Advice on what to do re: jobs

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[zelman]

C.

also D: warn prepharm students that you were too foolish to believe our warnings about the job market for the past decade and got yourself into a lousy situation.

 

[mentos]

C and D.

 

[TheBlaah]

C.
The specialty pharmacy is unlikely to be well connected.

 

[deleted562805]

Sort of in a dilemma right now. Just finished a PGY1 and currently unemployed BUT I got an offer for a specialty pharmacy (similar to retail, not closed door) for a fulltime, and I will be doing an interview for a FT hospital job (wont be in a few weeks, 50% chance).

I LOVE specialty pharmacy so I dont mind working “retail” but the thought that I would be doing that after a residency sucks, and the fact that if I wanna go back to hospital, it’ll be harder later on without the recent inpatient experience. Long term, I think eventually I would like to get into hospital since it is more stable and I love working at the hospital as well.

Right now, considering COVID and today’s job market, Should I:

A: take FT specialty job since its a guaranteed JOB and im currently unemployed (have option to keep hospital job as per diem)

B; turn down FT specialty job and interview for hosp job in a few weeks - this is a 50/50 chance that I can get it since I did a residency at the hosp (if i dont get the hosp job, have option to work per diem at The same hosp)

C: accept FT specialty job and still interview for hosp job (may need to quit specialty job after several weeks which is NOT ideal since i dont want to burn bridges)

Thanks!

I would do C. Speciality pharmacy is not like your typical busy retail. You are working with speciality oral medications like chemotherapy or HIV or Hep C. I would imagine you would have less volume than your 1,000 or more script volume busy box retail store and you would have more time to use your clinical skills.

Speciality pharmacy is more similar to Ambulatory care pharmacy.

I know you want inpatient hospital experience, but the positive thing is after residency you did not end up only applying to floater generic retail jobs where you just verify and fill. That scenario would be much worse. A new grad would kill for a speciality pharmacy job.

 

[Pronounce Doxazosin]

A or C
Definitely take what you can these days

 

[spacecowgirl]

A

 

[PromisedNeverland]

E. do a PGY2 to open more doors

 

[Thoughtfulsinner]

I still chuckle at the idea of pharmacists doing residencies. You really need a residency to master the skill of googling guidelines/dosing/algorithms?

MDs need residencies. It's just a joke for a pharmacist.

 

[deleted562805]

I still chuckle at the idea of pharmacists doing residencies. You really need a residency to master the skill of googling guidelines/dosing/algorithms?

MDs need residencies. It's just a joke for a pharmacist.

And to add to this, from 2000 to 2008, those hospital/clinical jobs did not even need residencies to google up guidelines, monitor Vancomycin kinetics, to dose Heparin. Residency is just used for cheap labor

 

[wagrxm2000]

I still chuckle at the idea of pharmacists doing residencies. You really need a residency to master the skill of googling guidelines/dosing/algorithms?

MDs need residencies. It's just a joke for a pharmacist.

These comments always crack me up.

You can Google just about anything. Why do we have lawyers, plumbers, MDs, etc? Everything can be looked up.

 

[Transformer]

Option A: Take the specialty pharmacy job offer. FT job > no job

If you want to keep the inpatient pharmacy door open, pursue the hospital per diem position as well, good luck!

 

[deleted562805]

These comments always crack me up.

You can Google just about anything. Why do we have lawyers, plumbers, MDs, etc? Everything can be looked up.

The only difference is pharmacy requires less application than the other professions you mentioned.

Anyone can look up information, but can you apply the information.

 

[wagrxm2000]

The only difference is pharmacy requires less application than the other professions you mentioned.

Anyone can look up information, but can you apply the information.

Does it though? What would a person do if they looked up a drug interaction and saw a moderate reaction?

There's a reason why people shouldn't Google their drugs or symptoms

 

[deleted562805]

Does it though? What would a person do if they looked up a drug interaction and saw a moderate reaction?

There's a reason why people shouldn't Google their drugs or symptoms

Well, you can easily create a app that is more affordable to the general public and is equal in credibility with up to date, clinical pharmacology, or micromedex

 

[wagrxm2000]

Well, you can easily create a app that is more affordable to the general public and is equal in credibility with up to date, clinical pharmacology, or micromedex

That wouldn't change the fact that they would see a moderate interaction

So what would they do? You don't actually think md offices would hire more staff to answer questions do you?

 

[deleted562805]

That wouldn't change the fact that they would see a moderate interaction

So what would they do? You don't actually think md offices would hire more staff to answer questions do you?

Aren’t the credible drug databases better than Drugs.com? Would the credible drug databases still indicate a moderate drug interaction?

Not all of pharmacy is memorization. There is some application involved in certain circumstances.
However, the other professions are more application dominant.

 

[Chrish]

If you start retail then you would have to find hospital job within a year or two at max. Otherwise your skills will be considered stale and your residency would basically become worthless..

Hospital jobs would be far more resilient to over saturation than others at least for next decade imo

 

[deleted562805]

If you start retail then you would have to find hospital job within a year or two at max. Otherwise your skills will be considered stale and your residency would basically become worthless..

Hospital jobs would be far more resilient to over saturation than others at least for next decade imo

This is a speciality pharmacy. It is not your typical floater and staff pharmacy job. In speciality pharmacy, you do use more of your clinical skills

 

[Chrish]

This is a speciality pharmacy. It is not your typical floater and staff pharmacy job. In speciality pharmacy, you do use more of your clinical skills

Nothing that can’t be learned after few weeks of training.. You dispense 10 or 20 regular meds. You need to counsel patients and learn specific storage requirements for expensive meds and handle PAs.

Not a rocket science.

 

[Marzapan]

I still chuckle at the idea of pharmacists doing residencies. You really need a residency to master the skill of googling guidelines/dosing/algorithms?

MDs need residencies. It's just a joke for a pharmacist.

It's become a necessity because schools don't teach you anything so you need that extra year of "practical training" to get up to speed on what you actually need to know for the job.

Keep in mind that the PharmD used to be a bachelor's degree turned doctorate overnight so by any objective standard, new grads are in the same boat as any other college grad - you are not a specialist, you don't have any real world skills and you need to pursue additional training to find a job.

 

[deleted562805]

It's become a necessity because schools don't teach you anything so you need that extra year of "practical training" to get up to speed on what you actually need to know for the job.

Keep in mind that the PharmD used to be a bachelor's degree turned doctorate overnight so by any objective standard, new grads are in the same boat as any other college grad - you are not a specialist, you don't have any real world skills and you need to pursue additional training to find a job.

To add to this, 15,000 new grads get churned out each year, so hospitals created residency to separate “smart” pharmacy students from “poor”students” it is mainly used to take advantage of the saturated market of new grads