interview question- Why pharmacy but not MD?

I said something along the lines of that while Doctors/Nurses are brilliant people, they are not the medication experts. Then, I pulled in personal experiences as to why I feel it is so important to have medication experts around (near deaths in family from medication misusage & drug interactions, etc). I think it's important to let them know that you considered it, but realized that pharmacy is the better choice for you. I would also avoid saying something overly simple like "I want to have a family," or "I want to have flexible hours." While those are often big reasons, I think that the more substantial in the discipline of health care that your reason is, the better. So, maybe mention them (if you like) after you say something about why the discipline of pharmacy is a better fit for you and then it can just be supporting evidence

Anyway, I hope that helps.

 

You have to find stuff that seperates pharmacy from medicine. They do this to throw off the people who use the stock reply "to help people" when asked why they want to be an RPh. So in this case, I'd mention less education time is involved, less strenuous hours, your work day is over when it's over - no pagers going off at 2AM, you don't have to touch people, etc, etc.

 

Wow, so it sounds like doing almost the opposite of what I said worked for WVUPharm2007. I guess you can really take this question in any direction! That certainly reduces the pressure

 

Pharmacists would have more interaction with patients if patients wanted to interact Unfortunately, the image of a pharmacist just involves a person fulfilling a doctor's prescription. These patients, as a result, don't feel a need to consult with a pharmacist.

If I had to answer the question, I would also try to distinguish pharmacy from medicine. I would say that the smaller workload as a pharmacist enables me to have more community involvement and makes it easier for me to maintain a family. I would talk about the fun features about pharmacy such as the intrigue I have about antibiotics, how drugs work and interact, and the importance of the pharmacy profession in a patient's life. I don't know if this applies to you, but I am also interested in designing a pharmacy where I can provide a consultant role. That would give me some interaction with patients too. If only these patients wanted to talk to me.

 

Thankx. That was a nice one.
Have you ever thought of breaking the jinx (if only these pts. wanted to talk to me). How can we make these ppl know that pharmacists have the answer to their questions. or how important it is to talk to pharmacists?
ray

 

all good answers so far and many that apply to my situation. Here is one more I could offer. I like the daily routine better of a pharmacist. I want to work with people but also want to do other tasks during the day. I am not intrigued by the back to back appointment - day in day out routine of your typical family practice MD/DO.

 

Seriously, I said someone has to be in charge of the team, but that if I looked back at the history of the increase in life expectancy for the 20th century that most of it had to do with drugs and not doctors. I said if I had a choice to being stuck on a desert island with a fully stocked pharmacy (with a pharmacist) vs. a complete medical team with no drugs, that it was basically a no-brainer.

 

BTW, the part about better hours, more interesting work, less upheaval are true, but I do really believe that drugs are more important to people's health than doctors.

 

I believe drugs are important too but the doctor is the one making the diagnosis! In my opinion the diagnosis is pretty darn important, so the right drug can be found. The Doctors performing surgeries and working in the ER? I'm sure those patients would rather have us throw them some morphine and skip the whole doctor/surgery interaction huh? Both Pharmacists and Doctors are imporant but why try and make yourself feel better by saying what we do is more important?

 

It's not about trying to feel more important; it's about the implied question that many people ask and if you haven't heard it then you're pretty lucky. The question is if you're going for the brass ring then why "settle" for being a pharmacist. It's actually sad that this question gets asked so often. Noone asks why not be a nurse although in California, nurses can make more than pharmacists .

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the distinction that pharmacy is hands-off whereas nursing and medicine are hands on.

 

so true. But the roles of pharmacists are expanding. Some are involved in the managment of chornic diseases like hyperglycemia, hypertension or COPD. Probably they will be listening to lung or heart sounds or doing physical assessment. Also read somewhere that pharmacists are giving immunizations as well. Anyway, there are few hands on duties being added on as pharmacist's responsiblities. We can claim pharmacist's job hands off type but after few years i doubt we will be able to say that. Thats how i have perceived.

 

I don't think pharmacists need to get heavily involved in nursing/phlebotomist activities like immunizations. If I were a running the business I'd get the nurse or phlebotomist who is cheaper to do that work. That doesn't require our expertise. However, for public health emergency purposes a pharmacist should definitely know how to administer a shot.

As for running the clinics, a few % of pharmacists do that now and probably more in the future, I agree. But it is optional for pharmacists, and hands-on stuff is the mainstay for most physicians and nurses. For me, the focus on consultation and not hands-on patient interaction like other health professions was very important.

 

pharmacy = no bodily fluids.

 

This is a throwaway question, IMO. You really can go multiple directions with it. The entire point of the interview is to allow the school to make sure they won't admit a complete idiot or someone who will make them look bad in the future, so keep that in mind....

 

Did you answer the question or just there and blink? If you answered, what did you say?