I've been a retail pharmacist (no residency under my belt) since 2007 and now after moving to the east coast.. i'm having to look for jobs this hard for the first time in my life. There are hardly any positions in the Boston south shore area.. so i thought i would apply to hospitals.. of course every single one of them want someone experienced. SO i was wondering if anyone knows of a IV certification program that will give me some credentials. Do any of you hospital pharmacists/directors think that would be helpful? What should i do? I even thought of just volunteering free of charge... just to learn. Any help/insight would be helpful.
IV training/hospital training
- Thread starter rxrlm
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Unless a desperate DOP from a rural hard to hire area gives you a chance your road to inpatient pharmacy employment is unlikely. And volunteers have limitations on what they can do.
And now how many employees of NECC at looking for a job in Boston area?
And now how many employees of NECC at looking for a job in Boston area?
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Hey Z what's your "retail expiration" time for applicants? I've talked to 2 other hiring managers and they say 2 years, maximum, in retail and they become virtually unhireable inpatient.
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The other pharmacist who works the same shift with me was 10 years removed from hospital when they hired her. She worked 10 years of retail after graduating, yet she got the perm union position and I was given the temp. Apparently retail experience as pharmacist > no experience as pharmacist even though my internship was at a subacute facility and I had a few hospital rotations. I think they've just begun to realize their mistake because the place just falls apart when I go on my break and leave the other pharmacist alone.
I am currently an inpt pharmacist, switched over 1.5yrs ago from a retail and amb care background. Also did PGY1 residency. Practicing also since 2007.
The best suggestion is take whatever they have and work really hard to sell yourself/abilities. I think my open mindedness and willingness to work the night shift...plus they were very much in need...sealed the deal.
Z is correct, you need a desperate DOP first...then be willing to do pretty much whatever is required. I will prob be working nights for a very long time but I'm grateful and it's been a great learning experience for me.
The best suggestion is take whatever they have and work really hard to sell yourself/abilities. I think my open mindedness and willingness to work the night shift...plus they were very much in need...sealed the deal.
Z is correct, you need a desperate DOP first...then be willing to do pretty much whatever is required. I will prob be working nights for a very long time but I'm grateful and it's been a great learning experience for me.
Also forgot to add:
IV certification or volunteering will not help. What you need to know you'll learn on the job. In most hospitals the pharmacist is really not expected to make IV's, just check them. It's a huge learning curve but if you were really good as a retail pharmacist (able to take care of business esp in high volume) then I think you shouldn't sell yourself short--you'll be fine.
IV certification or volunteering will not help. What you need to know you'll learn on the job. In most hospitals the pharmacist is really not expected to make IV's, just check them. It's a huge learning curve but if you were really good as a retail pharmacist (able to take care of business esp in high volume) then I think you shouldn't sell yourself short--you'll be fine.
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This is what I did. Moved to the middle of nowhere to get the experience/foundation. After learning as much as possible rotating through inpatient, outpatient, and clinic you then reapply to a bigger place.
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1 to 2 years
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Other than moving to a remote rural area with a hospital like Caribou Maine, there's really not much you can do.
A recruiter who was trying to get me to work at a hospital in a rural area told me it's nearly impossible to get a hospital job in a major city without hospital experience or a residency, and he said most hospitals won't consider someone who's worked retail for more than 2-3 years.
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I call it the Scarlett R
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I feel like this whole expiration dating of 1-2 years must be a recent phenomenon...because I've met quite a few older hospital pharmacists who said they made the switch after 11 years of retail, 14 years of retail, etc.
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It's the nature of the job that's changed, inpatient moved from mostly dispensing to a more consulting role. That would explain why an older pharmacist easily transitioned back in the day, because it was dispensing to dispensing.
I've heard of the "Scarlet R" since I started pharmacy school... ~2008.
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Was that during the shortage days? Don't need to look at those now, plenty of residency trained or experienced pharmacist to on the market. Except maybe places like Laredo where they can't keep anyone working for more than a year without being shellshocked.
