Going to Hospital - Which Job?

Started by dgroulx
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dgroulx

dgroulx

Night Pharmacist
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I've decided to leave retail pharmacy for the hospital setting, after 15 months of retail. I have 2 job offers and need some help deciding.

Option #1: Rural hospital in a mainly retired area of Florida. I would have to rent an apartment because the commute would be 2.5 hours. They have 2 pharmacists on staff. I would be the only PharmD. Currently, they only do order entry but when I come on board I will have clinical duties as well.

Option #2: Hospital near Disney World. I would be a night pharmacist (7 on, 7 off). My duties would be processing orders for the other hospitals in the chain. It has a lot of clinical interventions. The plus is that I would be located in a office without telephones, so nurses could not interrupt me. I work best without distractions, which is why I am not a good retail pharmacist. It will pay more with a $4 per hour shift differential. It's also close enough (70 miles) to commute.

Option #1 will give me a more rounded experience and I really liked the staff that I met. Option #2 allows me to live at home and keep my friends, plus my husband prefers it. I don't know if I can flip my days and nights every other week. I have an appointment with HR tomorrow at hospital #2 and with hospital #1 on Thursday. They are both with the same chain, HMA.

Any input to help with my decision?
 
ahhh...HMA... Know em well.. Actually, I know them very very well..

PM me if you want info.
 
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omg...easy choice...option #2 (stay close to friends and family)

you won't understand how much they mean to you and how much you will miss
them when you live far away
 
dgroulx said:
I've decided to leave retail pharmacy for the hospital setting, after 15 months of retail. I have 2 job offers and need some help deciding.

Option #1: Rural hospital in a mainly retired area of Florida. I would have to rent an apartment because the commute would be 2.5 hours. They have 2 pharmacists on staff. I would be the only PharmD. Currently, they only do order entry but when I come on board I will have clinical duties as well.

Option #2: Hospital near Disney World. I would be a night pharmacist (7 on, 7 off). My duties would be processing orders for the other hospitals in the chain. It has a lot of clinical interventions. The plus is that I would be located in a office without telephones, so nurses could not interrupt me. I work best without distractions, which is why I am not a good retail pharmacist. It will pay more with a $4 per hour shift differential. It's also close enough (70 miles) to commute.

Option #1 will give me a more rounded experience and I really liked the staff that I met. Option #2 allows me to live at home and keep my friends, plus my husband prefers it. I don't know if I can flip my days and nights every other week. I have an appointment with HR tomorrow at hospital #2 and with hospital #1 on Thursday. They are both with the same chain, HMA.

Any input to help with my decision?
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Knowing HMA as initimately as I do, I'm sorry, I'm going to have to say both of those are awful options.

Actually, #1 is a better job except for the distance. At #1, you'll get to do every clinical and distribution you wish to do and actually practice pharmacy.

#2 is a No No. HMA has many hospitals that are not 24 hours...especially in FL. Fortunately, the pharmacy operating system are all the same so order entry is not an issue. But every hospital has different protocols and different order sets and you will be expected to know them all. I promise you will be busy as hell.. and graveyard shift will beat the hell out of your body. Your week off, it will take you good 2 to 3 days to recover..then you may enjoy 2 days being off then your body will start to gear for the week on.. You'll hate the Sunday or Monday before you go back.

There are more details of HMA I could tell you. And certainly, I'm not sure 7 on 7 off night order entry will do anything to enhance your resume.

If I was in your shoes, I would keep looking for the right hospital position.
 
Thanks, everyone. I have looked for positions close to home but no one will touch me without hospital experience. I did my last rotation, 8 weeks adult med, at an HMA hospital. My preceptor was a good reference for me. This is the only chain that is giving me a chance and that is based purely on my last rotation. I will move closer to home after I get a year of hospital experience.

I know that hospital #1 will give me a more rounded experience. I won't be pigeon-holed into order entry for the rest of my life.

Zyvox, they did go over with me knowing the protocols from each chain. I would only be responsible for 6 hospitals on my team when it is all in place. However, they can't keep pharmacists. There's one team of 2 pharmacists, including a new grad. They other team has 1 rph. The third team is non-existent. I'm not sure if I can do the day/night thing either. So, I guess I'm leaning towards hospital #1.
 
