clinics?

[badxmojo]

Does anyone here work or know people who work in disease manegement clinics as pharmacists? Like those people who specialize in AIDS, diabetes, cancer, smoking, or anti thrombosis,and they don't do much dispensing they do more meeting with pateints and educationing them and maybe even some prescribing. How lucrative is this field? i think its a new feild, do you think it would be feasible for a new grad to open up one fo these "clinics"?

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[baggywrinkle]

It is a paradox that you are training for positions which do not exist yet. It is up to you to go out and invent them.

 

[badxmojo]

with all do respect..I think they do exist. Like i said it is an new field..but I am certain that these positions exist because I have seen presentations about them and have read about them in various articles and text books.

 

[LVPharm]

Yes, they do exist. In fact, the most infamous pharmacy in America, the one operated by that Kansas City pharmacist who diluted chemo drugs has been reopened into a "pharmaceutical care" and compounding practice with a very limited front-end. CVS ProCare pharamcies specialize in "high-risk" patient populations (HIV, diabetes, etc) offereing disease state management and other cognitive services. I don't know if you've got them out where you are, badxmojo, but they have a few stores in SoCal. The APhA has some kind of pharmaceutical practice institute that runs seminars or workshops dealing with how to go about setting up such practices. You might want to check with them since they might have a database of networking contacts...or mentors, whatever they call them. Do you have any pharmacy practice faculty at Maryland who work in a pharmaceutical care practice? Do you have any "pharmaceutical care" practice sites affiliated with the school?

 

[jayski2030]

I'm so glad I stumbled onto this post. Does anyone know if people who distribute methadone are PharmDs? I work in a harm reduction facility now in NYC but there isn't any sort of position that would be appropriately filled by a pharmacists. I'd love to work in a similar environment though, as a pharmacist. I'm checkin out the APhA site now..

 

[baggywrinkle]

Originally posted by badxmojo
with all do respect..I think they do exist. Like i said it is an new field..but I am certain that these positions exist because I have seen presentations about them and have read about them in various articles and text books.

Drat! The system ate my reply I will attempt to reconstruct.

There is no doubt that they do exist. I have seen them show cased. But they number in the dozens. Don't hold your breath waiting for a position. It would be far more productive to create one yourself

Traditional Pharmacy and the perception of traditional pharmacy works against you in this instance because the tradition is product rather than service based.

The trick is to get paid for the service. Place yourself in the position of the consumer and ask yourself why do I need this service and how much will it cost. You must convince the people with the purse strings of the value added be they consumer, HMO, or legislature by showing how much money your service will save or how productivity will be increased. It will be an uphill battle and will most likely be an outgrowth of a traditional product based pharmacy service.

I agree with you that this would be a wonderful practice setting. But the state of the art is such that this is the wild frontier and these pracitioners are cutting edge pioneers. I stand by my statement that if you want it you will need to invent it, and then be prepared to justify it.

Go for it!

 

[Triangulation]

Originally posted by baggywrinkle
It is a paradox that you are training for positions which do not exist yet. It is up to you to go out and invent them.

Yeah dude. They definitely exist and some have existed for a long time. I've already interned in a pharmacy that specialized in diabetes care. One of our faculty members started a pharmacy that quickly moved away from drug dispensation and into therapy management and supplies and retired a millionaire when it was sold to a japanese firm.

There are several HIV therapy pharmacies in SF, and there is also one that I've heard about in LA.

Making a niche for yourself is nothing new. It's a pretty smart business model and awesome for pt care.

 

[badxmojo]

LV pharm..yeah several of my faculty work in clinics that are affiliated with the major hospitals in baltimore.. they seem to have cool jobs.
baggy, I agree there aren't many jobs.. I think those of us in school are exposed to it a bit more since the school is so eager to show us the many different faces of pharmacy. Maybe we tend to think more opportunities exist than actually do. ( Your not in school anymore right?) I do belive that the number of positions will grow however.... but I just posted because i wanted to know more about the field and to see what kind of monetary compensation one could expect.

 

[LVPharm]

Yeah, that's right...one of my preceptors worked in an HIV pharmacy in SF after she graduated from UCSF. It's an experience she throroughly enjoyed. Busy, hectic, hard work, but nonetheless fulfilling.

As far as pay, I think anticoagulation clinics within medical centers might pay pretty good. I've heard of one lady who works in such a clinic at Cedars making over 6 figures...but then again, that's Cedars, and in Beverly Hills .

As far as independent "pharmaceutical care pharmacies", I'm guessing they still make their money through volume of scripts...they don't have the traditional front end to bring in revenue. Until pharmacists can get compensated for their professional cognitive services (hopefully soon, with this medicare bill), it will remain a minor practice setting. The monetary compensation? Probably close to the average for pharmacists working in independent practice.

 

[baggywrinkle]

Originally posted by Triangulation
Yeah dude. They definitely exist and some have existed for a long time. I've already interned in a pharmacy that specialized in diabetes care. One of our faculty members started a pharmacy that quickly moved away from drug dispensation and into therapy management and supplies and retired a millionaire when it was sold to a japanese firm.

There are several HIV therapy pharmacies in SF, and there is also one that I've heard about in LA.

Making a niche for yourself is nothing new. It's a pretty smart business model and awesome for pt care.

So find a parade and jump in front of it. Then hire me. I work cheap