Maybe we should go to Med school?

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DPMhopeful said:
Haha...typical inferiority complex. It's always the DO under appreciating anyone who isn't an MD/DO.

Aren't pharmacists like #2 most respected profession for the past ~5 years and before that the #1 most respected? I think this public trust coupled with their training puts them in a prime position to help with the primary care issue.
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Yup. After 9/11, nurses became the #1 trusted profession and pharmacists slid down to #2.

We're having this same fight at Touro. It is the College of Pharmacy Vs College of Osteopathic Medicine. Last year while the College of Pharmacy facilities were under construction, the pharmacy students were not allowed to use the study rooms, and they even put up signs saying Medical Students Only.

So finally, our place is complete and these *******s have wandered up to our part of the building and feel that they are entitled to use our space. One guy even said, "all you do is count pills anyway", that set off the **** storm. The pharmacy dean was kicking osteopathic students out of the study rooms all morning.

****ing tools. How about this for inflammation? Osteopathic Medicine Practicioners aren't even real doctors. Bunch of effin quacks. HOOAH!

Onto Kanye West, I like some of his stuff but he was out of line, and I don't even like Taylor Swift. I wanna know why I never see hard rock and heavy metal at the VMAs.
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DPMhopeful said:
Haha...typical inferiority complex. It's always the DO under appreciating anyone who isn't an MD/DO.

Aren't pharmacists like #2 most respected profession for the past ~5 years and before that the #1 most respected? I think this public trust coupled with their training puts them in a prime position to help with the primary care issue.
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How do you know Miam is a DO? If he is than it makes him look even WORST. I can kinda see why MD think they are above and beyond everyone else, but DO? Hell no! DO better than everyone else? thats the biggest BS I have ever heard it my life! :laugh::laugh::laugh: DO school isn't even that hard to get into. That guy is so lame.
 
SHC1984 said:
How do you know Miam is a DO? If he is than it makes him look even WORST. I can kinda see why MD think they are above and beyond everyone else, but DO? Hell no! DO better than everyone else? thats the biggest BS I have ever heard it my life! :laugh::laugh::laugh: DO school isn't even that hard to get into. That guy is so lame.
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Hey now...don't look like an a-hole and disparage the DO degree, makes you look like the a-hole pre-med/med students that think MD = God. My PCP is a DO and is a damn good clinician.
 
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Personally I feel that flaming DOs is no better than a med student flaming pharmacists. And yes, I know that it is generally easier to get into a DO program than an MD program; however, the DO degree is considered equivalent to the M.D. in the U.S. for practice purposes, so I think assuming that all DOs are somehow inferior is pretty asinine. I have known plenty of well-respected and highly intelligent DOs.

All health care workers should try to work together to achieve the best outcomes for patients and forget all this ridiculous who's better than who crap.
 
confettiflyer said:
Hey now...don't look like an a-hole and disparage the DO degree, makes you look like the a-hole pre-med/med students that think MD = God. My PCP is a DO and is a damn good clinician.
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I mean it is very ironic that someone with a DO degree would be in a position to make fun of other people. Since a DO isn't traditionally considered as highly as an MD it's just too funny to see them making fun of others...I figure as a DO (since they were used to getting made fun of by the MD) be a lot more understanding and less likely to make fun of anyone else...but I guess thats not the case for our DO Miam.
 
mustang sally said:
Personally I feel that flaming DOs is no better than a med student flaming pharmacists. And yes, I know that it is generally easier to get into a DO program than an MD program; however, the DO degree is considered equivalent to the M.D. in the U.S. for practice purposes, so I think assuming that all DOs are somehow inferior is pretty asinine. I have known plenty of well-respected and highly intelligent DOs.

All health care workers should try to work together to achieve the best outcomes for patients and forget all this ridiculous who's better than who crap.
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I agree. I think people choose what they want to do PERIOD. If you are in pharmacy its because you CHOOSE to be in pharmacy. If you are in dentistry its becauase you CHOOSE to be in dentistry. If a pharmacy student wanted bad enough to be a MD I don't see why he or she couldn't do it. No one is better than anyone else...its just what you choose to do. :cool:
 
SHC1984 said:
I agree. I think people choose what they want to do PERIOD. If you are in pharmacy its because you CHOOSE to be in pharmacy. If you are in dentistry its becauase you CHOOSE to be in dentistry. If a pharmacy student wanted bad enough to be a MD I don't see why he or she couldn't do it. No one is better than anyone else...its just what you choose to do. :cool:
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I'm was considering going after MD after I finished the PharmD, but I've been repeatedly told that it is a waste of time and that I would not be allowed to practice both simultaneously.
 
