How flexible are pharmacist work hours?

[PhPal]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi Everybody!
I am considering pharmacy as my career choice. Can someone tell me if its possible to be a pharmacist and work family friendly hours?? say 9-5 or 7-3 only? with no weekends/holidays/evenings or nights? I wanna be home when my family is home.

I wanna be able to balance my family life with a decent job.

And how stressful is this career? I have been reading the pay scale discussions on this forum and thinking to myself, if they pay so well they must make you work really hard for it.


Thanks
PhPal

 

[aimster45]

I'm not an expert in the field, but I have been working in a pharmacy for a month now. I can only speak from my own experience, but where I work, obviously the responsibility of checking the accuracy of everything lies on the shoulders of the pharmacist, but the majority of the work load is for the pharmacy techs where I work. We do the ordering, the returns, we ring the person up, we enter the prescriptions, do the insurance crap...and the pharmacist checks it. We're like the underdogs. Of course, that doesn't mean this is right...now that I'm a tech, I definately know I will not do this when I"m a pharmacist.

Just for example if this helps, last night at work we had about 15 prescriptions on the counter that needed to be checked by the pharmacist because people were waiting and he was checking his emails. 😱

 

[ageldred]

Hi Everybody!
I am considering pharmacy as my career choice. Can someone tell me if its possible to be a pharmacist and work family friendly hours?? say 9-5 or 7-3 only? with no weekends/holidays/evenings or nights? I wanna be home when my family is home.

I wanna be able to balance my family life with a decent job.

And how stressful is this career? I have been reading the pay scale discussions on this forum and thinking to myself, if they pay so well they must make you work really hard for it.


Thanks
PhPal

I'd suggest you go into banking if you want those set hours 😛

But seriously most chain pharmacies are open on weekends and many are 24 hours. Graveyard shift pharmacists at Walgreens (and I believe other chains) work 7 days on, 7 days off which would be quite nice provided you don't mind working all night and dealing with the occasional sketchy person. Independent pharmacies may not be open on weekends, but there may not be many in your area. Hospitals may have a set schedule. Ask around the next time you go to the drugstore and see what their hours are like. You could become a floater pharmacist too. As for how hard they work that's pretty hard to tell...depends on your definition of that.

 

[letjin]

Government jobs might have such hours with all major holidays off. If you work retail you will definitely be working evenings and a couple holidays/year until you retire. Hospital seems to hire days/evenings separately but they seem to require their pharmacists to work 1 out of every 4 weekends or so...

 

[sdn1977]

Hi Everybody!
I am considering pharmacy as my career choice. Can someone tell me if its possible to be a pharmacist and work family friendly hours?? say 9-5 or 7-3 only? with no weekends/holidays/evenings or nights? I wanna be home when my family is home.

I wanna be able to balance my family life with a decent job.

And how stressful is this career? I have been reading the pay scale discussions on this forum and thinking to myself, if they pay so well they must make you work really hard for it.


Thanks
PhPal

I've been a pharmacist for 29+ years. I've worked (& still do....) both hospital & retail. I've also worked home infusion & I've taught in a tech school & pharmacy school. I've never done industry work (altho close classsmates of mine are VP's in industry) nor have I done insurance work (I don't know anyone in this area at all). I also don't know anyone who has worked for the state board.

Any dispensing & clinical (at least in CA) position will require you to rotate weekends with the rest of the staff. Sometimes it is a nice as 1 in 4, altho it is closer to 1 in 3 or every other. It all depends on what service you work in, how many staff there are & frankly, the seniority you have. I spent 8 years working M-F since I was the only nutritional support pharmacist available, but that had its downsides too.

Rarely do you have to rotate into nights. Usually that only happens when the night crew goes on vacation. That is an extremely difficult job - rotating 3 shifts & we know, medically, how damaging it is physiologically, so most employers try not to have this happen.

