Changing the Image of Pharmacists

[usi]

OK. I figure SDN is the place to ask this question
What can be done to change the pharmacists image?

I'll start.
Pull out that stupid Domino's Pizza comercial about 555, where a pharmacist is being depicted as a dull, overthehill guy, working in a pasty-looking pharmacy,
It ifuriates me!
Any more Ideas?

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[DownonthePharm]

All professions are to some degree stereotyped on television. Not all cops have troubled emotional lives, not all nurses are giving and kind, not all doctors are trying to save the world, not all prostitutes have a heart of gold inside.

Volunteer and otherwise be active in helping others in your community. When they ask what you do, proudly tell them you are a pharmacist. Pharmacists have a pretty good reputation to begin with, and thats due to the caring of individuals on the local level. Or else you could start your own snazzy sexy cable pharmacy show.

 

[ethyl]

As far as tv goes:
Murdering, psycho pharmacist on Desperate Housewives.
Nerdy pharmacist on Family Guy.

The public view I've seen is McDonald'ish. The first time I told my friends and coworkers that I was applying to pharmacy school, they all gave me the most puzzled look. They thought I was 'smart enough for med school' and had no idea pharmacy school is a doctorate program.

Expanding pharmacists' roles in retail should change their image. Perhaps a system similar to England where pharmacists can prescribe and dispense drugs.

 

[Mangosteen]

not all prostitutes have a heart of gold inside.

hahhahaha. I didn't know that's their stereotype...

 

[insipid1979]

As far as tv goes:
The first time I told my friends and coworkers that I was applying to pharmacy school, they all gave me the most puzzled look. They thought I was 'smart enough for med school' and had no idea pharmacy school is a doctorate program.

This aggravates me so much. "That many years of school? Why don't you just become a Doctor?" It seems like most people think that everyone strives to become a doctor and if you do anything else you weren't smart enough. I know I for one would not want to be a Physician for numerous reasons...I don't see why most people view being a Physician as most people's goals. It is aggravating.

 

[arroz223]

This aggravates me so much. "That many years of school? Why don't you just become a Doctor?" It seems like most people think that everyone strives to become a doctor and if you do anything else you weren't smart enough. I know I for one would not want to be a Physician for numerous reasons...I don't see why most people view being a Physician as most people's goals. It is aggravating.

I second you on that one... I get the same type of response, "You might as well become a doctor." It frustrates me because, although I'm wanting to give 100% to pharmacy and the profession, I always have to justify why I choose pharmacy, and not medicine. Today, I told someone I was starting pharmacy school in the fall, and they thought I only had 2 more years to go... I then had to explain to them it was a doctorate program... It also seems to many people that anyone can just decide to become a pharmacist and just enter pharmacy school just like that. They're so clueless about the difficulty of actually entering the program...


ERGHHHH frustrating... But, that's okay... Someday, we future pharmacists will make a difference and change all that right? hehe..

 

[dgroulx]

I wish people could go behind the scenes of a hospital pharmacy and see why pharmacy school takes the same amount of time as med school. The clinical pharmacists at my rotation joke about how the physicians don't know what drug to use (except for the cardiologists). My previous rotation had 2 full time staff pharmacists whose only duty was to advise the physicians on what med to use.

Health care is everyone working together. I just don't know how to make the public see that, when all they think about are retail chains.

 

[Sosumi]

The main problem is that 60-70% of pharmacists work in the community where chains come up with degrading ideas such as "the customer is always right", coupons for prescription transfers, and drive-thru pharmacies. A lot of our work is behind the scenes -- calling up for prescription verification, interpreting sloppy handwriting, checking for interactions, switching to formulary medication. With the current shortage, many pharmacists don't feel like there's time to do much counseling and medication therapy management since the proven profitability is in dispensing -- therefore the corporate types want pharmacists dispensing as much as possible as fast as possible.

Even in the hospital, most of the central pharmacy work is behind the scenes. Nurses and doctors just think that the medicine should just suddenly appear in their hands. As more hospitals decentralize their pharmacies and have pharmacists on the floors, as well as adding more clinical pharmacists and clinical services (such as abx dosing and code response), the opinion of pharmacists among other healthcare professionals seems to improve. I've seen it first hand doing pain rounds at my hospital.

The biggest change still has to come from change in the community pharmacies where the public sees us the most. A new project called P3 is starting up in Western Maryland modelled after the Asheville Project. Clinical pharmacists will be handling diabetes management. It's brand new and very interesting to see how it will fare.

