Independent pharmacy vs night shift pharmacy

[iloveclementine]

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Hi all,

I'm working at an independent pharmacy that filled about 40 scripts a day, but the pays are little low and I get no benefits (ex insurance). I see a job opening at hospital night shifts and I've never worked in such setting before. I think they pay would be similar but they would have 401k, set systems, and it's a chain hospital that I think it's easier to relocate and possibly do internal re-application to other shifts jobs.

Which one would you prefer?

 

[DesiRX]

Night shift at hospital for sure. I am currently doing night shifts at a community hospital and I love it. I started almost three years ago and at the time, this was the only opening and I desperately needed to get out of retail while I could and I did. There is yet another position open for rotating shifts and I'm going to take it. Although I didn't mind doing nights and getting paid a boat load of extra money, I feel that working overnights long term has many health hazards and I also plan on starting a family soon so I figured it's prob better to do shorter shifts and more days that are not overnights. Good luck to you! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be more than happy to answer...

 

[iloveclementine]

Night shift at hospital for sure. I am currently doing night shifts at a community hospital and I love it. I started almost three years ago and at the time, this was the only opening and I desperately needed to get out of retail while I could and I did. There is yet another position open for rotating shifts and I'm going to take it. Although I didn't mind doing nights and getting paid a boat load of extra money, I feel that working overnights long term has many health hazards and I also plan on starting a family soon so I figured it's prob better to do shorter shifts and more days that are not overnights. Good luck to you! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be more than happy to answer...

thanks for quick reply! I actually do have a few questions since I'm really serious about getting a job in a hospital.

1. What did you not like about retail settings? For me, techs trying to run over me (I can write a book about it.. (But now I'm sucking it up because people issues will be everywhere), and some chores I have to do without much compensation are the things I don't like. I'm trying to see if you had other reasons to make you change your setting. If the setting was quiet, all by yourself, and slow pace would you have stayed in retail or even independent? Or were you just not in the mood of retail?

2. What are the tasks that you do in general at night shift? I've never worked in a hospital, but I know they do abx dosing adjustments, inputting, etc.

3 Additionally, what would be the challenging things about working at night shift? Obviously the time shift would be something that I should work on..but I'm sure there are specific personnel that are a substation of annoying customer from retail setting, or tasks that are time-consuming, etc.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Are you working as a pharmacist or a technician (not clear from your post, esp since your status is student.) Obviously the answer to your questions will depend on exactly what you you are doing.

 

[Amicable Angora]

Night shift at hospital for sure. I am currently doing night shifts at a community hospital and I love it. I started almost three years ago and at the time, this was the only opening and I desperately needed to get out of retail while I could and I did. There is yet another position open for rotating shifts and I'm going to take it. Although I didn't mind doing nights and getting paid a boat load of extra money, I feel that working overnights long term has many health hazards and I also plan on starting a family soon so I figured it's prob better to do shorter shifts and more days that are not overnights. Good luck to you! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be more than happy to answer...

Does switching to a "vampiric" lifestyle where you literally sleep during the day only help or can you still feel a health drain?

 

[pillpharmer14]

I work overnights at a hospital and really enjoy it. Yes, you do lots of order entry and abx dosing, also lots of general logistics (fixing messed up orders, hacking omnicells, explaining to nurses what warfarin does). To me hospital is a lot more fulfilling than working retail. I feel like I'm continually learning and becoming a better pharmacist rather than just trying to survive my shift.

As for complaints about retail, just search the forums for "CVS" and read some of those threads. Pretty accurate depiction of what you can expect from all retailers in the near future. Gotta do more with less, gotta "optimize" without concern for patient safety or outcomes.

 

[Momus]

Does switching to a "vampiric" lifestyle where you literally sleep during the day only help or can you still feel a health drain?

You can't fix your circadian rhythm permanently going 7 days on and off 7 days. So no matter what you do, it will ruin your health in the long run. The only possible solution is to always make you awake all the time at night and sleep during the day 365 days... And no one ever does that. So in summary, you are ****ed in terms of health. You may think it's ok, it's not. Tons of study to back up the danger of shift work.

 

[waiter]

40 a day? Sign me up.

 

[Amicable Angora]

You can't fix your circadian rhythm permanently going 7 days on and off 7 days. So no matter what you do, it will ruin your health in the long run. The only possible solution is to always make you awake all the time at night and sleep during the day 365 days... And no one ever does that. So in summary, you are ****ed in terms of health. You may think it's ok, it's not. Tons of study to back up the danger of shift work.