What about home infusion, LTC, VA? Have you looked into those kinds of jobs?
 
Well, what did you do, what did you decide, what did you do??????? (I don't watch tv and have no hobbies).
 
It's only been about 4 months for me, but I 😍 rural hospital pharmacy. You really have to know a little about everything, so it's a great learning (humbling) experience every single day.
 
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Yup.. if you're not going to do a residency (or even if you do one), I recommend you go work at a rural or a smaller community hospital pharmacy as a staff/clinical pharmacist and do everything from unit-dosing to presentation to the P&T and the Medical Executive Committee. Get your experience and move on to larger hospitals.
 
I can't imagine working the overnight shift. I would lean toward option #1 just because of the hours and the opportunity for the experience it sounds like you would be gaining. It is too bad that it's a 2.5 hour commute though. Would your husband be able to move to the apartment with you?
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
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Yup.. if you're not going to do a residency (or even if you do one), I recommend you go work at a rural or a smaller community hospital pharmacy as a staff/clinical pharmacist and do everything from unit-dosing to presentation to the P&T and the Medical Executive Committee. Get your experience and move on to larger hospitals.
Click to expand...
Or stay at the small hospital as a really valued member....
 
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The rural hospital's final offer was $45 per hour. The overnight hospital's final offer was $48 per hour plus another $3 shift differential. That's $6 per hour more, so my husband is pushing me in that direction. I'd also be home more often.

I got so burned out on retail with people pulling me in a million directions at once. I'm leaning towards overnights, because there is not a telephone in the area. Nurses cannot phone me. I can be left alone with a computer. I just don't want to be around people for a while. I've been off work for almost a month, just living off of savings and trying to recover from retail.

That being said, I'm still waiting for the overnight hospital to finish their background check. It's been 6 business days. I still have to fill out employment paper work, get my TB test, fail my TB test, get chest x-rays, and be at orientation on the 10th. If they don't have an answer by tomorrow, then I'm going to give up on them. The small, rural place said that I can start immediately. They already did their background check.
 
dgroulx said:
The rural hospital's final offer was $45 per hour. The overnight hospital's final offer was $48 per hour plus another $3 shift differential. That's $6 per hour more, so my husband is pushing me in that direction. I'd also be home more often.

I got so burned out on retail with people pulling me in a million directions at once. I'm leaning towards overnights, because there is not a telephone in the area. Nurses cannot phone me. I can be left alone with a computer. I just don't want to be around people for a while. I've been off work for almost a month, just living off of savings and trying to recover from retail.

That being said, I'm still waiting for the overnight hospital to finish their background check. It's been 6 business days. I still have to fill out employment paper work, get my TB test, fail my TB test, get chest x-rays, and be at orientation on the 10th. If they don't have an answer by tomorrow, then I'm going to give up on them. The small, rural place said that I can start immediately. They already did their background check.
Click to expand...

Be patient with HMA HR department... they're notoriously slow.. I have first hand experience..
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
^
^
^

Yup.. if you're not going to do a residency (or even if you do one), I recommend you go work at a rural or a smaller community hospital pharmacy as a staff/clinical pharmacist and do everything from unit-dosing to presentation to the P&T and the Medical Executive Committee. Get your experience and move on to larger hospitals.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that being a jack of all trades pharmacist in a small hospital offers an equivalent experience to a residency?

I really think that i want to do a residency, but its quite hard for me to justify making 1/3 of a starting retail salary when my six figure loans are snowballing at 6.8%

But if i could work 7 on 7 off overnights in retail and work in a clinical setting on my weeks off...😍
 
NormalSaline said:
Are you saying that being a jack of all trades pharmacist in a small hospital offers an equivalent experience to a residency?

I really think that i want to do a residency, but its quite hard for me to justify making 1/3 of a starting retail salary when my six figure loans are snowballing at 6.8%

But if i could work 7 on 7 off overnights in retail and work in a clinical setting on my weeks off...😍
Click to expand...

Why would you want to work that much???? Won't you have a life? You work to live...not live to work. You sure aint going to be laying in death bed thinking you're glad you worked those 2 jobs.