Hopefully pharmacists will step up to the plate with medication therapy management and more clinical services in the community if they want the image of the profession to improve. It's sad because too many still are content to just dispense, rarely talk to patients, and expect to continue collecting $50+/hr just standing there checking prescriptions all day. I remember when the dean of Kentucky's SOP came and discussed clinical services in Kentucky, that not many pharmacists sign up to do them -- most that do are already faculty at Kentucky's SOP.

 

[Caverject]

If that gets your panties in a bunch, wait till you become a pharmacist!

If you want the image of pharmacists to change, let CVS do an awareness campaign. They have the best pharmacy commercials bar none

 

[Pharmcdc]

If you want the image of pharmacists to change, let CVS do an awareness campaign. They have the best pharmacy commercials bar none

I agree with you, their commercials are awesome. I am very proud when I see them, I thought it was just me

 

[eeyore spice]

"That many years of school? Why don't you just become a Doctor?"

I don't like people, just drugs.

 

[LegalDrugDealer]

a lot of people have misconception about pharmacy or pharmacists. they think all we do is sell drugs. but these days everyone wants to be pharmacist and even medical doctors will soon convert to pharmacists.

 

[Tom Platz]

OK. I figure SDN is the place to ask this question
What can be done to change the pharmacists image?

I'll start.
Pull out that stupid Domino's Pizza comercial about 555, where a pharmacist is being depicted as a dull, overthehill guy, working in a pasty-looking pharmacy,
It ifuriates me!
Any more Ideas?

Hi, just wanted to add my thoughts....

Briefly, after completeing my BSc(Hons), and lectured for a while, I applied and was accepted to a pharmacy school. My folks thought it was great, and so did I.

The kickback I received from family and friends was indeed very different.
" what did you study and waste all those years with your science degrees ", was a typical question, that I had to endure during my training as a pharmacist.

Now, when I look back, I wouldn't have any other way.....As an intern at a large local govement hospital, both medical students, and qualified doctors stop and ask about drug / drug interactions and dosages to be prescribed.

And so now ( after many years...)..I have the the perfect response to family and friends..." somebody needs to doctor the doctors...like only a pharmacist can "

Cheers, T

 

[BME103]

Lets be realistic. The general public has a perception that pharmacists only transfer pills from one bottle to another. Until this image is changed and more importantly, until pharmacists are being paid for their services (e.g. counseling, clinical, etc.), the profession will not change. Even if pharmacists are being paid for counseling, I am not sure if the public would pay an extra $10 for it.

I cannot blame on the retails. It is a business afterall. I blame it on many of the pharmacists. They could careless about the profession. They only see it as a 9 to 5 job.

 

[DrugDealer]

The first time I told my friends and coworkers that I was applying to pharmacy school, they all gave me the most puzzled look. They thought I was 'smart enough for med school' and had no idea pharmacy school is a doctorate program.

Same here. My father still hadn't come to terms with the fact I dropped out of a PhD program at UC-Berkeley when I first told him I was applying to pharmacy school. He said "it was a waste of my time and mind." My boyfriend and his family basically said the same thing, too, and told me to go to med school.

Now that one of my father's doctors told him I would be a great pharmacist with my chemistry and research background, he seems to support the idea and acts like he knew this all along. Families are a real pain.

 

[BME103]

Now that one of my father's doctors told him I would be a great pharmacist with my chemistry and research background, he seems to support the idea and acts like he knew this all along. Families are a real pain.

I am not sure if you have started pharmacy school yet but there is a misperception that pharmacy deals with a lot of chemistry. That is simply wrong.

 

[Requiem]

Lets be realistic. The general public has a perception that pharmacists only transfer pills from one bottle to another. Until this image is changed and more importantly, until pharmacists are being paid for their services (e.g. counseling, clinical, etc.), the profession will not change. Even if pharmacists are being paid for counseling, I am not sure if the public would pay an extra $10 for it.

I cannot blame on the retails. It is a business afterall. I blame it on many of the pharmacists. They could careless about the profession. They only see it as a 9 to 5 job.

Every prescription is charged with a 'professional fee'. Here, it's ~8.85 per script. Are you even a pharmacy student?