You have to rotate all holidays. Fortunately, there seems to be enough representation of all faiths that those who want Christmas off can switch with those who want Yom Kippur off...or whatever else is appropriate. However, being someone who celebrates Christmas myself....I can tell you that after 30 years of marriage, I've easily worked 13 of them. You make it work - when our children were little & used to getting up early - it was easy to have Christmas at 5AM then I went to work & I was home for Christmas dinner - which my husband made or paid for when he took us all out 😉 . I've spent many, many Thanksgivings working - you just decide its not that important that you celebrate that particular day. We have worked around it & that allows my husband & children to go to the extended family or friends if I have to work or we eat early or late or on another day completely. I ususally always get dessert (no matter the hour I get home!). The "minor" holidays - 4th of July, Labor Day.....none of that has been a big deal for me - so I don't care.

Now...for the really big stuff - graduations, back-to-school nights, funerals, weddings - I've always had the ability to get those off or trade. That doesn't mean I didn't cry on the way to work on my daughter's first birthday (& get a ticket also because I was speeding & didn't realize it!!!!!) But...remember - what someone does for you, you must do for them or someone else without question - it is remembered!

Most M-F 8-5 jobs withing pharmacy are administrative (altho Zpack is the exception) & those have their positives and negatives. Teaching in a tech school is a M-F job as well, but teaching at a university can involve other hours, but usually not holidays.

Government jobs, contrary to what one poster stated, also is 365, 24hr/day a week job. The VA has pharmacists there all the time, so they are like all other hospital jobs. Prisons are normally different - often daytime hours which will include Sats as well. I'm not really sure about the criminal psychiatric hospitals - I think they cover 365days, but just 2 shifts. If ony 2 shifts are covered, there is someone on call.....

My friends, who are in industry, do a tremendous amount of international travel. There is no way I'd trade my life for theirs! Although they perhaps have more flexibility than me, their life revolves around other calendars than ours (European or Asian rather an US). I also would hate to do the whole airport/hotel thing constantly...but thats just me.

I hope I've helped a bit....If you have other questions....pm me.

I started my career as a newlywed & my youngest just turned 21, so I've had lots of events which have occured in my professional life. I only cried that one time - my daughter's first birthday (my first chld).....she had a great day & really I didn't miss a thing. She's now 23 & doesn't even know her mother acted like an idiot. In fact...she used her experience as a child of a pharmacist when she wrote her application essays for medical school. Would I do it all again? Yes - in a heartbeat! Your family will work around you - thats what families do!

Now stress.....that is a whole other thread!

 

[PhPal]

A million thanks to those who replied.
Yes I know that pharmacies and hospitals work round the clock. So I was hoping they might have shifts to choose from. Being a morning person and thinking about kids school hours I thought may be I could work just the first shift while kids are at school and be back in the evening.

I guess I really have to realign my priorities and question myself what is important for me and my family.

I can only guess the stress level, its probably second in line after the MD's. How do I know if I can handle that kind of stress level? I am afraid I might lose sleep over 'what if i make a mistake' and 'oh my god did i do that right?' and 'what if the technician made a mistake but I didnt notice it?' It must be very tiring to work those 12 and 14 hour shifts, physically and mentally.

Do you really have to be a people's person to deal with so many customers at the retail? I am a quiet person who doesn't mind having a few people around me but I always had desk jobs. So I guess the hospital would be a quieter place than the retail.

How are the jobs in mail order and online pharmacies?

 

[sdn1977]

A million thanks to those who replied.
Yes I know that pharmacies and hospitals work round the clock. So I was hoping they might have shifts to choose from. Being a morning person and thinking about kids school hours I thought may be I could work just the first shift while kids are at school and be back in the evening.

I guess I really have to realign my priorities and question myself what is important for me and my family.

I can only guess the stress level, its probably second in line after the MD's. How do I know if I can handle that kind of stress level? I am afraid I might lose sleep over 'what if i make a mistake' and 'oh my god did i do that right?' and 'what if the technician made a mistake but I didnt notice it?' It must be very tiring to work those 12 and 14 hour shifts, physically and mentally.