That being said, some dude once said 1 year of residency is equal to 5 years of staff pharmacist work... not sure I agree with that...

If you don't do a residency, you're going to have a hard time finding a decent hospital staff job unless it's rural. That's why I recommend residency. I get a sense hospital jobs are drying up.... same with the retail. And the we have yet seen the new grads coming out of all those new pharmacy schools yet..
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
If you don't do a residency, you're going to have a hard time finding a decent hospital staff job unless it's rural. That's why I recommend residency. I get a sense hospital jobs are drying up.... same with the retail. And the we have yet seen the new grads coming out of all those new pharmacy schools yet..
Click to expand...

Yeah, seems like most require prior experience in hospital. So it is exactly like the OP's issue. Which is one of the few and only reasons I am even going to Midyear for...
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
Why would you want to work that much???? Won't you have a life? You work to live...not live to work. You sure aint going to be laying in death bed thinking you're glad you worked those 2 jobs.
Click to expand...

I could work 3-4 days in my off weeks and not be working any more than your average 9 to 5er


ItsOverZyvox said:
If you don't do a residency, you're going to have a hard time finding a decent hospital staff job unless it's rural.
Click to expand...
I have zero hospital experience...will you help me understand the difference between a decent and indecent hospital staff pharmacist job?
 
Indecent Hospital Pharmacist: They fool around with nurses.
Decent hospital pharmacist: They don't really fool around with nurses..


Ok, I would consider checking IVs all day long to be fairly indecent position. I would consider working from a medical unit directly processing orders while reviewing physician's orders and making clinical interventions to be a decent hospital pharmacist job. And you're certainly not going to be able to do this if all you've ever done was retail.
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
Indecent Hospital Pharmacist: They fool around with nurses.
Decent hospital pharmacist: They don't really fool around with nurses..


Ok, I would consider checking IVs all day long to be fairly indecent position. I would consider working from a medical unit directly processing orders while reviewing physician's orders and making clinical interventions to be a decent hospital pharmacist job. And you're certainly not going to be able to do this if all you've ever done was retail.
Click to expand...

😀

thank you for the info, i would agree with your assessment. Do the majority of people who do residencies go on to take a board exam to become certified? I spoke to 1 hospital pharmacist who i believe was in some type of managerial position. She had done a 1 year residency, but hadnt even taken the boards. Having done the residency was all that was required for her position. Is this common?
 
NormalSaline said:
😀

thank you for the info, i would agree with your assessment. Do the majority of people who do residencies go on to take a board exam to become certified? I spoke to 1 hospital pharmacist who i believe was in some type of managerial position. She had done a 1 year residency, but hadnt even taken the boards. Having done the residency was all that was required for her position. Is this common?
Click to expand...

Board certification is a big deal in the east coast more so than the West.. It's just a damn test... some of the worst clinicians I've worked with are board certified...so go figure.
 
NormalSaline said:
I have zero hospital experience...will you help me understand the difference between a decent and indecent hospital staff pharmacist job?
Click to expand...

What are you waiting for? Call around your local hospitals...ask to speak to the manager or the director. Then ask for a job... if no position is available...go volunteer..and work hard. It'll pay off in the future.

Or you can go work retail.
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
What are you waiting for? Call around your local hospitals...ask to speak to the manager or the director. Then ask for a job... if no position is available...go volunteer..and work hard. It'll pay off in the future.

Or you can go work retail.
Click to expand...

You're right. I go to school in a rural area, so the hospitals(and retail establishments) are all flooded with interns.I was able to easily fall into a job with my retail chain....and have been lazily staying there ever since.

But I have to knock out 100 unpaid hours in a clinical setting this summer, so i will have to get my butt in gear and get some experience soon enough.
 
I know a few board certified pharmacists. Many of them are *****s. And I as a student was teaching them "common sense" things despite them keeping up with their CEs.

None of the hospitals I've seen here in this lovely state offer any incentives for board certification. I'll probably go for it because I'm a nerd.
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
Indecent Hospital Pharmacist: They fool around with nurses.
Decent hospital pharmacist: They don't really fool around with nurses..