As well, I can think of one practice where a woman has opened up her own essentially 'ideal' pharmacy. She does expert compounding, and has patient consultations which last ~45 mins to an hour in which she charges ~150$ to do a complete medication review, lifestyle changes and gives the patient a large amount of take home reading which was produced through her research on the case. So, she's paid to interview patients, research their conditions and give them info about it.

"I blame it on many of the pharmacists, they could careless about the profession." First of all, it's could NOT care less, and that statement is so blatantly idiotic i'm just gonna call you a troll.

 

[BME103]

^I don't understand why so many pharmacy students are defensive when people try to address the problems with the profession.

They have been talking about "clinical" pharmacy for the last 40 years and I have a feeling that they will still talk about it for the next 40 years. I am also tired of pharmacy students using selective sampling when they are defending the profession. I thank you for pointing out the obvious that there are rare exceptions.

 

[pharmforme]

I don't like people, just drugs.

Classic- I love it!

 

[DrugDealer]

They have been talking about "clinical" pharmacy for the last 40 years and I have a feeling that they will still talk about it for the next 40 years. I am also tired of pharmacy students using selective sampling when they are defending the profession. I thank you for pointing out the obvious that there are rare exceptions.

Before something is mainstream, it must first be a “rare exception”. Maybe these situations are few and far between, but they are more common than they were a few years ago. MTM, with its formal, financial recognition of pharmacists’ cognitive services, is a big step forward for the profession—first these opportunities were non-existent, now they are a reality (though rare), and eventually they will be commonplace.

To double the sample size and support Requiem’s “rare example,” the Walgreens down the street from my school has a Patient Care Center, where patients are seen on a walk-in basis without appointments. The pharmacist staffing the center performs BP, blood glucose, and cholesterol screenings; bone density testing; asthma and diabetes education; and immunizations. This pharmacist, who does no filling or verifying on this shift, also aids in OTC selection since the bench pharmacist is too busy. And given the pseudo-inner city setting with many low-income patients who are unable to afford their medications, this pharmacist also counsels patients on alternatives to their currently prescribed medications—armed with this new info, they can then ask their doctor for a script they can afford. All of this from a nationwide chain…..

 

[Requiem]

^I don't understand why so many pharmacy students are defensive when people try to address the problems with the profession.

They have been talking about "clinical" pharmacy for the last 40 years and I have a feeling that they will still talk about it for the next 40 years. I am also tired of pharmacy students using selective sampling when they are defending the profession. I thank you for pointing out the obvious that there are rare exceptions.

EVERY script is given a professional fee, that sure is a rare exception! And the pharmacist who does the inpatient interviews for a fee, that one is rare. But she is giving seminars and speeches to a lot of schools, and I can assure you inspiring many to contemplate a similar job, so it is changing.

Yet again I ask, are you a pharmacy student? You also said there's not much chemistry to pharmacy, well I guess if you don't count the General chemistry I/II, organic chem I/II, physical / inorganic chemistries as well as medicinal chemistry you're right!!

Compare that to other professions, I think it's a fair bit of chemistry. Anyway, you've been proven wrong here and seem to be trolling, so get out.

 

[konkan]

EVERY script is given a professional fee, that sure is a rare exception! And the pharmacist who does the inpatient interviews for a fee, that one is rare. But she is giving seminars and speeches to a lot of schools, and I can assure you inspiring many to contemplate a similar job, so it is changing.

Yet again I ask, are you a pharmacy student? You also said there's not much chemistry to pharmacy, well I guess if you don't count the General chemistry I/II, organic chem I/II, physical / inorganic chemistries as well as medicinal chemistry you're right!!

Compare that to other professions, I think it's a fair bit of chemistry. Anyway, you've been proven wrong here and seem to be trolling, so get out.

There is a lot of chemistry in prepharmacy, but basically none in pharmacy

 

[BME103]

EVERY script is given a professional fee, that sure is a rare exception!

Yes I agree, there is a dispensing fee. You are awesome at pointing out the obvious. I think that is the only thing you have proven.

 

[BME103]

To double the sample size and support Requiem’s “rare example,” the Walgreens down the street from my school has a Patient Care Center, where patients are seen on a walk-in basis without appointments. The pharmacist staffing the center performs BP, blood glucose, and cholesterol screenings; bone density testing; asthma and diabetes education; and immunizations. This pharmacist, who does no filling or verifying on this shift, also aids in OTC selection since the bench pharmacist is too busy. And given the pseudo-inner city setting with many low-income patients who are unable to afford their medications, this pharmacist also counsels patients on alternatives to their currently prescribed medications—armed with this new info, they can then ask their doctor for a script they can afford. All of this from a nationwide chain…..

