Clinical vs. Community

[iwannabpharmer]

I was wondering about going into clinical pharmacy vs. community. If you did community pharmacy for a few years, and wanted to go into clinical pharmacy - is that possible? Or is it a choice you have to make right out of school, and you have to stick with it? Sorry, I know this is may seem like a dumb question, but I am really wondering.

Because I would like to work in community pharmacy, but wanted to eventually either teach or get more involved in clinical pharmacy. However, due to commitments at work - if I sign up for a scholarship I will have to work for them for an X amount of years depending on how much scholarship money I take.

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[Farmercyst]

I was wondering about going into clinical pharmacy vs. community. If you did community pharmacy for a few years, and wanted to go into clinical pharmacy - is that possible? Or is it a choice you have to make right out of school, and you have to stick with it? Sorry, I know this is may seem like a dumb question, but I am really wondering.

Because I would like to work in community pharmacy, but wanted to eventually either teach or get more involved in clinical pharmacy. However, due to commitments at work - if I sign up for a scholarship I will have to work for them for an X amount of years depending on how much scholarship money I take.

If you can keep your skills up you can switch back and forth. Or like SDN1977 you can do both. But don't get her started on "clinical" pharmacy. (everything's clinical)

 

[Jbuprepharm]

I was wondering about going into clinical pharmacy vs. community. If you did community pharmacy for a few years, and wanted to go into clinical pharmacy - is that possible? Or is it a choice you have to make right out of school, and you have to stick with it? Sorry, I know this is may seem like a dumb question, but I am really wondering.

Because I would like to work in community pharmacy, but wanted to eventually either teach or get more involved in clinical pharmacy. However, due to commitments at work - if I sign up for a scholarship I will have to work for them for an X amount of years depending on how much scholarship money I take.

It's not a dumb question at all. I think the answer to your question really depends on the specific places you'd want to practice, but in general, for a "real" clinical job you'll have to do a 1 or(but more likely) 2 year residency for specialization. So... the clinical side may be what needs to be focused on first, or you may need to go back and do a residency, or something similar, later on. Although I"m not sure how that works once you've been out of school for a while

 

[rxlynn]

I was wondering about going into clinical pharmacy vs. community. If you did community pharmacy for a few years, and wanted to go into clinical pharmacy - is that possible? Or is it a choice you have to make right out of school, and you have to stick with it? Sorry, I know this is may seem like a dumb question, but I am really wondering.

Because I would like to work in community pharmacy, but wanted to eventually either teach or get more involved in clinical pharmacy. However, due to commitments at work - if I sign up for a scholarship I will have to work for them for an X amount of years depending on how much scholarship money I take.

Quite a lot of our pharmacy practice professors have had prior outside/community experience before they started teaching, and many of them also spend some time in a practice setting. So, if your plans do include teaching, I think the outside experience in community would be helpful.

 

[sdn1977]

If you can keep your skills up you can switch back and forth. Or like SDN1977 you can do both. But don't get her started on "clinical" pharmacy. (everything's clinical)

Yep - I say with a big grin on my face - everything in pharmacy is clinical !

And...most importantly - yes, you can do both inpatient, ambulatory care, closed door, consulting and academics. The broader your work background, the better you are as a pharmacist.


Anytime we interact with patients - even if all you're doing is givin brown bag lunch time talks at a senior center about medications and side effects - you're being clinical.

Its all in your mind

Oh....last week I was reimbursed $200 for management interventions relating to patients who were taking a particular medication. The first time anyone has actually paid me for my service unrelated to a product. Now...I didn't get the money, my company did - but its all the same - our reimbursement model is slowly changing.