AHHHH Please tell me this isn't true!!!

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surgeon_hopeful

surgeon_hopeful

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Hi,

so awhile back I asked about pharmacy (I think), and so instead of asking you guys, I decided to see for myself whether this career is for me. Although I like the salary, after viewing the job, I'm not so sure I liked what I saw:

All I saw the pharmacist doing was checking orders and on occassion, answering questions a customer had. Is that SERIOUSLY all they do? I was told that the stereotype of a pharmacist simply counting pills was incorrect, but from what I saw, there really wasn't much else that guy was doing! I thought the work would be a bit more mentally stimulating/challenging, but from what I saw, the stereotype held true!

I'll give you full details of where I was in case that makes a difference:
-Outpatient clinic at a government owned, veterans hospital.

So what should I make of what I saw, because from what I witnessed, that looks like the most boring/tedious job ever!
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
Is that SERIOUSLY all they do?
Click to expand...

You forgot the part where you get to sift through the internet all day for nudie pics of your favorite celebs, that is the part that sold me on the profession. Pay me for what I would be doing anyway, hell yeah.
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
Hi,

so awhile back I asked about pharmacy (I think), and so instead of asking you guys, I decided to see for myself whether this career is for me. Although I like the salary, after viewing the job, I'm not so sure I liked what I saw:

All I saw the pharmacist doing was checking orders and on occassion, answering questions a customer had. Is that SERIOUSLY all they do? I was told that the stereotype of a pharmacist simply counting pills was incorrect, but from what I saw, there really wasn't much else that guy was doing! I thought the work would be a bit more mentally stimulating/challenging, but from what I saw, the stereotype held true!

I'll give you full details of where I was in case that makes a difference:
-Outpatient clinic at a government owned, veterans hospital.

So what should I make of what I saw, because from what I witnessed, that looks like the most boring/tedious job ever!
Click to expand...

Looks like you've hit the nail on the head, and have officially seen it all. Thank goodness you have surgery to fall back on.
 
wow, can you guys please actually give me a straight answer? I'm just a high schooler exploring career options and getting help from people who hopefully have experience on this board, and I'd really appreciate if you could not be so rude and sarcastic please.
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
wow, can you guys please actually give me a straight answer? I'm just a high schooler exploring career options and getting help from people who hopefully have experience on this board, and I'd really appreciate if you could not be so rude and sarcastic please.
Click to expand...

If there were time but as House would say-"Internet is overflowing with porn and it is not going to download itself."

Use the SEARCH function!! TONS of info or explore www.aacp.org
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
wow, can you guys please actually give me a straight answer? I'm just a high schooler exploring career options and getting help from people who hopefully have experience on this board, and I'd really appreciate if you could not be so rude and sarcastic please.
Click to expand...

Your audience is either applying to, on the verge of starting, knee deep in the middle of, or is a seasoned veteran in the field of pharmacy and you just came in here and referred to it as the most boring/tedious job ever. Consider your tact and enjoy the responses. You deserve it all! 👍
 
ForcedEntry said:
Your audience is either applying to, on the verge of starting, knee deep in the middle of, or is a seasoned veteran in the field of pharmacy and you just came in here and referred to it as the most boring/tedious job ever. Consider your tact and enjoy the responses. You deserve it all! 👍
Click to expand...
Well said.
 
ummm okay wow, did I not say that it looks like the most tedius and boring job ever. That doesn't necessarily mean it is, so can you please stop being immature about it and instead try and prove me wrong?
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
ummm okay wow, did I not say that it looks like the most tedius and boring job ever. That doesn't necessarily mean it is, so can you please stop being immature about it and instead try and prove me wrong?
Click to expand...

I can.
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
ummm okay wow, did I not say that it looks like the most tedius and boring job ever. That doesn't necessarily mean it is, so can you please stop being immature about it and instead try and prove me wrong?
Click to expand...

Most jobs are tedious and boring...welcome to the real world.
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
ummm okay wow, did I not say that it looks like the most tedius and boring job ever. That doesn't necessarily mean it is, so can you please stop being immature about it and instead try and prove me wrong?
Click to expand...