Is this the same Walgreens that also own mail order pharmacies? Or is this the Walgreens that have drive thru at their pharmacies? Or maybe, it is the Walgreens that understaff their pharmacies so there is less customer (aka patient)/pharmacist interaction so they can earn an extra buck. It is a business, remember it.

 

[DrugDealer]

Is this the same Walgreens that also own mail order pharmacies? Or is this the Walgreens that have Drive Thru at their pharmacies? Or maybe, it is the Walgreens that understaff their pharmacies so there is less customer (aka patient)/pharmacist interaction.

Now that you mention it, I believe it is. Thanks for jogging my memory. The point is, if THEY can find time and space (they've built a private consultation room) for these additional services, then there is probably a future in this area. They are trendsetters....look at the drive-thru.

 

[BME103]

The point is, if THEY can find time and space (they've built a private consultation room) for these additional services, then there is probably a future in this area. They are trendsetters....look at the drive-thru.

They built these consultation rooms to protect themselves from potential lawsuits due to privacy issues, not because they are offering "additional services". It is a service that they should already offer because it is the law.

 

[DrugDealer]

It is a service that they should already offer because it is the law.

Not necessarily....compliance of existing pharmacies actually doesn't go into effect in Massachusetts until next year.

But, since there is more than one area, one is designated for the patient care center. Not even Walgreens will make a patient who wants a quick consultation about their new med wait 45 minutes until the care center pharmacist is done with an education session for a newly diagnosed diabetic. If they were trying to squeak by with the bare minimum required by law, I don't think there would be multiple consultation areas.

Oh yeah, and the law doesn't require them to incur this additional expense of hiring an additional pharmacist who is not at the bench, but rather waiting for drop-in patients. And it also doesn't require them to incur the expense of the equipment and supplies for some of their testing services. They are going above and beyond what is required of them, likely with the hope that this will eventually become a lucrative and profitable area.

 

[alwaystired]

Now that you mention it, I believe it is. Thanks for jogging my memory. The point is, if THEY can find time and space (they've built a private consultation room) for these additional services, then there is probably a future in this area. They are trendsetters....look at the drive-thru.

Seriously, who the hell likes the drive-thru. Yes it's convenient for the patient, but pharmacists despise them. Walgreen's effectively relates picking up your prescriptions at the pharmcy to picking up your Big Mac Meal at McDonald's. Customers even think they shouldn't have to wait more than 30 seconds!!!! What's even better is being honked at from the drive thru. I love the respect I feel when someone pulls up in their Escalade, honks at me, and demands everything in 10 seconds or less. Oh and don't forget to go get them their gum/tylenol/band-aids/whatever the hell they want. I HATE THE DRIVE THRU. I wish we could band together to get rid of those damn things. Seriously.

 

[insipid1979]

Oh and don't forget to go get them their gum/tylenol/band-aids/whatever the hell they want. I HATE THE DRIVE THRU.

You have to get them things other than their drugs if they want?

 

[goodb29]

I think that pharmacists need to be proactive about the future of pharmacy. First of all I think we all should be considered clinical pharmacists whether we work in retail or hospital etc...We should be proud of our profession. Just think of how many people you can help in one day as opposed to other professions. Physicians have, for the most part, stressful uninspiring lives. Its not as glamorous as people make it out to be...I know several and they tell me how they would do it differently. The ones that I know pay about 20%+ of their yearly income to insurance premiums (as opposed to pharmacists who AT MOST pay 300/year), most HMOS require MD/DOs to spend only 15-20 min with a patients.....And to those people who think that the demise of pharmacy is coming soon, I have news for you...Most people want the quick fix through medications and doctors will always need to us to hold their hands with medications, because its impossible (even for the Dr. Mark Greene's out there, lol) to keep track of all the drugs and which ones are better for which patients....I think we need to have more patient care centers like at Walgreens (I happen to work in one) and they are slowly rolling these out, but you dont need a PCC at your chain/hospital/LTC facility to help patients, be proactive and come in on your day off for 2-3 hours for a BP clinic or Diabetes clinic. Show the patients that we are accessible and give them a reason to come in to the pharmacy besides just filling their prescriptions...Well this is my 2 cents but I hope its worth more than that... I love those CVS ads by the way

 

[insipid1979]

First of all I think we all should be considered clinical pharmacists whether we work in retail or hospital etc...

