Hospital Pharmacy Too Stressful for Me-Chain Pharmacist?

[clachan3]

I finally graduated and have been working as a retail pharmacist for almost 2 years now. I wasn't one of the brightest students in my class, I just couldn't memorize everything, which is why I still don't have all info for the drugs I dispensed memorized (I know it's horrifying). I don't have any hospital experience except my 4th year rotation (don't even talk about making IV, I had about 5 day experience) I have been thinking about getting a job at a hospital just because I am getting tired of the same old thing every day. Standing for 8-9 hours, guessing what the doctors wrote, answering the phone, messing with insurance, tossing prescription bags, not getting to eat lunch, etc...

I think I do a decent job in retail, it gets stressful too (different kind of stress vs hospital I think...) especially your partner expects you to get everything checked regardless you are doing 200 or 400 scripts by yourself (do you have a partner like that?) Honestly, I am probably just using 2% of the stuff I learned in pharmacy school, and I feel like I only know 2% of the clinical stuff T.T

Would getting a job in hospital help me get my pharmacy knowledge back? I guess I am a little burned out already from retail. If I don't know anything when I first get my hospital job, would the 3 month training be enough (just to get the general stuff to start working)?? I probably have to look up everything when I first start working in a hospital, is that really bad? I am pretty sure I can handle the routine clinical stuff once I get started, but will hospital be too much for me? Should I not even try and just stick with retail?

Please help

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[Allure]

Do you want to be a staff or clinical? I think you should be fine being a staff, but you might complain about other things that come with working in the hospital. You stare at the computer screen all day long. Annoying nurses call you asking for their meds that they just ordered 30 seconds ago, etc..etc...Depending on where you work, some places, pharmacists don't even make IV at all. I can make 10 IV bags and my pharmacist is still struggling to make 1.

As for clinical, the physicians would eat you alive if you didn't know your stuff. They never ask easy questions. Some of them can be very difficult to work with. You might need to do a residency to obtain that kind of job in big cities.

 

[clachan3]

Do you want to be a staff or clinical? I think you should be fine being a staff, but you might complain about other things that come with working in the hospital. You stare at the computer screen all day long. Annoying nurses call you asking for their meds that they just ordered 30 seconds ago, etc..etc...Depending on where you work, some places, pharmacists don't even make IV at all. I can make 10 IV bags and my pharmacist is still struggling to make 1.

As for clinical, the physicians would eat you alive if you didn't know your stuff. They never ask easy questions. Some of them can be very difficult to work with. You might need to do a residency to obtain that kind of job in big cities.

Thanks for your input, Allure. Good to know, I already talked with a pharmacy manager of a hospital. They felt comfortable hiring me, at least that is how it sounds like. They said it will be around 50/50 clinical and staff work. I think I can bring the speedy part from retail with me, I'm just more concern about the clinical stuff and it should come with experience I suppose.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

If you don't have any experience as an intern at a hospital, it will be rough at first. Retail and hospital staffing are two entirely different universes. It will take you at least a few months to get trained. We hired a kid from Pitt who was in Rho Chi that started out in retail. He started in October and he still isn't ready to be by himself. They are shooting for February/March for him to fly solo. It's really all of the small stuff that you need to know...not putting amiodorone in the normal IV bags...knowing the procedures when going to a code...etc. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence to do hospital, IMO...just patience and understanding right out of the box that it takes time and experience to get it.

 

[JackBeanstalk]

So I assume your hospital don't use IV bags made from Braun. We mix amio directly into our IV bags from Braun, which does not have the leeching problem, being PVC free and made from polyolefin. Stat amio in 1 minute flat.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

So I assume your hospital don't use IV bags made from Braun. We mix amio directly into our IV bags from Braun, which does not have the leeching problem, being PVC free and made from polyolefin. Stat amio in 1 minute flat.

Yeah...those would be the "not normal" bags...

 

[dgroulx]

I jumped to hospital after 1 year of retail and I am actually using stuff I learned in school. It's amazing.

I used my preceptor at my 8 week long adult medicine rotation as a reference to get a hospital job. If you did a good job in rotations, they make pretty good references.