Do you have to be actually interested in medicine?

[Gauden44]

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Do the pharmacists on this board read about medicine in their spare time? I mean, should I care that much about the subject if I want to go into pharmacy?

I work in a retail pharmacy and I like the type of work that the pharmacist does (or so I think). But honestly the pharmacist could be dispensing/verifying orders for candy then giving them to the customer, and I think I'd enjoy it just as much.

Btw, if I read about scientific stuff in my spare time it's usually more physics-related or breakthroughs in technology in fields other than the health field.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

You dont have to be interested in anything except helping the patient get better.

That is the definition of medicine btw.

 

[DownonthePharm]

It probably makes staying up on new tech and finishing all your CE easier. But you never have to be interested in your job, you just have to do it right.

 

[pharmboy30]

you do as much or as little as you want.
I try to skim the Mescape emails I get with new drug info.
The ones that interest me I read and take the CE if offered.

I just picked up a couple Washington manual subspecialty consults off Ebay to read in my spare time at work to refresh my knowledge.

 

[psychoandy]

I'm not no pharmacist, but would you buy a car from a car salesman if he didn't know anything about cars and had absolutely no interest in them? I generally don't seek advice or buy things from people who don't know what they're talking about.

That being said, I don't think that you need to know diagnosis and symptoms of every disease ever, which the MDs can keep for themselves. But I feel it's helpful to read about medicine, so that I can better understand disease states and etc, which will help me understand when I read about the meds that treat them.

However, the peeps above me are still right...you dont have to be interested in it, you get paid to do your job right. Then you can be interested in whatever you wanna spend your cash moneys on.

 

[august83]

I do read the articles from MedScape once or twice a week. Then, I read my BNF (British National Formulary) quite a lot, and when ever there's something about Medicine in news, I will read them up. I do have interest in Medicine and that's the thing that keeps me going. If I didn't have interest in Medicine in the first place, I would have left this tough course long time ago. 😀

 

[DrugDealer]

I don't think it needs to be an active hobby or anything, but if you were to read a medical article, I think you should at least find it interesting rather than boring.