Hot Topics in Pharmacy
high tuition and lack of jobs LOL
Provider status.
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Walgreeens announced a salary freeze due to high supply of pharmacists...
Amazon moving towards the pharmacy market / in a saturated field / bribing managers and pharmaceutical chains...you know...taking over the world
How about the exciting new innovation being pioneered by the pharmacy schools: indentured servitude.
The hottest topic in pharmacy right now is: raising pharmacist unemployment rates, falling wages, walgreens pharmacist salary freeze, higher pharmacist loan defaulting, higher pharmacist suicide rates, record number of independent pharmacy going out of business, highest tuition ever for pharmacy school, rising pharamcy student debt.
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Alright, I see that slamming on stoichiometrist has only motivated others like him to remind prospective pharmacy students of the potential trade offs they're willing to take by pursuing pharmacy...
Anyways, @Peterpiper1 mentioned, provider status is HUGE right now. California just signed a bill allow pharmacists to become "Advanced Practice Pharmacists" where they are granted provider status. If you didn't already know, some specialty pharmacists have already been able to prescribe and manage chronic diseases, but this new title for pharmacists allow them to be more recognized by the public. Hope this helps!
Anyways, @Peterpiper1 mentioned, provider status is HUGE right now. California just signed a bill allow pharmacists to become "Advanced Practice Pharmacists" where they are granted provider status. If you didn't already know, some specialty pharmacists have already been able to prescribe and manage chronic diseases, but this new title for pharmacists allow them to be more recognized by the public. Hope this helps!
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deleted727644
I think pharmacists should be given more credit. They go to an extra 4 years of schooling just so they can be experts on medicine. Yet, PAs these days get close to the same salary as pharmacists but only go to school for 2 extra years AND able to prescribe meds in some states. Not trying to bash on PAs but it just seems unfair.
I know pharmacists that only went to school for 4 years total. 1 year of community college prereqs and 3 years of accelerated schooling. PA programs are actually hard to get into and are competitive unlike pharmacy who takes anyone.
The only topic should be addressed/discussed = NO JOBS
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deleted727644
You can also go to community college for 1 year and do 2 years of PA school. That's still less than pharmacy school.
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deleted727644
Are you looking to settle down in "never heard of areas"? There's jobs there, just not a lot in cities unfortunately
True. But PA schools require at least 6 months in a quality hospital setting such as an ICU. pharmacy school requires nothing similar.
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deleted727644
Hmm wouldn't you be able to do that during high school or that first year of community college?
Yeah you could. But PA qualifying positions are difficult to secure and it's a lot of work to get. Much, much harder than simply getting a pharm tech job which isn't even required for pharm school.
My company just made all of our 24hr pharmacies non - existent. In one division the third shift pharmacists got moved to other stores. In my division, they were fired. These are experienced pharmacists, some with 17+ years with the company and have no negative encounters in their file. But those newer RPh's are cheaper. As well as 14 new grads got fired and yet our business has never been better.
Reimbursement rates are awful as well.
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But you do sound like you're bashing/looking down on PA. FYI, most (if not all) PA programs require a bachelor degree and hand-on clinical experience (some don't even count volunteer, they want paid CNA, med assistant experience) ranging from 500-2000 hours, so that's 1-2 extra years of working experience before coming into PA program. So yeah, if you want to compare length of schooling, PA comes out to 6 years (not counting the working years) which is even to PharmD for people that do 2 years prereq+4 years PharmD.
You don't need a bachelor's degree to get into pharmacy school?
No. You only need 2 years of prereqs. Having a bachelor may give you an edge.
I don't understand why more schools don't make a bachelors a requirement.
Plenty of schools require %75 of a bio or chem degree anyway. Can't imagine being so close to finishing my bachelors only to drop it and start another program.
Holding two degrees certainly carries more weight when it comes to respect from the healthcare team and the public.
You'd prob get more mature and well rounded candidates with the extra year of school. Some might find a bachelors is all they needed to get a good job after all.
Instead you get some people out here being called "doctor", when all they did is spend a year at a community college and get accepted to one of these bogus pharm schools where they take anyone with a pulse.
We need to raise standards so that we can weed out all these money grubbing schools, reduce incompetent graduates, and improve pharmacy as a whole.
I'm not the only one who feels this way either. NAPLEX just made their exam longer, and more difficult. I say make it even harder.
Plenty of schools require %75 of a bio or chem degree anyway. Can't imagine being so close to finishing my bachelors only to drop it and start another program.
Holding two degrees certainly carries more weight when it comes to respect from the healthcare team and the public.
You'd prob get more mature and well rounded candidates with the extra year of school. Some might find a bachelors is all they needed to get a good job after all.
Instead you get some people out here being called "doctor", when all they did is spend a year at a community college and get accepted to one of these bogus pharm schools where they take anyone with a pulse.
We need to raise standards so that we can weed out all these money grubbing schools, reduce incompetent graduates, and improve pharmacy as a whole.
I'm not the only one who feels this way either. NAPLEX just made their exam longer, and more difficult. I say make it even harder.
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I would also like to see a minimum number of hours of work experience required to get into pharmacy school. It's astounding how many students enroll in pharmacy school without ever having stepped foot in the pharmacy. Then once they go on their IPPEs they come back whining about how much they hate retail and hospital and ask us how to get into [insert unicorn niche job here where each opening gets 2,000 applicants].
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Absolutely not. All PA programs with the exception of a handful require a Bachelors degree. The few that don’t require it will have to comply by year 2020.
Now, pharm admission standards seem to only be going down.
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deleted727644
You can get your bachelors in a year if you do dual enrollment or have tons of AP/IB credit, no?
.....no
oh my lord. Now i feel dumb. No wonder my professors were asking me if I would just leave if I was accepted into pharmacy school
LOL
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deleted727644
Someone I know did that so it's possible
Reference someone that got a B.S. degree in 1 year from a CC and got in PA school or “any” professional health program and you have my attention: the most absolute fastest way to get into PA school with CLEP / AP / AIT service training is through the military of which you get paid to go to school (IPAP) and does not require a bachelors but merely 80 hrs of shadowing with selected courses (highly competitive). Even then, you need life experience to stand out ( 19 yr old combat medic stitching someone up in Kuwait or a 19 yr old pharm tech “counseling” on a basic formulary on why someone cannot take his Zpack with Zofran {yes, techs are allowed to counsel in the DOD dept}).
Implying to get a bachelors in 1 year simply to be accepted to PA school will not happen and again.... “cannot” happen
They lied to you.
Sounds like a lie and a half
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Hey! If you are interested in hot topics check out my podcast Capsule Podcast on Facebook. I am a third-year pharmacy student and I started a podcast to inform pre-pharmacy students and new pharmacy students about all the different opportunities available in pharmacy school: check us out on iTunes: Capsule Production Podcast or on Podbean: capsuleproduction1.podbean