Ok, I would consider checking IVs all day long to be fairly indecent position. I would consider working from a medical unit directly processing orders while reviewing physician's orders and making clinical interventions to be a decent hospital pharmacist job. And you're certainly not going to be able to do this if all you've ever done was retail.
Click to expand...

My overnight job is processing order, making clinical interventions, therapeutic substitutions, dosing antibiotics, etc. During my interview, they were able to tell that I still kept my clinical knowledge. A year of retail didn't make me forget it. My last 8 week rotation was at an HMA hospital and the DOP gave me a nice recommendation. That didn't hurt, either.
 
Glycerin said:
Does your hospital utilize telepharmacy also?
Click to expand...
We have remote verification - is that what you mean? We're on call here for problems that can't be resolved by the hospital that does the overnight work, but since everything is POE it can be done remotely.
 
njac said:
None of the hospitals I've seen here in this lovely state offer any incentives for board certification. I'll probably go for it because I'm a nerd.
Click to expand...
They'll pay for my test if I pass it, but none of the prep work. I think I'll do it in 2010 if not next year, because I'm nerdy like that too.
 
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dgroulx said:
My overnight job is processing order, making clinical interventions, therapeutic substitutions, dosing antibiotics, etc. During my interview, they were able to tell that I still kept my clinical knowledge. A year of retail didn't make me forget it. My last 8 week rotation was at an HMA hospital and the DOP gave me a nice recommendation. That didn't hurt, either.
Click to expand...

Did everything work out Dana? Hope the search is going well and that you find somewhere you're happy!
 
spacecowgirl said:
They'll pay for my test if I pass it, but none of the prep work. I think I'll do it in 2010 if not next year, because I'm nerdy like that too.
Click to expand...

Give me a few more months and I'll go for it (BCNP)...now I'm just working on getting licensed in a few more states, then I'll turn to that. My company does the same (reimburses you once you've become certified).
 
SpirivaSunrise said:
Did everything work out Dana? Hope the search is going well and that you find somewhere you're happy!
Click to expand...

I decided on the overnight position. After lots of thought, it really seemed to be the right place for me. With my IT background, I am just more comfortable around computers.

I went through orientation on Monday and have another couple of hours of service orientation on Thursday morning. Then, I need to complete my competencies on Thursday. I'll at least get started on them. I don't know if I'll finish that day.

Next week, the hospital is sending the entire team to McKesson for classes. They are paying for the hotel and I also get paid while I'm up there. It will be a good chance to get to know the pharmacists that I will be working with in this program.

I'm very excited about this position. It is much more than order entry. I'll use clinical skills to optimize therapy for patients in several hospitals. It's not a traditional overnight pharmacist position. I won't even be in the pharmacy. I can work without distractions since nurses cannot phone us. There are other pharmacists working with me to discuss any therapy for a patient. Our team can really make a difference.

The hours are great, too. I'll be working from 6:30pm until 4:30am. I can sleep through the morning and still have the entire afternoon free. I'm going to rent an apartment about 5 miles from the hospital. There's lots to do with being 10 minutes from the Disney World complex.

I'm really excited.😀
 
I was pulling for #1, but I can definitely see the drawbacks of the location for sure. I'm glad you're excited, I hope you love it 🙂
 
Having experience with HMA I think you made a great choice. One of the things that is a positive about working at a HMA Hospital is that if you have the desire, you will find yourself able to make a difference in patient care and see your results. HMA knows the value of pharmacist's in the clinical setting and will work to give you the tools and training that is needed to succeed. If your desire is to grow within the organization and look at future opportunities they will work hard to prepare you for what you want to do. Once again congrats!!
 
HospitalRXMGR said:
Having experience with HMA I think you made a great choice. One of the things that is a positive about working at a HMA Hospital is that if you have the desire, you will find yourself able to make a difference in patient care and see your results. HMA knows the value of pharmacist's in the clinical setting and will work to give you the tools and training that is needed to succeed. If your desire is to grow within the organization and look at future opportunities they will work hard to prepare you for what you want to do. Once again congrats!!
Click to expand...

Thank You.🙂

I got that feeling during my interview and talking with another pharmacist that HMA really values their pharmacists.
 
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