Downfalls in pharmacy

[TC714]

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Hi all,

Not to discourage you guys (and myself also), but I just wanna to talk about the downfall issues in a decent way. From my experience, I know all careers have a "golden" moment as well as downfall time. As for pharmacy, it is not exceptional. I have an aunt who has been working for pharmacy for 30 years and she said pharmacy had some downfall moments also, just like computer science at this time. So, my question is...does anyone in here know about a website or link to provide more details about this?
Highly appreciated if you can provide some links so I can do some research on it.
TC.

 

[Triangulation]

Don't much about the downfalls, but why can't you just ask your aunt?

Pharmacy is something that you have the ability to sculpt into the career you want, but you have to be willing to do this (what kind of pharmacy, what setting, what location, how many hours, all of these have to be contemplated.)

 

[Modnar]

It took me a few minutes to catch on to TC's meaning. He's talking about economic downfalls and whether or not pharmacy will have them in the forseeable future.

This is mere speculation on my part, but I'd say the future looks pretty good for health care as a whole, at least in the US. The US will have a larger and larger number of senior citizens in the next few years, and the older people get, the more drugs they'll need.

 

[Brill]

Careers in healthcare are traditionally among the most stable in regards to economic concerns. People need health services (including drugs) regardless of whether or not the economy is doing well. And as Modnar already pointed out, the aging of the population (specifically the baby boomer generation which is approaching retirement age) and the increase in the average lifespan should increase the demand for all health services.

As more and more drugs are needed (including the increasing amount and complexity of drugs and drug therapies), more and more pharmacists are also needed, so the current shortage should remain for at least the next decade. The federal goverment also made a large push in the 70's to recruit pharmacists, many of which are now reaching retirement age.

Also, the pharmacy field as a whole is branching out greatly (clinical, pharmaceutical research, academic, insurance, law, policy, etc.) so pharmacy graduates have a much wider range of options than they did in the past.

Considering all of these factors I'd say that the job outlook for pharmacists for the foreseeable future is exceptionally strong.

 

[tryinghard]

the economoy is down..the computer industry is down...and it seems that all money avaialble is going to pharm/biotech. pharm research, healthcare. tell me..what do you think of this? when the economoy starts to recover, will all the glitter in pharmacy start to disapear?

no more bonuses, no more car signing bonuses.

what will happen to us then...are we certain that pharmd's will be guaranteed spots, and guaranteed the salaries that are already determined.

there are a great deal of seniors, but pharmacies may just decide not to add any more pharmd's to deal with the increased demand. is this a possibility? it sounds like bad buisness, but also a possibility. at taht point you will have disgruntled, overworked pharmd's.

 

[Modnar]

Originally posted by tryinghard
pharmacies may just decide not to add any more pharmd's to deal with the increased demand. is this a possibility? it sounds like bad buisness, but also a possibility. at taht point you will have disgruntled, overworked pharmd's.

Of course, you would also have a lot of disgruntled senior citizens who aren't getting their meds fast enough and aren't afraid to complain... I doubt many pharmacy managers will want to deal with that. 🙂

 

[tryinghard]

i hear you..most of those pahrmacist managers are pharmd's too, and have to work with the disgruntled seniors. its just taht in the end it will be up the the board to decide to spend more money on hiring more pharmd's. it makes good buisness to do so, but what if the owners are too greedy.

plus there's also the qeustion of the pharamcy itself..maybe it can only physcially hold a few pharmd's. what happens then. will that cause more chains to pop up right next to it?

this is the question i'm worried about. more demand may not always equate to more pharmd's being hired. there could just be long lines all the time. what happens then. people could complain, but this could be the situation in most places. i hope the owners will not be so money hungry to do this.

is there some kind of pharmacist union out there??

 

[Triangulation]

i hear you..most of those pahrmacist managers are pharmd's too, and have to work with the disgruntled seniors. its just taht in the end it will be up the the board to decide to spend more money on hiring more pharmd's. it makes good buisness to do so, but what if the owners are too greedy.

Tryinghard,

You need to review some economic principles my friend, because that's not how it works. What's perhaps bad for many small pharmacies since corporate pharmacies are spreading like the plague is very good for us. As pharmacy, at least in terms of retail which any of us could always fall back on, becomes more corporate and more 'bottom-line oriented' these principles become only more important. Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Walmart, Albertson's they all realize the importance of human capital (i.e. pharmDs) in generating revenue. Each pharmD adds to the bottom line, by allowing more scripts to be filled, purchases to be made, and customers to return. PharmD's like engineers are the special position being both human capital and supply of labor.

Moreover, we are in the protected position where both supply-side or demand-side economics would benefit us. Supply side in terms of the govt taking care of business like Big Pharma or demand side if it seeks to benefit the consumer (more PharmD's to meet the growing demand for meds.)

Honestly, the future couldn't be brighter in terms of job security or income.

I'm not even playing in going into practice in a pharmacy and I'm not that enthused about corporate retail taking over, and I still stay this.

