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Is it possible to spin retail dispensing experience for a big chain as relevent experience to let you sit for one of the BCPS exams?
My guess is the OP wants to get out of the cesspool that is large big box retail chainsWhat's in it for the retail pharmacist to become board certified?
So is there any mechanism in place to stop a new pharmacist from taking a prep class and attempting the AmCare exam? I suppose it's really just a matter of meeting the four year cut off. I presume they wouldn't process an application that didn't at least meet those requirements. And I'd hate to be the guy called out for lying on that app.The experience/residency requirements are all on the honor system, so yes, you can take the exam. However, if you don't have the relevant experience you're not likely to pass.
I know a few retail pharmacists that took the exam...they said no one fails.
I have several colleagues who have failed. They were under the impression that nobody failed so they didn't take it very seriously. 1 retook it and passed the 2nd time. The others gave up. But everyone who actually studied has passed.
no, please take every word literally and not for the hyperbole that it is.
Yeah. I'm thinking about going back to get a BS in pharmacy to stand out.The funny thing is that everyone and their mothers are now taking this exam because of the saturation.
Soon everyone will be PharmD, PGY1, PGY2, BCPS.
MBA and pharmacy. Useful? Or not really?
I'm laughing at the naysayers in this thread. One has to remember that in many pharmacy classes (and certainly in mine) the smartest people opted out of doing a residency (ala valedictorian working at Rite-Aid). I have no doubt that these people would smoke the BCPS test. I bought the materials myself and they weren't that bad. We all passed pharmacy school right?
Many people that do residencies are too close-minded to see what is possible out there. The BCPS could open doors in the right situation. The dreamers here can envision that situation, and the haters can keep saying that it would never happen. Just remember that the BCPS is just a cherry on top of a well-built Sunday (networking, student rotations, ambition, etc). It is the whole that matters more than just one individual certificastion.
This is the most ******ed thing I've read, .
Put it this way...there's barely a benefit for a PGY1/2 trained/highly experienced clinical unicorns to take/pass this test. Seriously, it's like a f*cking "my kid is in the honor roll" bumper sticker.
No internet message board user will comply with your request. (As much as I agree with you)Please do not ever use the R -word - it is one of the most overused, disrespectful words that has gained too much acceptance in today's society. It is extremely hateful to those of us that have special needs children in our family.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-...appens-when-you-use-the-r-word_b_4896444.html
Yesterday was "end the use of the r-word day" and I encourage all of you to read this link by John McGinley, hopefully it will help you see things in a different light
No internet message board user will comply with your request. (As much as I agree with you)
I feel that some of the nayers on here have a poor case of "holier than thou" attitude with their 2-3 years of basement-dwelling hospital experiences.
This made me laugh, thanks!
After ten years of retail, I am one month into my non-retail job. I have been introduced to the online "globalrph" calculator, and am now just as useful as anyone else around me. More efficient, actually, because I cannot sit at a desk all day.
The head of the IV department came over to thank me last week, because I saved her a billing headache. All I did was question why an IV I was checking was labeled for brand name "Zosyn" (and not the generic name "piperacillin/tazowhatever" for my suffering retail friends.) This was a reflex question I instinctively had, stemming from years of customer abuse. Common sense to retail people, but much appreciated foresight in a land where someone else does the billing.
It is very possible for a BS to get out of retail. Connections/friends are all that matter. There is no super secret intelligence had by a hospital pharmacist that one cannot acquire on the job in a month.
1, Why can 3 amps of bicarb be mixed in D5W but not NS?
2. During RSI, in what cases would you suggest vecuronium over succs? If you do, what do you have to do as far as changing the sedative?
3. If you give TPA in a stroke when do you start heparin? If given for PE, when do you start heparin?
4. Pt is on a heparin drip, you have an elevated PTT but a anti Xa level that is below your target range. What do you do?
These are all questions I have had just in the past week.
I cannot answer any of your questions on the fly!
However, from what I have seen, neither can most of the pharmacists I work with. Furthermore, I would feel more confident about my answer in about ten minutes than I would theirs.
You are correct in that there is a special place for pharmacists who are smart enough to know the true answers to the above questions in real time. The problem I am seeing is that they are too few in number, and enough people have asked over time and gotten no usable answers that most do not even bother to ask the pharmacy anymore.
(I do hope you are being paid what you are worth, which in a fair world would be a lot more than me.)
I agree with you to a point (a retail pharmacist of one year turned hospital pharmacist of 10) but there is LOT to be learned on the job. Most can be learned, but there is a lot more of "using your brain". I could go down the road and ask you a few - not to make myself be holier than thou, but to highlight my point.
1, Why can 3 amps of bicarb be mixed in D5W but not NS?
2. During RSI, in what cases would you suggest vecuronium over succs? If you do, what do you have to do as far as changing the sedative?
3. If you give TPA in a stroke when do you start heparin? If given for PE, when do you start heparin?
4. Pt is on a heparin drip, you have an elevated PTT but a anti Xa level that is below your target range. What do you do?
These are all questions I have had just in the past week. Not saying a hospital Rph is smarter, but we utilize a different skill set. Can most Rph's be trained? yes, is a month enough? no. We have a three month training process, just to get through your probation, but learning continues.
Now, I will also agree that if you take a lot of hospital Rph's and put them in retail, they would also crack under a different type of pressure.
I guess if that is the case, all of are monkey's - because that is 99% of our job. What sets one pharmacist apart from another then in your world?These are not skill sets....these are just guidelines and facts that you can look up anywhere. The skill is to know where to look for these answers and they can be taught on the job. I've worked in hospitals before and the "clinical" pharmacists have had to almost always look things up to be sure. The medical team can also do this; they just don't have time or don't want to. It's not a skill. The facts are there, you just have to look them up. You can teach a monkey to follow guidelines.