Sparda29 said:
Yup. After 9/11, nurses became the #1 trusted profession and pharmacists slid down to #2.

We're having this same fight at Touro. It is the College of Pharmacy Vs College of Osteopathic Medicine. Last year while the College of Pharmacy facilities were under construction, the pharmacy students were not allowed to use the study rooms, and they even put up signs saying Medical Students Only.

So finally, our place is complete and these *******s have wandered up to our part of the building and feel that they are entitled to use our space. One guy even said, "all you do is count pills anyway", that set off the **** storm. The pharmacy dean was kicking osteopathic students out of the study rooms all morning.

****ing tools. How about this for inflammation? Osteopathic Medicine Practicioners aren't even real doctors. Bunch of effin quacks. HOOAH!

Onto Kanye West, I like some of his stuff but he was out of line, and I don't even like Taylor Swift. I wanna know why I never see hard rock and heavy metal at the VMAs.
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Didn't know you guys didn't even have study rooms last year. That sucks.

I saw our dean and a security guard escorting DO students out of one of the study rooms. This issue is really getting heated. The Deans of both DO and Pharmacy schools need to work together on resolving this issue.
 
Transformer said:
I saw our dean and a security guard escorting DO students out of one of the study rooms. This issue is really getting heated.
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hahahahhahha.......

....hahahhahahahahha....

:laugh:

karma's a biaatch.
 
Sparda29 said:
I'm was considering going after MD after I finished the PharmD, but I've been repeatedly told that it is a waste of time and that I would not be allowed to practice both simultaneously.
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Why can't you practice both?? I think you should open your own private practice and have a pharmacy in that practice too. That way the patient can pick up his prescription RIGHT AFTER you prescribe it. :thumbup: Or can you just hand the prescription to the patient AT THE SAME time as you are prescribing it...that would be awesome. LOL...
 
Sparda29 said:
I'm was considering going after MD after I finished the PharmD, but I've been repeatedly told that it is a waste of time and that I would not be allowed to practice both simultaneously.
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yeah it's going to be a waste of time...you're better off going the NP route, but i believe those standards are changing as well (4 year program?)

haha, in a few years budding pre-meds will turn their heat on their DNP counterparts and leave us pharmd's alone to our niche pt care environments. actually, this is happening now, my bad. where's that cool MD/resident guy with all those NP/PA stats in his sig? he drops in from time to time.
 
Jbuprepharm said:
you could do the same thing with pharmacy until what.. the 1930's or so?

I missed that boat by about 70 years, sadness
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I believe what is today's UIC COP starting offering a 1-2 year degree in the late 19th century. It did not offer a 4 year bachelors until the 1930s.

The first college to offer any formalized pharmacy degree was Michigan in the 1860s.
 
SHC1984 said:
Why can't you practice both?? I think you should open your own private practice and have a pharmacy in that practice too. That way the patient can pick up his prescription RIGHT AFTER you prescribe it. :thumbup: Or can you just hand the prescription to the patient AT THE SAME time as you are prescribing it...that would be awesome. LOL...
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and it would eliminate the double-check that we currently have by having at least 2 pairs of eyes looking at the Rx.
 
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Tired said:
Serious question: how do pharmacists "help" provide primary care? I've been on a number of services where pharmacists rounded with us, but in general their only real function was to tell us what meds the patients were on, and didn't do much beyond that. In a clinic setting, I have never interacted with a pharmacist at all. I assume that, when I write scripts, the pharmacist (or tech) that fills it goes over the side effects with the patient, but beyond that I don't really know what you all do.
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Is Family Medicine "primary care"? Well, the Family Medicine Education Consortium gave this guy a lifetime achievement award (http://www.tuftsfmr.org/faculty_residents/malden_staff.shtml#Shaughnessy):

"2005 Lifetime Faculty Achievement Award
Allen F. Shaughnessy, PharmD
Family Medicine Residency
Tufts University School of Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts
[email protected]

Allen F. Shaughnessy, PharmD - Tufts University Family Medicine Residency, Malden, Massachusetts, Adjunct Professor, Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston. Dr. Shaughnessy joined the faculty in 2004, though he has been teaching in family medicine residency programs since 1986. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Medical University of South Carolina. He has completed a faculty development fellowship and the federal government's Department of Health and Human Services Primary Care Health Policy Fellowship. He is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.