I am just a pre-pharmacy student and I have never spent any time in an outpatient or retail pharmacy- I'm still trying to work that out. My experience has all been with inpatient pharmacies. The pharmacists I have been around have had what I considered to be incredibly mentally stimulating jobs! I guess it depends on where your interest lies within pharmacy. I am interested in working with organ transplants, and from what I have seen, those pharmacists are constantly working out problems. In fact, all the inpatient pharmacies I have been in have seemed quite mentally stimulating to me. I have seen pharmacists that work solely with cancer patients. I have worked with pharmacists that focused on pediatric therapy. One hospital in my area is trying to hire pharmacists solely to staff the ER.

It will take some extra training to get where I want to be, but its what excites me! If the outpatient/retail situation doesn't seem intriguing, investigate some other practice areas before you abandon the profession as a whole. Check out the link earlier in the thread.
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
but from what I saw, there really wasn't much else that guy was doing!
Click to expand...

1) That guy is the supervisor. Once they put the white coat on, you can't tell who's who.

2) You should've asked 'that guy' what he was doing. Why he's getting paid so much for doing nothing? Don't be skurrred.
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
ummm okay wow, did I not say that it looks like the most tedius and boring job ever. That doesn't necessarily mean it is, so can you please stop being immature about it and instead try and prove me wrong?
Click to expand...

Honestly, there are so many things in pharmacy to do. Yes, some pharmacist do what you saw. It probably looked pretty boring, but there are tons of other avenues and opportunities. Next time your in a pharmacy, chat the pharmacist up (if they aren't busy, that is) or go to your highschool career center and see if you can arrange meeting with a hospital pharmacist. or check out the link above.

I'd go into detail, but I am tired and you can't get a complete picture of all the options from an forum, unless sdn1977 answers your desperate thirst for knowledge.

Try doing a search btw.
 
Surgeon_Hopefull said:
Hi,

so awhile back I asked about pharmacy (I think), and so instead of asking you guys, I decided to see for myself whether this career is for me. Although I like the salary, after viewing the job, I'm not so sure I liked what I saw:

All I saw the pharmacist doing was checking orders and on occassion, answering questions a customer had. Is that SERIOUSLY all they do? I was told that the stereotype of a pharmacist simply counting pills was incorrect, but from what I saw, there really wasn't much else that guy was doing! I thought the work would be a bit more mentally stimulating/challenging, but from what I saw, the stereotype held true!

I'll give you full details of where I was in case that makes a difference:
-Outpatient clinic at a government owned, veterans hospital.

So what should I make of what I saw, because from what I witnessed, that looks like the most boring/tedious job ever!.
Click to expand...

I once watched a surgery. I saw a bunch of people standing around a table. Occasionally someone would hand a person standing in the middle something. It went on like this this for hours. I was told surgeons only stand around and cut up people but until I saw it I didn't believe it. Is that all they seriously do? Sounds like the most boring job in the world to me.

Nice try at starting a fight. Someone may bite, but I doubt it...
 
KARM12 said:
Most jobs are tedious and boring...welcome to the real world.
Click to expand...


^^^^
I don't think a surgeon performing his/her 300th hernia repair is still mentally stimulated/challenged.
 
well like I said, I saw only the outpatient part, so what are typical activities for inpatient pharmacists?
 
surgeon_hopeful said:
well like I said, I saw only the outpatient part, so what are typical activities for inpatient pharmacists?
Click to expand...

Just incase you really are curious about the profession I will try this with you ONE more time and see if it will sink in your brain this time.

You go to www.aacp.org. The site will tell you stuff about pharmacists, big amounts of stuff.

Another option would be to put your mouse cursor over the "Search" function and click it. Then type words into the provided space, SDN in all of its glory and majesty will collect every single little post about what you wanted to know about. Basically you get lots and lots of answers to your question INSTANTLY with one function.

Sounds too good to be true huh? Make sure not to tell too many people about the search function it is a secret.
 
common you guys.. he is just a school kid! May be we can drag one more in to the drug world.
 
If I'm a prepharmacy student, I'd try to drive away the competition, too.

Look, fella, pharmacy is more diversified than "guy counting pills." Most retail jobs honestly are like what you described, but there is much, much more out there than that. Hospital, industry, infusion, nuclear, academia......and on and on...
 