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Due to influx of new pharmacists + lessening pharmacist shortage, it is unlikely that hospital will hire a pharmacist without any hospital background full time. You may however can search for any pool positions where you can fill a shift at a time. This would be more of a realistic option. Once you get your foot in the door, more job opportunities will cross your path.
I always tell my students who intern at my hospital this all the time. Once you choose retail, it is very hard to get back into the hospital practice. However, I have seen the opposite happen many times.
I always tell my students who intern at my hospital this all the time. Once you choose retail, it is very hard to get back into the hospital practice. However, I have seen the opposite happen many times.
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I'm pretty sure if I actually wanted to, I could take a hospital position right now after a short (maybe a month) period of acclimation and its been nearly 3 years.
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You started in hospital though, right? I think the issue is when a snot nosed new grad with zero work experience gets put into the retail grind and tries to climb out after 2-3 years.
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That is my assumption. It is very difficult to get a hospital job for a person whom you are describing in your second sentence.
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I'm pretty sure that 3-4 positions will open up at my hospital within the next year or two. We have like 3 pharmacists who have been here since the 1980s and might be retiring soon as well as one really old pharmacist as well who is getting sick.
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I'd wait til you all have CPOE
You think CPOE would result in less pharmacists? From what I've been told, after CPOE only one of us will remain downstairs to verify orders that technicians fill and the rest of us will be roaming around on the floors.
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No, it will likely result in hiring more pharmacists. What I mean is that I wouldn't want to work at your joint without CPOE based on what you've posted about it....
When is your conversion/go live?
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About 5 weeks from now. We've been forbidden to request a day off on go live day. They know it's gonna be a zoo that day. All of our physicians except for the orthopedic residents are private practice so it's gonna be reaaal fun when it rolls out. Even though the system has a way for nurses to electronically request missing meds on orders that have already been verified, I know they are still gonna call down.
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CPOE will solve some of the problem we face everyday as pharmacists. i.e. transcription errors, not able to identify who wrote the other etc. However, it will create a whole new set of challenges. Such as...
1. Prescribers blatantly override severe interactions and allergies.
2. Not picking the correct dosage form for the order. i.e. picking predinisone 50 mg tab for 60 mg dose.
3. Overriding duplicate alerts.
4. and many more.
No matter how the system is set up, you will never get rid of missing meds requests. That's part of our lives. Some hospital do better job than others. It is matter of training and staff education and competency.
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From what I've been told by the people who trained us with the system, prescribers will have zero freedom with our CPOE and won't be able to override anything. If the drug is not in the system, they can't enter it with free-text and must contact the pharmacy to have the pharmacist approve it.
Not picking the correct dosage form is a non-issue, we can alter that.
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Please let me know how it is post implementation. CPOE is a tricky animal. Hard to get it right at the first time. It will continue to evolve. I hope it will decrease mistakes and lessen the headache for you.
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lol...no overrides? no workarounds? I'll believe it when i see it.
just wait til you see free text orders show up in the weirdest places...it's like trying to stop fog for the first few months.
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Our director wants it to be as restrictive as possible to the prescribers. We were told to disregard anything that doesn't show up the right way. There are some asshat physicians at this hospital who like to prescribe the most obscure things.
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What your director wants and what your physicians will allow might be two different things.
You'll get weird free text pharmacy orders showing up in order comments or nursing communications, or other oddball places. 80% of physicians will comply, it's the asshat 20% that will mess up your day.
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What do you mean by physicians will allow? The MDs have zero administrative privileges in this system. They had no say in the implementation of it.
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Physicians still run the show...too many complaints and your CMO will wonder what's going on. Pharmacy doesn't exist in a vacuum and physicians are your customers (among many).
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Definitely scrutinize every order for free text. The physicians here will enter something legitimately into the system, then type what they actually want into some comment section that isn't even visible from the main pharmacy order entry page. It's always a disaster waiting to happen.
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Ha I know exactly what you are talking about.