 

[phuture pharmer]

I could definitely see corporate retail pharmacy as a boom and bust market for pharmacists.

Wouldn't the bottom-line of corporate retail pharmacy be best served by replacing pharmacists with more techs and a greater degree of automation whenever possible?

IF a high volume of prescriptions filled quickly and accurately is their key to making $, then I think the answer to the above question is YES.

 

[Triangulation]

But there's this thing you're neglecting called 'the law' mandating that a pharmacist be present and there is also govt oversight on how many pharm techs can be supervised by one pharmacist. If they want their business to grow they need to hire additional pharmacists. Walgreens is one of the few companies on Wall Street posting strong gains this is concomitant with additional pharmacists being hired.

I love all you guys, but I feel like a parrotautomation will replace technicians not pharmacists and I don't see technicians getting replaced anytime soon.
Technology will only make your headaches more infrequent.

I could go on and explain how pharmacists are becoming a stronger component of health care provision in terms of team-working with physicians in hospitals, but that would be another thread. Your job prospects are huge. You don't need to sweat this.

 

[dgroulx]

Several states are passing laws that increase the number of techs per pharmacist. There is a thread discussing this on pharmacyweek.com. That's a pretty negative site, but that's because they all hate working in retail. If you just want to make money, the retail chains will move you up from pharmacist to store manager, etc.

Because of the aging population, I'm considering geriatric pharmacy. We have lots of nursing homes and assisted living facilities here in Florida. They're not going away. People love ALF living down here. It's like buying a condo, but having a built in nursing staff.

 

[jdpharmd?]

To be a tech. in MI or IL, all you need is a high-school diploma and to be 18. Somehow I don't think that they will be replacing pharmD's, but heck, they only cost about $6/hour so why not? I honestly can't see a problem with finding jobs in the next 20 years (at least!) for PharmD's. Everyone needs to relax, this is probably one of (if not THE) most stable professions that a person could go into.

Jd

 

[LSUMED2006]

I have to echo what has been said here. The job market for pharmacists couldn't be brighter. Of course, eventually it will likely level off, but within the next 10-20 years, I just don't see it happening. At my old pharmacy school, every 4th year student recieved at least 3-5 job offers. Keep in mind, these are from all of the major chains coming to the school.

Having 5 offers in places of your chosing without even leaving the school building is great. Most all of the offers were greater than 80k, some extremely cushy jobs (eg working in a grocery store filling 100 scripts a day for 100k), and many included signing bonuses (you want a bmw to go w/ that?).

Everyone should keep in mind that there are many negatives to many different fields that are "right around the corner." Machines replacing pharmacists are ""right around the corner," increasing the tech😛harmacist ratio is "right around the corner," CRNAS totally making the field of anesthesiology is "right around the corner," radiologists seeing their field encroached upon by other specialties is "right around the corner," etc. I could go forever. Of course, there will always be naysayers and ignorant people who feel that machines + techs could easily replace pharmacists, CRNAs can do the same job as anesthesiologists, etc., but at the end of the day the job market for pharmacists looks amazingly bright.

TC, of course pharmacy has had some downfall moments; the reason why we are in the midst of such a huge pharmacy boom is partially the result of this; however, even the most pessimistic forecasts call for a fairly rosy job market.

I think that many people get WAY too caught up in the impending collapse of ____ (pharmacy in this case) that is "right around the corner" to miss the AMAZING pharmacy job market currently as well as in the future.

Jason

 

[Triangulation]

Jason said:
I think that many people get WAY too caught up in the impending collapse of ____ (pharmacy in this case) that is "right around the corner" to miss the AMAZING pharmacy job market currently as well as in the future.

Here f#$*in Here!!!

 

[rxforlife2004]

wow...I realized I read this thread in SDN long time ago and it's still available on SDN saying about the future of pharmacy. The original poster was way back 2003. Take a look at the positive replies, such as "Considering all of these factors I'd say that the job outlook for pharmacists for the foreseeable future is exceptionally strong", and "I honestly can't see a problem with finding jobs in the next 20 years (at least!) for PharmD's"...lol

 

[Ava999]

wow...I realized I read this thread in SDN long time ago and it's still available on SDN saying about the future of pharmacy. The original poster was way back 2003. Take a look at the positive replies, such as "Considering all of these factors I'd say that the job outlook for pharmacists for the foreseeable future is exceptionally strong", and "I honestly can't see a problem with finding jobs in the next 20 years (at least!) for PharmD's"...lol

Times have changed I guess. I wonder what those previous posters would say today 😏

 

[owlegrad]

Times have changed I guess. I wonder what those previous posters would say today 😏

Maybe how much better we are doing than allot of other fields right now? Just a guess.

I didn't realize that SDN ever had so many positive people on it.

 

[Ava999]

Maybe how much better we are doing than allot of other fields right now? Just a guess.

I didn't realize that SDN ever had so many positive people on it.

good way of keeping us future pharmers optimistic 👍
Yea, well that was long ago...I don't think they post anymore 🙁