Currently, I working as a clinical pharmacist for a health plan. I am doing great managing different clinical programs, getting involving in P&T and making clinical decisions for PAs. I was lucky enough to land this job without doing any residency. I did retail/LTC for 2 years after graduating. Based on your experience, is it possible to land a hospital job with managed care experience? I've heard it is possible but will be difficult based on very little patient interaction.
Managed care pharmacist to hospital
- Thread starter skybird
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It depends on the hospital, but generally the average pharmacist isn't going to have a lot of patient interaction, so I don't think that would be the issue with switching from managed care to hospital. Some hospitals will have pharmacists doing prescription discharge counseling, but a lot of hospitals still have nurses doing that. Hospital pharmacists might be asked to do outpatient talks or brown-bag session, but those are more occasionally, and not a daily part of the job.
The bigger issue would be how comfortable are you with IV's and other drugs primarily found in hospitals? If you have worked with these as a clinical pharmacist, then that would be a great selling point to a hospital. Some hospitals might screen for residency and automatically disqualify you, but if you are applying to smaller hospitals, especially outside of big cities, I think you could find a hospital to take you.
Is there a reason why you want to change your job? It sounds like you have a nice unicorn job and are doing a good job at it, why would you want to risk changing to a different job?
The bigger issue would be how comfortable are you with IV's and other drugs primarily found in hospitals? If you have worked with these as a clinical pharmacist, then that would be a great selling point to a hospital. Some hospitals might screen for residency and automatically disqualify you, but if you are applying to smaller hospitals, especially outside of big cities, I think you could find a hospital to take you.
Is there a reason why you want to change your job? It sounds like you have a nice unicorn job and are doing a good job at it, why would you want to risk changing to a different job?
Thanks everyone for your reply. This is for the long term future. Hospitals has more opportunities to grow and level up. Occasionally, I do like some interaction with some patients. I was told that once you are in the hospital you have an easier chance to go back to any setting such as retail or managed care. Being in managed care long term will make it hard go back to retail or hospital. I obviously don't want to back to retail but don't mind doing it per diem. My current job does require me to look at IV antibiotics and attend inpatient rounds. In addition, managed care opportunities are scarce. You would only see job openings once or twice a year. If I were to relocate, it will be easier to find a hospital position over a manage care. This is why I am taking the time to try to look for a per diem hospital position to diversify my profile and it is not easy.