Dr. Shaughnessy has been active in research and evidence-based medicine. He has written over 120 papers in the areas of pharmacology, family practice education, prescription-writing, and medical information management that have been published in journals such as the Journal of Family Practice, JAMA, British Medical Journal, and American Family Physician. He is the series editor for the American Family Physician's STEPS series of new drug reviews, and co-editor, with fellow faculty member (and spouse) Dr. Gordon, of the Clinical Pharmacology series.

Along with Dr. David Slawson, he has developed the concepts of Information Mastery. They also developed the concept of "Patient Oriented Evidence that Matters" (POEMs). A leader in medical information management, Dr. Shaughnessy conducts presentations and workshops across the United States and has also presented workshops in Spain, England, and Wales. In 2002, he and Dr. Slawson were awarded the Innovative Program Award by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine for their work on Information Mastery."


I mean, I choose to take Tufts word for it that he brings something to the table (maybe he just tells all the physicians what medications patients are on really, really well?).

When you publish 120 papers in your field, you can ask what he "does" to help with the delivery of primary care.....
 
Tired said:
Serious question: how do pharmacists "help" provide primary care?
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The University of Connecticut has a Pharm.D. on Faculty too (he probably memorizes medication lists better than most!!)

http://www.uchc.edu/md/family/faculty_fulltime.html

"Eric A. Jackson, Pharm.D.
Associate Professor/Clinical Pharmacist

Dr. Jackson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971 with a BS in pharmacy. He received the School of Pharmacy Special Faculty Award for his work in coordinating pharmacy student involvement in multidisciplinary clinics for indigent patients in Chapel Hill and Durham, NC. After working for 2 years at Duke University Medical Center, he returned to school, earning his Pharm.D. in 1975 from the University of Cincinnati while completing a residency in hospital pharmacy at the Cincinnati Veterans Administration Hospital. He became board certified as a Pharmacotheraphy Specialist in 1995. Dr. Jackson's teaching and clinical responsibilities include attending morning report, precepting residents at the Family Practice Center, coordinating the Therapeutics Core Curriculum, and serving as a therapeutic consultant to residents and faculty. He also coordinates the department's Journal Club as well as a longitudunal curriculum on Information Mastery. Dr. Jackson is a member of the Editorial Board of Inforetriever and The Editorial Advisory Board of The Prescriber's Letter and Pharmacist's Letter. Outside activities include reading, kayaking, hiking, cross-country skiing, travel, and gardening."
 
gsinccom said:
miam042,

I certainly hope you don't turn out to be like a few of the MDs I am currently working with. The last thing the medical profession needs are more MDs who don't make the time to stay up to date on current practice guidelines. MDs who would rather b.s. their way through a topic than receive the most current evidence based medicine because it is being provided to them from a Pharmacist.

In the future hopefully you find your way and become a MD who collaborates with other members of the medical team rather than trying to be the be all end all of the medical team. Medical teams need educated leaders and not ignorant dictators.

Best wishes.

of note:

Here are the Admissions Requirements at a friendly DO program you may be familiar with ( http://medicine.nova.edu/do/admissions/index.html ):
1.A bachelor's degree is preferred and must be from a regionally accredited college or university. A minimum of 90 semester hours of accepted work from a regionally accredited college or university may be considered for admission.

and

Some math review: 90 credits = 3 years plus 4 years DO school plus 3 years Fam Practice Residency= 10 years total training
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Do you know any medical students that don't have a bachelor's degree? I don't.

Most Texas schools also have the 90 hour requirement with a bachelor's degree "preferred" but 0% do not have one.

And, I highly respect PharmDs. We have an awesome clinical Pharm D helping us on rounds and she is worth her weight in gold.