Well what I'm asking is if you literally become a vampire even on your off days... How's that?

 

[owlegrad]

Well what I'm asking is if you literally become a vampire even on your off days... How's that?

I didn't personally develop a taste for blood or extreme photophobia. YMMV I suppose.

 

[DesiRX]

You can't fix your circadian rhythm permanently going 7 days on and off 7 days. So no matter what you do, it will ruin your health in the long run. The only possible solution is to always make you awake all the time at night and sleep during the day 365 days... And no one ever does that. So in summary, you are ****ed in terms of health. You may think it's ok, it's not. Tons of study to back up the danger of shift work.

Yup, I agree with what Momus said. And that is also why I am getting off nights. I mean, in the short run it's fine but I am not ready to cause excessive damage to my health just to have an easy going shift at night and get paid some extra money.

 

[DesiRX]

thanks for quick reply! I actually do have a few questions since I'm really serious about getting a job in a hospital.

1. What did you not like about retail settings? For me, techs trying to run over me (I can write a book about it.. (But now I'm sucking it up because people issues will be everywhere), and some chores I have to do without much compensation are the things I don't like. I'm trying to see if you had other reasons to make you change your setting. If the setting was quiet, all by yourself, and slow pace would you have stayed in retail or even independent? Or were you just not in the mood of retail?

2. What are the tasks that you do in general at night shift? I've never worked in a hospital, but I know they do abx dosing adjustments, inputting, etc.

3 Additionally, what would be the challenging things about working at night shift? Obviously the time shift would be something that I should work on..but I'm sure there are specific personnel that are a substation of annoying customer from retail setting, or tasks that are time-consuming, etc.

I got out of retail because it was draining/overwhelming/people were just unappreciative no matter how hard you tried and I feel like I was working my ass off to make the numbers look good for the corporation. I have yet to come across a retail store that is "quiet, slow paced.." I've never worked for an independent either so I do not know how to answer that. The tasks at night shift include pretty much everything. I am by myself for 7-8 hours so basically I do everything from making IVs to delivering meds to the floors to answering calls to recommending doses. Anything that comes your way, you end up tackling. I do not have any other pharmacist with me and no tech help either. It's not as bad as it sounds but some nights you are definitely on your toes from the beginning to the end, makes the night go by fast. The most challenging thing is switching back and forth with the sleep schedule. I enjoyed having the time off and getting a sweet pay but I knew I wasn't in it to do it long term. I only did it b/c that was the only position open and I wanted to get out of retail but I would suggest that doing it for many years you'd be causing a lot of harm to your body/health. Goofing around with your circadian rhythm and body clock is no joke and sometimes I had a hard time sleeping during the day and other times sleeping at night during my week off. But you get through it. The younger you are, the better it is. Good luck.

 

[RxPreceptor]

You can't fix your circadian rhythm permanently going 7 days on and off 7 days. So no matter what you do, it will ruin your health in the long run. The only possible solution is to always make you awake all the time at night and sleep during the day 365 days... And no one ever does that. So in summary, you are ****ed in terms of health. You may think it's ok, it's not. Tons of study to back up the danger of shift work.

I'm actually a full time vampire on non-work days...1 of few. The logistics of consistently having a night lifestyle make errands especially difficult....those involving the man-made, purposely promote traffic, crowds,& stress 9-5 shifts. Government errands are especially worse. I do have to transition from time to time because of these

Photophobia is a bitch though! Blood tastes alright (...humor...)

 

[pillpharmer14]

I'm actually a full time vampire on non-work days...1 of few. The logistics of consistently having a night lifestyle make errands especially difficult....those involving the man-made, purposely promote traffic, crowds,& stress 9-5 shifts. Government errands are especially worse. I do have to transition from time to time because of these

Photophobia is a bitch though! Blood tastes alright (...humor...)

Gonna venture to say you don't have much of a social life

 

[Leper Messiah]

I took a tech job at a hospital working nights (during breaks from RX school). The workload is predictable as opposed to the chaotic times of day shift, but 7 on/7 off is a tough schedule. The whole reason I took the job was to see if it's something I'd do as a pharmacist, And even being in my 20's, it's not something I want to do long term.