Yesterday, I had to call an insurance company about a weird rejection, send off three faxes about authorizations and refills, and explain to a customer why she got one medication but was denied two others. I was only there from 4-9 pm! Retail pharmacy can be boring or insane. It just depends on what you do in the pharmacy and where you work.
If you shadow at a retail pharmacy, go watch the person who types up the new RXs. They are usually really stressed out by lunch time.
 
PharmDstudent said:
Yesterday, I had to call an insurance company about a weird rejection, send off three faxes about authorizations and refills, and explain to a customer why she got one medication but was denied two others. I was only there from 4-9 pm! Retail pharmacy can be boring or insane. It just depends on what you do in the pharmacy and where you work.
If you shadow at a retail pharmacy, go watch the person who types up the new RXs. They are usually really stressed out by lunch time.
Click to expand...

This is definitely part of the retail setting for pharmacists, trying to problem solve these insurance issues.



surgeon_hopeful said:
All I saw the pharmacist doing was checking orders and on occassion, answering questions a customer had. Is that SERIOUSLY all they do? I
Click to expand...

As an intern in the retail setting, what you are describing are the duties (along with the insurance issues) of a staff pharmacist. Obviously, some handle the stress better than others, some are miserable while others are calm and relaxed about their career choice. Similar to "Fight Club," you decide your own involvement. I have a preceptor who will bend over backwards to help patients and really anyone. Then there are the ones who will avoid patient interaction at all costs.

I volunteered in a clinic setting and I rarely saw the pharmacist. She seems swamped with administrative duties on top of everything else. The place did seem understaffed, hence the need for volunteers to man the pick-up windows. In this clinic setting, there were no insurance issues or even cash registers. It was essentially anti-retail. Patient care was the primary concern.

The pharmacy manager at the store I work at, has his share of administrative duties along with the assembly line work of performing final checks of scripts before they hit public hands. He also has the pressure of managing tech./pharmacist schedules, payroll, and trying to run a successful/profitable business. You get to play economics and budgets. So you may want to look into becoming a pharmacy manager if you are looking for a challenge with mental stimulation.
 
Idesiretosling said:
You forgot the part where you get to sift through the internet all day for nudie pics of your favorite celebs, that is the part that sold me on the profession. Pay me for what I would be doing anyway, hell yeah.
Click to expand...

I guess they didnt discuss this in any of our classes on purpose.....otherwise we would have an over abundance of rphs!
 
hey thanks downonthepharm! Those were some nice links.

After reading the descriptions, it seems that managed care seems like an area that I'd like because it involves direct interaction with people and seems like you actually get to give advice instead of just standing there behind the scenes. Is that right, or what field should I get in within pharmacy so that I get the most interaction with patients while still earning the big $$$ 😀 (to me, big $$$ is 150k, but 200k ideally working from around 7 or 8 - 5)? What scared me when I've gone there to volunteer is that the guy seems to be reading scripts all day and only gets a patient like twice over a 3 hours period for a few minutes. I'd like to actually talk to people, so which field is good for that?

thanks for the help everyone!

EDIT: btw, does this guy in the following article do managed care?

http://berlex.bayerhealthcare.com/html/career/pharma/pdfs/CareersinPharmADayInTheLife.pdf
 
I was wondering, what do most of you do when things slow down at the pharmacy??
 
I had my rotation at pretty slow store. I used to read pharmacist letter or US pharmacist... (may be because I am a student) and my preceptor used to talk on phone with family and friends, otherwise read a book (some mystery novel from library) or a magazine about angelina zolie adopting kids or who is being anorexic.
 
imount said:
I was wondering, what do most of you do when things slow down at the pharmacy??
Click to expand...

I used to stroll through nursing units and flirt with hot nurses...
 
It just seems like pharmacy it too good to be true, a fun busy profession and on down times, talk to nurses at hospitals or pick up a mag to read or surf net in retail. If thats the case I wonder if I could buy one of these for just $26,000 and blast them in the pharmacy :laugh:
eyeballspeakers.jpg


that way it can either scare off people (more down time😉) and attract the fun ones!:hardy:
 
imount said:
I was wondering, what do most of you do when things slow down at the pharmacy??
Click to expand...

Nice thread high jacking there.

Does anyone have an answer to that question I just asked recently?
 
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