Everyone should just know their limitations--that is all.
 
Hell, Pria, tons of schools have PharmD faculty in family medicine. WVU included:

Ponte Receives Distinguished Practitioner Award
Charles Ponte, Pharm.D.

Charles Ponte, Pharm.D., has been elected as Distinguished Practitioner by academic pharmacy colleagues from the National Academies of Practice in Pharmacy.

Ponte is a professor of clinical pharmacy and family medicine in the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy at West Virginia University.

The award recognizes Ponte’s long-term service to the pharmacy profession.

At the University of Connecticut, Ponte started out as a pre-dental student, but switched his major to pharmacy after two weeks.
“You might say that I instinctively chose pharmacy as a career path, and it obviously worked out,” Ponte said.

Ponte’s career has focused on pharmacy education, the training of medical students and residents in family medicine, and the provision of pharmaceutical care. His practice interests include the management of diabetes and its complications, pain management and women’s health issues.

“This is also a testament to the administrative support, encouragement and mentorship afforded to me by the Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine during my 27-year career here at the Health Sciences Center,” Ponte said.

Dr. Ponte is board certified in diabetes education, pharmacotherapy (the treatment of disease through medication), and advanced diabetes management. He is also a diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management.

At WVU, he has received three outstanding teacher awards from the School of Pharmacy and has been honored twice for excellence in resident teaching in the Department of Family Medicine.
 
Tired said:
Not sure why you put the testamonials of various pharmacists in the posts, but the studies were interesting.
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I posted several profiles of pharmacists who hold faculty positions with medical schools primarily for reasons that seem to continue to escape you. So, I will pose a couple serious questions for you to ponder:

Why do you think Medical Schools and Family Medicine training programs have Pharm.D.'s on Faculty (they are not listed as support staff, or medication list managers, but Faculty)? Why would a pharmacist receive a lifetime achievement award from a Family Medicine consortium (I would imagine they had Family Medicine physicians to potentially select for the distinction)?
 
Tired said:
Serious question: how do pharmacists "help" provide primary care? I've been on a number of services where pharmacists rounded with us, but in general their only real function was to tell us what meds the patients were on, and didn't do much beyond that. In a clinic setting, I have never interacted with a pharmacist at all. I assume that, when I write scripts, the pharmacist (or tech) that fills it goes over the side effects with the patient, but beyond that I don't really know what you all do.
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In the best practice model of IHS, we have the clinical pharmacist, practitioner. With additional rigorous training, the best and most dedicated pharmacists can DIAGNOSIS AND PRESCRIBE.

If you want to read more, click on the following link.
http://www.usphs.gov/corpslinks/pharmacy/clinpharm/practices/pcp.html
 
Tired said:
Serious question: how do pharmacists "help" provide primary care? I've been on a number of services where pharmacists rounded with us, but in general their only real function was to tell us what meds the patients were on, and didn't do much beyond that. In a clinic setting, I have never interacted with a pharmacist at all. I assume that, when I write scripts, the pharmacist (or tech) that fills it goes over the side effects with the patient, but beyond that I don't really know what you all do.
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Lets see, I round every day adjusting immunosuppression, follow-up on cultures and adjust antibiotics accordingly, followup on labs, immunosuppression levels, biopsies, bronchs, give recs on treating acute antibody and cellular mediated rejection, give lectures to nurses, nps and other healthcare providers on immunosuppression and infection prophylaxis. Not to mention constantly updating ordersets, conducting research, and assisting with protocol development. I also round on patients admitted to non-transplant services and assist with/fix problems.

I also see patients in clinic when time permits and ensure meds are stopped according to our protocols, assist patients with adherence problems (including financial, social, side effects etc).
 
Transformer said:
Didn't know you guys didn't even have study rooms last year. That sucks.

I saw our dean and a security guard escorting DO students out of one of the study rooms. This issue is really getting heated. The Deans of both DO and Pharmacy schools need to work together on resolving this issue.
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Yeah, the DO students stay on their own ****ing floor. I don't care if their study rooms are like solitary confinement cells compared to ours.

Dude, you know how we have the study rooms right next to the rear entrances of the study halls? Well, the DO students have study rooms on both sides of the lecture halls. Hell, the Osteopathic school actually is getting a research lab on OUR floor. WTF?