These are not skill sets....these are just guidelines and facts that you can look up anywhere. The skill is to know where to look for these answers and they can be taught on the job. I've worked in hospitals before and the "clinical" pharmacists have had to almost always look things up to be sure. The medical team can also do this; they just don't have time or don't want to. It's not a skill. The facts are there, you just have to look them up. You can teach a monkey to follow guidelines.
I guess if that is the case, all of are monkey's - because that is 99% of our job. What sets one pharmacist apart from another then in your world?
Right, so why does society have a need for pharmacists? It's all about liability.
What's a skill set? Finding the answers to these questions under time constraint. Working under time constraints is always a skill.
What sets one pharmacist apart from another is how fast, efficient, and accurate they are with their answers/medical info. As for dispensing? No, we are just there for liability.
not to hijack the thread but let me give you this scenario I had awhile back.
Man comes into ED - is in vfib arrest - EMS tosses me a bag of meds. I quickly scan them, see a bottle of dofetilide. I ask you - What would you suggest? We are about 5 minutes into CPR, given EPI, amio 300mg, and about to push another epi. I suggest Magnesium 1 gram IVP, MD looks at me and says he is not in torsades, I say, he is on dofetilide, it is a possibility, Did you see his rhythm right before he went into Vifb? He says OK, can't hurt, we push it, get ROSC, pt is discharged 3 days later.
Is that following guidelines? Is that something a monkey could do? Is that something the MD and RN's are gonna suggest?
Just sayin - and FWIW - we don't have a differentiation between "clinical pharmacists" and pharmacists. We are all on a relatively even playing field, unlike some of our neighboring institutions.
Hospital ER clinical positions are far out of the focus of this thread.I agree with you to a point (a retail pharmacist of one year turned hospital pharmacist of 10) but there is LOT to be learned on the job. Most can be learned, but there is a lot more of "using your brain". I could go down the road and ask you a few - not to make myself be holier than thou, but to highlight my point.
1, Why can 3 amps of bicarb be mixed in D5W but not NS?
2. During RSI, in what cases would you suggest vecuronium over succs? If you do, what do you have to do as far as changing the sedative?
3. If you give TPA in a stroke when do you start heparin? If given for PE, when do you start heparin?
4. Pt is on a heparin drip, you have an elevated PTT but a anti Xa level that is below your target range. What do you do?
These are all questions I have had just in the past week. Not saying a hospital Rph is smarter, but we utilize a different skill set. Can most Rph's be trained? yes, is a month enough? no. We have a three month training process, just to get through your probation, but learning continues.
Now, I will also agree that if you take a lot of hospital Rph's and put them in retail, they would also crack under a different type of pressure.
often we are not asked the question, we are interpreting orders and need to know if a MD is following guidelines. We get orders for PNA - is this patient a MRSA risk? Pseudomonas risk? HCAP vs CAP? We can look up the answers if we know the question, knowing what the question is without being asked is a skill set that many people don't have.
I almost did, but when my friends on their residency were putting in 80 hours a week, busting their a$$ and making 35k a year - I figured I would go a different route - less hours, still good money, but I put in my 40 hours and then mind is turned off to the world of pharamcy. but gonna close this discussion as the thread has gone completely off course.I agree, but if you had that kind of thought process, you should have become a doctor and be active in a clinical role to make these changes and not just suggestions.
I almost did, but when my friends on their residency were putting in 80 hours a week, busting their a$$ and making 35k a year - I figured I would go a different route - less hours, still good money, but I put in my 40 hours and then mind is turned off to the world of pharamcy. but gonna close this discussion as the thread has gone completely off course.
I agree, but if you had that kind of thought process, you should have become a doctor and be active in a clinical role to make these changes and not just suggestions.
Just my 2 cents, please everyone don't be offended. You can step off your clinical pedestals and allow OP to get his coveted BCPS now because it was exclusively your bumper sticker since never.
I love discussions and debates (provided all are civil - as you were) - believe me, I know those that have the high and mighty feeling.True, and I'm sorry if I came across hostile. I find it appalling that there are people that would discourage OP from trying for BCPS just because they felt entitled to that exclusively.
Although I do believe most of the pharmacist I work with can be trained and will learn these answers over time...
Man comes into ED - is in vfib arrest - EMS tosses me a bag of meds. I quickly scan them, see a bottle of dofetilide. I ask you - What would you suggest? We are about 5 minutes into CPR, given EPI, amio 300mg, and about to push another epi. I suggest Magnesium 1 gram IVP, MD looks at me and says he is not in torsades, I say, he is on dofetilide, it is a possibility, Did you see his rhythm right before he went into Vifb? He says OK, can't hurt, we push it, get ROSC, pt is discharged 3 days later.
This reads to me like you are the actual Brain in those operations, and the other pharmacists wait around for you to make the big decisions. Which is what I see now...God forbid the one person who I would consider a "clinician" (what I am imagining your role is) is not on the schedule. I end up leading the way via google and/or package inserts because everyone else is paralyzed by fear and afraid to admit they have no freaking idea what the answer is. It appears my greatest asset is the ability to freely admit I have no idea what bugs Teflaro will kill.
Which oddly enough is what made me good at retail. "Ma'am, I have no idea what the dose the doctor meant to write here on days 2-4 of your kid's zithromax suspension, but since I can make out one teaspoon for day 1, you take this home with you tonight and we'll work that part out tomorrow." (That situation got me a customer service high five when no one else would fill the rx.)
I've been overpaid since about 2004, when sign on bonus bonanza hit full swing. I would like to see my techs get more money now.
In a past life I slept with an ER PA who probably couldn't even read the above.