What r u talking about? There is a clear division between clinical pharmacists and staff pharmacists. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but it is. Go to any website and you'll find ads for staff and clinical pharmacist positions separately.
Sorry! I've been (and am!) both - there is absoutely no difference in what is expected and if a hospital advertised that difference, I'd run fast because they've already put up an arbitrary & misguided difference which just shouldn't exist in 2007. In fact, if any of you are members of ASHP (which if you're students you should be!) - you should be aware of the process of trying to bridge this awful divide which has developed in the course of taking ourselves from a dispensing to a consultative in addition to dispensing role.
If my job for a particular day is to be in the ICU & I call in sick - there must be someone else who does it - it goes to the staff to fill in. Likewise, the reverse holds true. The same as when I work in the OR or have to cover the mental health unit or the snf.
Our pay is the same, our jobs are the same....but - as someone pointed out earlier - the mentality is not the same.
I was at the very begininning of "clinical" pharmacy - I was a new grad in its infancy. I cannot NOT believe this inane argument is still going on! And - who is promoting it? The schools who have you believe you are going to be doing something tremendously different than those who graduated 5, 10 or even 30 years ago like me....AND those individuals who choose to hold a "superior" attitude toward their coworkers - which is where the destructive & divisive nature of our profession is at its worst.
There are some absolute differences in certain areas. One is oncology. There is no one who can stay up with oncology unless you have done a residency & you'd be fooling yourself if you think you can. Likewise, neonatal & pedi are areas that are not interchangable with just any pharmacist. But, at least in N CA - no general hospital has pedi depts anymore & level III neonates are transferred to level III hospitals within hours of birth. Thus - these pharmacists work in children's hospitals & are likewise trained within that work setting to be able to shift between the NICU & the adolescent cystic fibrosis patients.
But, for general acute surgery & medicine, the standard is we are all "clinical" - that means everyone can & should intervene in each and every order which crosses your hands, no matter your shift or setting.
For the individual who asked about differentiating between different jobs - rounding with physicians for example. If you don't work in a teaching hospital with house staff - there are no rounds. The physicians see each of their patients on their own time & at different times of the day - surgeons in the afternoon & IM/FP in the AM or at lunch. I don't work in a teaching hospital unless I relieve a friend - so there are absolutely no rounds where I work primarily. How do I communicate with the physicians? I know when they come, they find me, or ..... I work with the hospitalist or their PA's.
For that pharmacist in the basement (haven't seen one in a basement in forever & rarely do I see my colleagues mixing IV's....) but - that individual is supervising a tech to make sure they mix that CA & PO4 correctly in the tpn because it is at the upper limit of solubility & sometimes techs just don't "get" that they can't squirt everything in one right after the other. That pharmacist is also ready & able to mix a streptokinase in less than 3 min if the cath lab calls for one stat - so tell me - is that not clinical????
The satellite pharmacists are entering orders in the computer & making sure they are correct - not only for drug choice, but for dosing, interactions, correlate with labs. You just see them entering orders, but the thought process is all "clinical" - otherwise, we'd just be clerks - is that what you think they are doing????
Instead of thinking about being "clinical" - try thinking about what it takes to be a "good" pharmacist?
That tech who posted who is going to pharmacy school - his/her experience reflects working with "good" pharmacists & ones who are just going through the motions. Each & every task you do as a pharmacist is "clinical" & we are gettin rid (slowly) of those which are not (pyxis checks for example). If only we could get rid of this notion of finding that "clinical" job which makes all other pharmacist jobs less - we'd become a better & more cohesive profession which ultimately will do a better job at patient care.
