LTC staff vs consultant pharmacist

[xiphoid2010]

There's an opening for a consultant pharmacist position where my wife works as a staff RPh right now. She's thinking about applying and asking for my input, but quite frankly I don't know enough to help her weigh the pros and cons, so I told her to get more info from the one who's leaving.

Staffing is cushy but staff rotates through 3 shifts starting at 7AM to noon. You get paid 1.5x for overtime and holidays. On call every 6-8th week, it is paid and going back in hardly ever happens.

As far as I heard, main advantage of consultant is making your own schedule. Salaried, so no overtime. Some places are located 4-5 hrs out. Milage is reimbursed but overnight stays are not. And she mentioned someone mentioned 4-5 overnight stays a month be caused of these far away facilities.

Any one here has worked both sides of LTC? If you have to spend one day a week out of town, my current thought is unless there is significant financial incentives, consulting doesn't make a lot of sense for people who has kids,but maybe I'm missing some pros and cons here.

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[lorain]

i think it depends on what ones career goals are

 

[all4rx]

I'm staffing at an inpatient rehab hospital now, very similar setting and patient pop. to LTAC. On-call q4week, hardly ever coming in either as we have remote order entry/verfication from home. Drugs that are not available can either wait until next AM to be ordered or can be borrowed from the main affiliated hospital's pharmacy. I also manage to perform clinical work during the day, such as anticoags f/u, vanc dosing, discharge counseling, etc. Non-salaried, 1.5x paid for OT/Holidays. Pretty cushy job, I'd say. The only downside is I feel like losing my acute/critical care knowledge. Therefore, I'm thinking about apply a PRN job at some other acute care hospitals in town.

I have a friend doing consultant work and he travels almost everywhere to all different places in the region. Very clinical-oriented job as he gets to review extensive med lists and patient profiles everyday. No med dispensing/distribution task like typical staffing job. A good career route for someone who likes traveling and experiencing new things almost everyday. I certainly don't recommend that for anyone who needs strong ties with family and local friends.

At the end, it really depends on where your wife's interest is. Is she not happy at her current job? What are her goals in life? Most female pharmacists I know eventually become part-time as they can't handle both life & work. What about you as well? Are you feeling comfortable for your wife travelling off like that and not able to see her at least one day a week? Do you guys have kids? How do the kids feel? Gotta find that balance of life/family vs. work.

 

[xiphoid2010]

I have a friend doing consultant work and he travels almost everywhere to all different places in the region. Very clinical-oriented job as he gets to review extensive med lists and patient profiles everyday. No med dispensing/distribution task like typical staffing job. A good career route for someone who likes traveling and experiencing new things almost everyday. I certainly don't recommend that for anyone who needs strong ties with family and local friends.

At the end, it really depends on where your wife's interest is. Is she not happy at her current job? What are her goals in life? Most female pharmacists I know eventually become part-time as they can't handle both life & work. What about you as well? Are you feeling comfortable for your wife travelling off like that and not able to see her at least one day a week? Do you guys have kids? How do the kids feel? Gotta find that balance of life/family vs. work.

My wife's a staff pharmacist working for one of the 2 major national LTC pharmacy right now. All her days is basically processing orders, verify meds, make calls to doctors and nursing homes. They are hourly, but are semi-salaried since they are scheduled 40 hr/week. But since they don't use time clocks, the staff make deals amongst themselves, and really work like 35hr/week and paid for 40. So yeah, it's a cushy job, she never come back stressed ever. The only thing she doesn't like is the rotating shifts, so some days starts at 7 AM, others at 10 or 12, which can cause some problems if you have kids in day care or school. The other thing, much more minor, is the occasional and paid on-call.

The consultant pharmacist job is interesting to her because the ability to make her own schedules. You work when you want to as long as the work gets done. So on average, 4 out of 5 days a week got great flexibility! But the thing that is giving us pause is (1) daycare/school is 5 days a week, not 4, and me + 2 kids = disaster zone waiting for her to chew our asses out. (2) Consultant is salaried, so no OT/holiday pay. I don't expect the salary to be higher than the $125k+/yr she's making right now, and (3) overnight stay on those long trips are not reimbursed, so adds insult to injury.

Yeah, she probably will find the work more stimulating than the dull staffing work. But hey, at least it's cushy. Part of the thinking goes, don't mess with a cushy job, the other part is hey the grass MAYBE greener on the other side.