Is it smart to work full-time as hospital pharmacy tech while in pharmacy school

[Misaenator]

Hello everyone,

So I have a dilemma I'm facing at the moment and I want to ask the forum seniors some advice. I'm being offered a full-time tech position working from 4-midnight guarantee 38h/week, full benefits, has local 1199 union, and lot of OT at one of the major hospitals in the city. My only concern is would that safe for me jump into this job and my grades might suffer. I heard clinical pharmacy professors told me they worked full-time while going to school before. I thought well if I work the night shift, it tends to get more quiet and slower, I can try to squeeze in some studying done. But that's no guarantee. Any advices/inputs/thoughts are welcome....

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[zelman]

That would be really rough. Unless you can get the schedule shifted so that you work weekends and have Some school nights off, I'd hesitate to take it.

 

[Misaenator]

That would be really rough. Unless you can get the schedule shifted so that you work weekends and have Some school nights off, I'd hesitate to take it.

Yea I spoke to some upperclassmen whether I should disclose of me going to Rx school at the moment, so that they can work around the schedule a little bit. I'm afraid they might turn me down if I say I have school commitments I have to fulfill...I really want that hospital experience though....

 

[genesis09]

You should not work full-time while in pharmacy school. There is not enough hours in the day. If you do that, there is a good chance you won't do well. I know of a tech who worked full-time while in pharmacy school. Everyone told him, it was a bad idea. He ended up flunking out.

 

[Chicago007]

I would advise against working full time. in my opinion, the only full time job you should have is school. You should work at the hospital part time and only if they are flexible. At the end of the day, your goal is to gain experience and that's it. Your studies is what will pay dividends long term. Pharmacy school can be hectic. Those pharmacists who are advising you to take it are not giving you the best advice. At this stage in your career you shouldn't worry about benefits, overtime, or unions because if your grades suffer, all those things will no longer seem as valuable as you seem them now. Once your a full fledged pharmacist, that's when benefits and hours should come into play. Play it safe. Don't gamble your future. Ultimately only you know what's best for you. As always, I wish you all the best.

 

[Misaenator]

Thank you all for the genuine advices. I really don't want to fail this whole pharmacy school, not to mention the whole loan being taken out, it's definitely not the best way to work fulltime. I wonder if I should disclose my information about being in school when I have the interview or should I just call it off. If I show up for the interview and the pharmacy manager already has an idea whether to hire me or not, and turn out I'm in school. That's even worse. Who know if I end up doing rotations at this hospital in the next few years....I really need to think this through

 

[sakigt]

You could do it, but you would have no life.

Id tell your boss you would LOVE to have the position but be honest about Pharmacy school and your ability to work 38/week with no callouts during all 4 years. Id say, from personal experience 38 per week is doable 30% of the time, tough 40% of the time and bat**** insane 30% of the time. I once worked until midnight with a 7am final. Once. This may be your reality more than a few times....


Ideally you push for a part time gig. If you cant plan to use vacation time to take off time when you have exams....

 

[Misaenator]

Yea I have to lay it out for the pharmacy manager when I have the interview I guess. We'll see how it goes after I tell him my situation. I didn't want to say it over the phone, so I hope by having in person interview, I could explain more. But I'll let everyone know how it turns out next week...

 

[BidingMyTime]

There were a few people in my class who worked full-time, while going to school full-time. They made it work. Realistically, this would be very hard for most people to do. I would recommend not doing this, unless you really need to for financial reasons.

 

[Dred Pirate]

go for it - I worked full time - but had an employer be very generous with working with me (essentially i worked or was in school from 6:30 am until 6:30 pm and every other weekend. I disagree with those that say you will have no life. I went out a lot, but lived on 6 hours of sleep max, but I did it well. But I also was one who didn't have to study a whole lot (and still graduated in top 5% - not to brag, but just to put in perspective. Your employer needs to know thou.

on a side note, one of our techs just graduated who worked 8 on 6 off, overnight shift, and was near the top of her class as well

 

[Misaenator]

go for it - I worked full time - but had an employer be very generous with working with me (essentially i worked or was in school from 6:30 am until 6:30 pm and every other weekend. I disagree with those that say you will have no life. I went out a lot, but lived on 6 hours of sleep max, but I did it well. But I also was one who didn't have to study a whole lot (and still graduated in top 5% - not to brag, but just to put in perspective. Your employer needs to know thou.

on a side note, one of our techs just graduated who worked 8 on 6 off, overnight shift, and was near the top of her class as well

Wow... So impressive...How did he/she or even you pulled that off? I'm trying to aim for top 10% only. But top 5% is even crazier...On the side note though, what should I say when I go for the interview? Should I be like: Thank you for the opportunity, I would love to take the position; however, I have a school commitments I have to fulfill, I just want to let you know about this, and I'm willing to work hard. Or is there any better way for me to say it without making it sound like I'm too good for the job?

I really want to work in hospital to gain inpatient drug names, the dosings and the disease states' treatments and what not....

How did you manage to pull it off and end up in the top 5% of your class? You must be one of those geniuses who remember the information as soon as it presented to you... I'm sorry for so many questions and thoughts....

 

[KARM12]

When will you study or do projects with that schedule? I worked 18hrs a week as a student and that was a good amount. Most hospitals are not flexible with the shifts in my experience.

 

[Dred Pirate]

Wow... So impressive...How did he/she or even you pulled that off? I'm trying to aim for top 10% only. But top 5% is even crazier...On the side note though, what should I say when I go for the interview? Should I be like: Thank you for the opportunity, I would love to take the position; however, I have a school commitments I have to fulfill, I just want to let you know about this, and I'm willing to work hard. Or is there any better way for me to say it without making it sound like I'm too good for the job?

I really want to work in hospital to gain inpatient drug names, the dosings and the disease states' treatments and what not....

How did you manage to pull it off and end up in the top 5% of your class? You must be one of those geniuses who remember the information as soon as it presented to you... I'm sorry for so many questions and thoughts....

1. well, I am a natural nerd, I admit it - I was blessed with the ability to go to class and retain nearly everything with little need to study, I studied much more in my undergrad.
2. The hospital I worked at had an extensive intern program (about 30 of us) and we were basically glorified techs but did some basic Rph work (first check, stock checking, etc) which varies from state to state. They had an incentive to hire interns, it cut back on work that the Rph's had to do, which of course made more, plus we could fill in for tech shifts (and ask any hiring manager, on average (it varies from person to person) an intern is more motivated than the average tech,
3. Working in a hospital environment will give you advantage with names, dosages, etc (but you can also get that in retail, and maybe even more as you are actually doing order entry
4, be straight up honest with them, and you should be OK