I'm planning on printing out some signs and posting them up on the study room doors. "ONLY PHARMACY STUDENTS ALLOWED."

What's weird though is that most of our class (P2s) don't use the study rooms, they just go home. I've seen you guys using them a LOT more.
 
Let's analyze:

For the past ~200 years, doctors (MD) have pretty much had the healthcare world as their oyster. In recent history, they have been the best paid, the best trained and some of the most respected workers in our society. Hollywood and TV glamorize them. People aspire to be doctors, marry doctors, parents aspire for their kids to become doctors - you can even buy toddler-sized doctor dress-up kits for Halloween for Chrissakes. And it is really, really hard to get into med school - and with a regulatory stranglehold on admissions, that is unlikely to change soon. It is the ultimate status job ... (unless you are my friend who auditions Playboy models for photo shoots, he might put up an argument that his job is better, but I digress).

So all of a sudden, DOs are on the scene, and are opening new schools. PAs are on the scene - and some PA schools have low acceptance rates rivaling that of med schools. Pharmacists aren't just undergrad degrees anymore - they are doctorates, and wanting more clinical responsibility. Nurses - nurses of all people!!!!! - once relegated to yes-sir/no-sir and bedpan-duty - have their own doctoral program, and want to see patients independently. Some countries have already made these adjustments and have all these practitioners involved in both primary and specialty care (the UK for example), with doctor salaries severely lowered. As universal health programs loom large, it is all but certain that the US will be under pressure to do the same.

So what we have in essence, is a bit of a turf war. And the seeming elitism we see is actually just plain old resentment. We are a threat. They worked hard for their MDs, and new competing types of practitioners are not the looming reality they bargained for. Can't say I blame them (which I don't really - I have a disproportionate number of MD friends, and I fully understand their frustrations).

So don't get mad. They're worried - as they should be - and are acting like little e-thugs in this thread because they want affirmation that they are still gonna be top dog in 10 years.
 
Jetninjin said:
Let's analyze:

For the past ~200 years, doctors (MD) have pretty much had the healthcare world as their oyster. In recent history, they have been the best paid, the best trained and some of the most respected workers in our society. Hollywood and TV glamorize them. People aspire to be doctors, marry doctors, parents aspire for their kids to become doctors - you can even buy toddler-sized doctor dress-up kits for Halloween for Chrissakes. And it is really, really hard to get into med school - and with a regulatory stranglehold on admissions, that is unlikely to change soon. It is the ultimate status job ... (unless you are my friend who auditions Playboy models for photo shoots, he might put up an argument that his job is better, but I digress).

So all of a sudden, DOs are on the scene, and are opening new schools. PAs are on the scene - and some PA schools have low acceptance rates rivaling that of med schools. Pharmacists aren't just undergrad degrees anymore - they are doctorates, and wanting more clinical responsibility. Nurses - nurses of all people!!!!! - once relegated to yes-sir/no-sir and bedpan-duty - have their own doctoral program, and want to see patients independently. Some countries have already made these adjustments and have all these practitioners involved in both primary and specialty care (the UK for example), with doctor salaries severely lowered. As universal health programs loom large, it is all but certain that the US will be under pressure to do the same.

So what we have in essence, is a bit of a turf war. And the seeming elitism we see is actually just plain old resentment. We are a threat. They worked hard for their MDs, and new competing types of practitioners are not the looming reality they bargained for. Can't say I blame them (which I don't really - I have a disproportionate number of MD friends, and I fully understand their frustrations).

So don't get mad. They're worried - as they should be - and are acting like little e-thugs in this thread because they want affirmation that they are still gonna be top dog in 10 years.
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i think you hit this one pretty square on the head, this topic has been discussed ad infinitum on the pre-allo/allo forum.

It's a totally different world now...Not only on the practitioner side, but reimbursements too....FFS/UCR is out the window, it's all about flat fee/salary/results based payment structures. There was a study recently that a good chunk of new physicians no longer open their own practice...they join larger ones. MD's/DO's had/have the most to lose...when you have a near monopoly on health care, anytime there are changes, it's usually going to be a loss.