Can I ask why? Is it just to gain more respect? Isn't that a little like saying all doctor's should be called surgeons whether they perform surgeries or not?

 

[goodb29]

its actually to really bring us together as a profession, There are some in our profession (especially in academia) who look down on community/retail pharmacists as to being inferior to hospital pharmacists and its a symbolic way to show that we are all equal in our professional lives because we all perform clinical duties every day. Whether we are advising a mother as to which cough/cold med is best for them or verifying a TPN order we all use our clinical judgement. I am just using it as a way to unite the profession because divided we fall...

 

[insipid1979]

If all pharmacists started referring to themselves as clinical pharmacists I really don't think hospital or academic pharmacists will view retail pharmacists any differently. They would have no reason to. They know what the duties of a retail pharmacist are already...adding a word to the title isn't going to change their views on the matter.

Do you work in a Walgreens with a drive-thru? If so...do you really have to get band-aids and other things in addtion to their drugs if they want you to? If yes...is it only the techs that will do that?

 

[goodb29]

About the clinical pharmacists thing, I am not saying every pharmacist needs to refer to themselves as clinical I am merely using it symbolically to show that we need to think of ourselves as equals. Do you think a pediatrician or family practice physician are made to feel inferior by a surgeon or radiologist?.....And most walgreens that I know with drive thrus have a policy that they dont let patients pick up anything else besides their prescriptions (and maybe if the pharmacist on duty is really nice some tylenol or something) And usually the tech would get it.

 

[BME103]

I think that pharmacists need to be proactive about the future of pharmacy. First of all I think we all should be considered clinical pharmacists whether we work in retail or hospital etc...We should be proud of our profession.

I totally agree with you that we should be proactive. However, we simply cannot offer "clinical" services in the retail setting right now, not because we don't want to, but because we simply do not have the time or the manpower to do so. In order to do this, we need at least 2 pharmacists, one will Q/A while the other will counsel. The problem is that pharmacists are not being paid for this service. We are being paid for dispensing a product so there is no incentive for the retails to promote it. Even pharmacists who dispense plan B without a prescription or provide immunization service are not being paid extra for their services so these big chain retails are not offering any incentive to bring clinical services to the community settting. It is extra work with the same pay.

I worked with a new pharmacist that tried to offer clinical services. I never had to work so hard in my life. The line was a mile long and I had to stay an additional hour just to help him. I don't mind putting in the extra effort but I know my manager is not going to like paying for overtime.

 

[insipid1979]

About the clinical pharmacists thing, I am not saying every pharmacist needs to refer to themselves as clinical I am merely using it symbolically to show that we need to think of ourselves as equals.

It is not that they aren't equal...it is two different types of jobs.

Do you think a pediatrician or family practice physician are made to feel inferior by a surgeon or radiologist?

I don't think they are "made" to feel inferior to a surgeon. I don't think retail pharmacists are "made" to feel inferior because clinical pharmacists are called that either. They are not really the same job...I don't see the reasoning behind referring to all pharmacists with the same title if they do different work. Aren't clinical pharmacists usually only addressed as such after doing a clinical residency? I don't see what is wrong with addressing them as clinical pharmacists.

 

[dgroulx]

There is a lot of chemistry in prepharmacy, but basically none in pharmacy

Except for the 4 semesters of medicinal chemistry. 5 semesters, if you count my elective.

 

[konkan]

Except for the 4 semesters of medicinal chemistry. 5 semesters, if you count my elective.

My school doesn't have med. chem. The only class which can be related to chemistry was pharmaceutical biochemistry.
What you choose for the electives is your own business.

 

[alwaystired]

About the clinical pharmacists thing, I am not saying every pharmacist needs to refer to themselves as clinical I am merely using it symbolically to show that we need to think of ourselves as equals. Do you think a pediatrician or family practice physician are made to feel inferior by a surgeon or radiologist?.....And most walgreens that I know with drive thrus have a policy that they dont let patients pick up anything else besides their prescriptions (and maybe if the pharmacist on duty is really nice some tylenol or something) And usually the tech would get it.

usually the pharmacist will say no, but sometimes, they want to do it. yes, they usually put it on the techs to get the stuff. I am just flabergasted that people can come their the drive-thru and think we are there to go them whatever they need at home. the drive thru relates us to fast food. you would never ever ever see any other healthcare profession offer a drive thru. By having a drive-thru it says, we are here to give you your medication as fast and as convenient as we can and don't really need to communicate with you. I want to be a pharmacist that gives you as much knowledge about your drugs as I can, it may or may not be fast. We have all this drug knowledge and people don't even want to know about the drugs they are taking. They just want it fast. And, who is really listening to you counsel with their kids in the backseat, their dog on their lap yipping for attention and a cell phone call that they said "hold on, i"ll be right back (if they are polite enough to do that, most just keep on gabbing). I think that other professions knock us too b/c of the drive-thru.