Do you really have to be a people's person to deal with so many customers at the retail? I am a quiet person who doesn't mind having a few people around me but I always had desk jobs. So I guess the hospital would be a quieter place than the retail.

How are the jobs in mail order and online pharmacies?

The easy answer first - jobs in mail order & online pharmacies - they would be boring for me, but are the right fit for some people, obviously. They are normally located in more remote areas, so unless you are willing to move to where they are...thats not going to be an option.

There is another similar option which might be closer to hand - a "closed door" pharmacy. These pharmacies fill SNF's drug needs - for individual patients & whatever version of pyxis is used. They maintain drug files just like a hospital does & fill the drugs unit dose specifically for each patient. There is absolutely no outside patient contact - thus the "closed door". Again...for me - its boring.

You don't have to be a people person, particularly for hospital work, in the sense you have to be "convivial". However, you must be able to get along with everyone & even those who might otherwise piss you off when they are under stress. You have to recognize, all hospital positions have their stress - even the janitor is sometimes pushed to clean & turn around an OR suite or a pt room in a short amount of time & someone is breathing down their neck. When physicians, nurses, techs, etc....say something which is a reflection of the stress they are under you can either let it run off you & do the very best you can as rapidly as you can......or...you can get angry right back which does nothing at all & ultimately hurts you & your credibility in the long run.

For retail - you really have to be a people person. Customer service is a big deal now. And, as always been, the pharmacy is often the last stop during a long, difficult, stressful day at the physician's office & the pt is tired & doesn't feel well. So...you start out with them already a bit upset.

There is stress in the job, but it manageable. Yes...I come home & worry about what I've done, how I could have done it differently, etc....The errors you make (a previous thread) you keep with you all your life & you never forget it. You decide for yourself how much stress you can tolerate & modify your environment to allow for that. I've realized over time I cannot handle the stress of working with acutely ill neonates & pediatric cancer - so I don't.

It is tiring to work 12 hours & I've recently had longer days than that. Again...this is something you have control over - usually.

As for your family....no...you won't be able to work solely while your kids are in school & come home at night - especially if you have kids now & haven't even started school. Day shifts are often assiged on a seniority basis & your kids will be old enough to not want nor care if you are home at night by the time you're done & have put in enough experience to get a regular day shift. As long as you & dad can work out an agreeable way to manage whatever parenting you both decide on, it will all work out. Time moves fast & they grow up in spite of the hurdles we have to cross.

Good luck!

 

[PhPal]

Hi SDN1977
Yes I think all you said is true. I need to weigh all the +ve and -ve points and then make a decision. My kids are now in preschool and KG so I have a long way to go.
I also heard there is a shortage of pharmacists and so they have to work without enough tech help or work long hours. Is this situation expected to change sometime in future?

Can you suggest any other field that relates to healthcare but is not as stressful and allows daytime hours? I am comfortable with computers too.
I might post this question in a separate thread.

Anyways Thanks for your lengthy and patient answers to a confused stranger.

All the best to you
PhPal

 

[gsinccom]

Hi SDN1977
Yes I think all you said is true. I need to weigh all the +ve and -ve points and then make a decision. My kids are now in preschool and KG so I have a long way to go.
I also heard there is a shortage of pharmacists and so they have to work without enough tech help or work long hours. Is this situation expected to change sometime in future?

Can you suggest any other field that relates to healthcare but is not as stressful and allows daytime hours? I am comfortable with computers too.
I might post this question in a separate thread.

Anyways Thanks for your lengthy and patient answers to a confused stranger.

All the best to you
PhPal

Try Public Health (MPH degree or MSPH) that would likely be the best fit for you. You could try Optometry or Dentistry but they are running into some of the same corporate woes that face Pharmacy. Maybe Physical Therapy?

 

[PhPal]

Thank you gsinccom. I will consider and research about your suggestions.