Sad...people still think if you get an MD/DO, you can spend the morning seeing pt's and go golfing all afternoon and still stay on top. Kind of how pre-pharms think that easy pill counting jobs will be available in the future (haha...yeah right).

I think a majority of students know this...they accept it and choose medicine because it's interesting (there are easier ways to make money in the world). Then you get your disconnected few that think it's a travesty that NP's and pharmd's prescribe/guide therapy (that boat has already sailed).
 
lots of inferiority complex here, lol
 
confettiflyer said:
Sad...people still think if you get an MD/DO, you can spend the morning seeing pt's and go golfing all afternoon and still stay on top.
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Well you still could if you are a dermatologist.:)
 
Jetninjin said:
They worked hard for their MDs, and new competing types of practitioners are not the looming reality they bargained for. Can't say I blame them (which I don't really - I have a disproportionate number of MD friends, and I fully understand their frustrations).

.
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But PharmD, DO, PA, etc work hard for their degrees too! Its not like Pharmacy school is just soooo much easier than medical school....is it?? Is pharmacy school easier than med school? I had this argument a few days ago with a med student already. He saids med school is definetly harder, but I said don't a person have to complete BOTH programs to compare which one is harder??? anyone know?
 
SHC1984 said:
But PharmD, DO, PA, etc work hard for their degrees too! Its not like Pharmacy school is just soooo much easier than medical school....is it?? Is pharmacy school easier than med school? I had this argument a few days ago with a med student already. He saids med school is definetly harder, but I said don't a person have to complete BOTH programs to compare which one is harder??? anyone know?
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They are difficult in their own ways. Pharmacy is probably easy cake for anatomy/physiology, but med school is easy cake for pharmacology.
 
med school is alot more harder, its not even a fair comparison, from anatomy, to manipulations, to understanding the whole diagnosing process, its light years ahead in terms of difficulty
 
lorain said:
med school is alot more harder, its not even a fair comparison, from anatomy, to manipulations, to understanding the whole diagnosing process, its light years ahead in terms of difficulty
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You could be right. However, I was in med school for a semester and passed all my classes (Columbia is only p/f). I remember anatomy being very hard (and gross I hated the lab for it), but the other classes were okay. Can't comment on pharmacy school because I have only been in it for 3 weeks. You are a med student?
 
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lorain said:
med school is alot more harder, its not even a fair comparison, from anatomy, to manipulations, to understanding the whole diagnosing process, its light years ahead in terms of difficulty
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i agree...my MS-1/MS-2 friends have no lives. Again, two different worlds like what sparda said. Med school barely scratches the surface of what pharmacists study (3yrs of drug therapy vs. typical 1 semester).

another reason why i chose pharmacy...better work/study/life balance through the rest of my 20's and 30's...pharm school and residency puts me squarley at approx. age 30, and i'd be a fully employed practitioner by that point. Had I chosen MD/DO school....that wouldn't be the case. I like the idea of being able to punch in for 40hrs and make six figures (give or take a few)....or throttle back and work 20hrs a week and still make a respectable $50-$60k.

Wouldn't that be great? Get married to someone in the same position...work 3 days a week...and take your combined $120k and enjoy your 4-day weekends?

Sure, I'd make less than my physician counterparts...but studies show that the greatest increase in happiness occurs when you go from making $20k/yr to $50k/yr, and only marginal increases going from $50k/yr to $90k/yr. Law of diminishing returns.
 
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and yes i do realize i'm posting as though i live in a dream world...but hey, it's technically doable. I just don't know anyone who does it....most of my pharmacist friends are maxing out with the intention of enjoying their time later/building up wealth.

snap my next post will be 3,000....i'll turn in for the night and make it extra special.
 
confettiflyer said:
and yes i do realize i'm posting as though i live in a dream world...but hey, it's technically doable. I just don't know anyone who does it....most of my pharmacist friends are maxing out with the intention of enjoying their time later/building up wealth.

snap my next post will be 3,000....i'll turn in for the night and make it extra special.
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I agree with you 100000%! :thumbup: I think people "max" out their hours because they have student loans. :( Your plan sounds GREAT...if there was NO loans involved. Congrats on the 3000th post! CT you are awesome! :love:
 
Why do D.O. students think they're sweet? Not impressed, sorry...
 