As for calling every pharmacist clinical. Well, I understand the need to separate those that work in truely clinical situtations. But, the PharmD. does give every pharmacist the clinical background needed to work in a clinical setting. In the past, pharmD. didn't even need an additional residency to work clinical. I don't care what we do as long as we improve the image of pharmacists. I was working as an slave intern (that's what I call my free hours) and I was amazed when a patient said "thank you dr." to the pharmacist. Technically, he's not even a doctor (no PharmD.----don't go there guys, that's another thread), but it was nice to see someone show some kind of respect. It gets really old, people being nasty to you and treating you like crap, when you went to school for 6+ years to learn how to help people.

We need to change people's perceptions of us. Not for our profession to continue, but for the moral of the pharmacist.

 

[goyanks]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

I second you on that one... I get the same type of response, "You might as well become a doctor." It frustrates me because, although I'm wanting to give 100% to pharmacy and the profession, I always have to justify why I choose pharmacy, and not medicine. Today, I told someone I was starting pharmacy school in the fall, and they thought I only had 2 more years to go... I then had to explain to them it was a doctorate program... It also seems to many people that anyone can just decide to become a pharmacist and just enter pharmacy school just like that. They're so clueless about the difficulty of actually entering the program...


ERGHHHH frustrating... But, that's okay... Someday, we future pharmacists will make a difference and change all that right? hehe..

 

[ethyl]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

I think you're confused as to what a pharmD requires. It's not an "extra year" after a bachelors degree.

 

[insipid1979]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorate

I think you are confused about what a doctorate degree is...

 

[VCU07]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

I think you went 1 yr past your bachelors degree...or wait, do you even have a bachelors? Before you open your big mouth research your information to back up your statements.

 

[ForgetMeNot]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

This is their first and only post? Something doesn't seem right....

 

[goodb29]

It depends on the school but most pharmacy schools have 3-4 yrs of undergrad pre-pharmacy work, then 2-3 of graduate clinical work. I had to complete a graduate doctoral research project for my school and most programs require that. Also if you look in any government or national labor information program, PharmD is considered equivalent to an MD or PhD. In any government center like the NIH, CDC, military the PharmD degree is considered equivalent to an MD/PhD with the same rank and pay grade...See this is exactly what I am talking about...Now we are debating whether we truly obtained a doctoral degree. I mean how are we supposed to progress as a profession if we continue second guessing ourselves?

 

[ultracet]

i call the mds on my current team by their first name....

*GASP*

now granted
we're a cool team and there are some mds who i'm sure would flip but not these guys

 

[alwaystired]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

your an ass. and you don't know what your talking about. don't bring this stupid arguement up again....PLEASE!

 

[pharmforme]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

You're SO wrong, you might as well not have even bothered to contribute to this thread...you're SO wrong, I'm not even going to waste my breath telling you WHY, because anyone who has a clue already knows.

Where on earth did you get your information from?

 

[goodb29]

MCPHS-Worcester is a great school with really dedicated, caring faculty and students. I have heard alot of great things about it.

 

[BiOGoly]

Get a grip...going to school for an extra year post Bachelors degree is not a true doctorate degree. A Masters degree is a higher degree than a PharmD. PharmD students do not even have to write a thesis. MDs must complete residencies, working 80 hours or more per week and PhDs have to do years of research and then complete a dissertation. Let's be real...a PharmD degree may not be easy to obtain like other bachelor-level science degrees, but it is NOT a Doctoral level of education. It is not even a Masters level of education. Sorry, but that is the truth. If you want to obtain that level of education then I suggest you go back to school.

Haha...nice bit of troll work there friend. The question is are you just trying to get someone's goat for kicks, or are you exercising your own inferiority complex by trying to demean another profession? Considering it's your first post, I'd suspect the latter...