and these other jokers will not tell you.

1. Pharmacy school is not a good investment
2. Pharmacy is not nearly as lucrative as it used to be
3. Working conditions continue to decline as employers have all the leverage due to pharmacist surplus
4. Many new grads are not even able to hit 40hrs per week and are struggling to make student loan payments because it is cheaper for employers to keep everyone part time.

I could go on, but every profession has its downfalls and its not worth listing all of them here. This is what pharmacy is:

1. A job with a high starting salary
2. A weird schedule with very few 8-5 opportunities
3. Customer service and healthcare at the same time, which may be one of the hardest things on the planet to do.
4. A career with little to no potential for advancement. Even if you are able to advance to a management position, the pay does not increase that much.

I love what I do, but the reason a lot of pharmacists are unhappy is one of two things. The younger ones were misled, and the older ones remember the better days of pharmacy.

 

[Humble Sloth]

I attended an interview at a well-known pharmacy school a few weeks ago, and it was interesting to note that during one of their presentations, they displayed a screenshot of a several-years-old BLS job growth predictions webpage that predicted 20-25% growth in the pharmacy profession through 2024. It made me wonder if they simply didn't know about the revised predictions, or if they did know about them and simply didn't want to address the issue.

Of course they are aware of the most recent statistics. Pharmacy schools are a biz and like all biz they have to sell their products. Unlike medical school, where getting into school is the hard part, getting into pharmD school is the easy part, getting a job, even in retail is the hard part. Many 2020 grads will be lucky to get floating positions at CVS.

 

[mentos]

I attended an interview at a well-known pharmacy school a few weeks ago, and it was interesting to note that during one of their presentations, they displayed a screenshot of a several-years-old BLS job growth predictions webpage that predicted 20-25% growth in the pharmacy profession through 2024. It made me wonder if they simply didn't know about the revised predictions, or if they did know about them and simply didn't want to address the issue.

Of course they know they are giving you BS just like car salesmen, insurance agents, lawyers, politicians, etc. They said at my interview that the students all get jobs. Then on the first day of class the professor straight up told us that all of New England and California was super saturated.

 

[Sine Cura]

What happens what underemployed pharmacists precipitate?

 

[Chalupa_Batman86]

What happens what underemployed pharmacists precipitate?

Ksp >>>>>> a zillion. The population of pharmacists is so saturated it's worse than the number of toxins in China's air. #sorrynotsorry

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

Ksp >>>>>> a zillion. The population of pharmacists is so saturated it's worse than the number of toxins in China's air. #sorrynotsorry

Fake Chalupa, why are you so concerned about saturation? I feel the people that constantly make these posts are afraid they are mediocre pharmacists that won't find a job with too much competition. I hire pharmacists and it is extremely difficult to find good ones. The pharmacists that are good know it and always have job options.

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[WVUPharm2007]

Money to effort is still better than 95% of jobs.

 

[Carol is Alpha]

I disagree. Most pharmacy jobs have a very high stress per dollar quotient. There are jobs in which you might make half the take home pay of a pharmacist, yet only have 1/10th the stress, be able to enjoy your days off without having to convalesce for the next grueling shift.

There's also the deferred cost of future health problems. I've seen so many very good pharmacists become shriveled husks by their 50's. Like they spent time in a forced labor camp as a POW. They aren't going to be living large on the beach during retirement, if they retire.

 

[wagrxm2000]

I disagree. Most pharmacy jobs have a very high stress per dollar quotient. There are jobs in which you might make half the take home pay of a pharmacist, yet only have 1/10th the stress, be able to enjoy your days off without having to convalesce for the next grueling shift.

There's also the deferred cost of future health problems. I've seen so many very good pharmacists become shriveled husks by their 50's. Like they spent time in a forced labor camp as a POW. They aren't going to be living large on the beach during retirement, if they retire.

Let me ask you this, at what script count do you find a store is too stressful? Now what percent of stores are at that script count?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the average for walgreens is around 300, which is not stressful.

 

[Carol is Alpha]

Oh, sonny, where I'm from was the gold mine that carried the chain. During the great pharmacy bubble uptrend I worked in stores that made the transition from 600/day to 700/day, from 700 to 800, 800 to 900, and 900 to 1000. Each quantum leap is like another mach number, for the workload doesn't increase linearly, but geometrically. More scripts, more time filling scripts and less time for collateral sidework which increases with volume, hence the geometric squeeze. Anybody here pull over 100 too old prescriptions from the bins for a single day? Yes, a single day, every day, 100+ deletes, while you got over 200 in the queue not counting the 100 already printed. That my friend will shorten your life real fast if done over an extended period.

 

[gwarm01]

Fake Chalupa, why are you so concerned about saturation? I feel the people that constantly make these posts are afraid they are mediocre pharmacists that won't find a job with too much competition. I hire pharmacists and it is extremely difficult to find good ones. The pharmacists that are good know it and always have job options.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using SDN mobile

I've been very successful in finding jobs but it still worries me because an oversupply of pharmacists puts downward pressure on salary, while a shortage increases it. It's frustrating to get a 1-2% raise and be treated like it was a huge favor.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Oh, sonny, where I'm from was the gold mine that carried the chain. During the great pharmacy bubble uptrend I worked in stores that made the transition from 600/day to 700/day, from 700 to 800, 800 to 900, and 900 to 1000. Each quantum leap is like another mach number, for the workload doesn't increase linearly, but geometrically. More scripts, more time filling scripts and less time for collateral sidework which increases with volume, hence the geometric squeeze. Anybody here pull over 100 too old prescriptions from the bins for a single day? Yes, a single day, every day, 100+ deletes, while you got over 200 in the queue not counting the 100 already printed. That my friend will shorten your life real fast if done over an extended period.

Your making my point, for every store selling 1000 per day there's a store doing 200. The pharmacists selling 400 or less most likely enjoy their job a lot more then the 1000 stores. These are the people complaining here.

 

[BMBiology]

Fake Chalupa, why are you so concerned about saturation? I feel the people that constantly make these posts are afraid they are mediocre pharmacists that won't find a job with too much competition. I hire pharmacists and it is extremely difficult to find good ones. The pharmacists that are good know it and always have job options.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using SDN mobile

Yes, the "good" pharmacist will always find work but your definition of a good pharmacist is different from the chains.

It is not competition..it is how they treat you as an employee when there is a line of pharmacists waiting to take your spot. If a chain cuts their benefits, it is going to affect you regarded if you are a "good" pharmacist or not. That is the new reality.


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[Shazzy1228]

Since when does being realistic=negative? I think its important to understand the good/bad/ugly with any major life decision. If you can live with the negatives of pharmacy and have a great backup, go for it. The problem is that most pre-pharm students don't have a realistic view of the field. I just don't believe that is correct. You can't make an informed decision that way. How is that hurting the pre-pharm when they are told the truth? Its irresponsible to lead someone to believe that jobs are plentiful exactly where they want and stress is manageable. It should be a crime to lie(that's what I consider what these pharm schools are doing sorry) about these things. This is not isolated to just pharmacy anyway. Investment banking is awesome, but burnout is high. Now if I was in that field and a student came to me to ask about I-banking, I would tell the whole truth. Yes you can make good money, but burnout is real. Make your decision. Another example is a grad choosing to work for a startup: major risk, but if successful major reward. It could go bellyup in a matter of months and you could be unemployed. Know the facts and join at your peril.
What kind of big babies do we have in this generation?? No one wants to be told the truth anymore? How can you make proper decisions? Makes no damn sense man.....