SHC1984 said:
But PharmD, DO, PA, etc work hard for their degrees too! Its not like Pharmacy school is just soooo much easier than medical school....is it?? Is pharmacy school easier than med school? I had this argument a few days ago with a med student already. He saids med school is definetly harder, but I said don't a person have to complete BOTH programs to compare which one is harder??? anyone know?
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I know two guys who got their 5 year Bpharm degrees back in the early-mid 90s and then went on to get their MD. One of these guys told me that pharmacy school was harder than med school, although I think med school was likely easier for him cause he had just finished Pharmacy school. I have never talked to the other one about it.

I imagine they are both hard in their own right. From having looked at the curriculum of many programs I think that MD school is more time consuming but not more difficult than a 4 year PharmD program. From what I've seen 3 year PharmD programs are more on par, as far as time committment is concerned, to an MD curriculum.
 
SHC1984 said:
I agree. I think people choose what they want to do PERIOD. If you are in pharmacy its because you CHOOSE to be in pharmacy. If you are in dentistry its becauase you CHOOSE to be in dentistry. If a pharmacy student wanted bad enough to be a MD I don't see why he or she couldn't do it. No one is better than anyone else...its just what you choose to do. :cool:
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I think this is the case most of the time. However, I had a few classmates in undergrad that went to DO school cause they failed to get into any MD programs. I also had one classmate who decided on dental school cause he couldn't get into an MD program.

Some of the sterotypes are ridiculous though. For example, me and three of my closest undergrad friends (two who are now dentists and one who is in his last year of optometry school) had higher g.p.a.s and more stellar undergrad resumes than 75-80% of our friends who got accepted into MD/DO programs but yet there would still be that occasional person in the group (one who didn't know our backgrounds very well) who would wonder if we were going to ______ School because we couldn't get into a MD program. Once we sat down and talked to them about it and explained to them that we choose to be _______ because it was a more interesting career option to us then most of the time they understood.
 
a friend of mine who just finished her MD at the University of Arizona said that first and second years there were always far more pharmacy students studying in the library than med students.

however, their 3rd year is pretty brutal as far as rotations go. We have some tough rotations, but overall, ours are cake in comparison.
 
Sparda29 said:
They are difficult in their own ways. Pharmacy is probably easy cake for anatomy/physiology, but med school is easy cake for pharmacology.
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my gf and i graduated undergrad together, she went to to med school i went to rx school. We agreed that I would not be able to do what she was doing, and she would not be able to do what I was doing. They are two very different fields!

Whenever I hear the argument from med students "we take pharmacology too" my immediate response is always "we took anatomy, would you mind if you woke up to find me as your surgeon".
 
so i'm going to new york today, if any of you foolios want to meet up, i'll be at cafe habana at ~7pm eating corn.
 
confettiflyer said:
so i'm going to new york today, if any of you foolios want to meet up, i'll be at cafe habana at ~7pm eating corn.
Click to expand...

I would if I still lived in NYC. I miss it so much.
 
gsinccom said:
I know two guys who got their 5 year Bpharm degrees back in the early-mid 90s and then went on to get their MD. One of these guys told me that pharmacy school was harder than med school, although I think med school was likely easier for him cause he had just finished Pharmacy school. I have never talked to the other one about it.

I imagine they are both hard in their own right. From having looked at the curriculum of many programs I think that MD school is more time consuming but not more difficult than a 4 year PharmD program. From what I've seen 3 year PharmD programs are more on par, as far as time committment is concerned, to an MD curriculum.
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Interesting...I just know anatomy in med school is very hard (soooooo MUCH information!) and after taking that lab I couldn't eat any meat for months. :barf:
 
gsinccom said:
I think this is the case most of the time. However, I had a few classmates in undergrad that went to DO school cause they failed to get into any MD programs. I also had one classmate who decided on dental school cause he couldn't get into an MD program.

Some of the sterotypes are ridiculous though. For example, me and three of my closest undergrad friends (two who are now dentists and one who is in his last year of optometry school) had higher g.p.a.s and more stellar undergrad resumes than 75-80% of our friends who got accepted into MD/DO programs but yet there would still be that occasional person in the group (one who didn't know our backgrounds very well) who would wonder if we were going to ______ School because we couldn't get into a MD program. Once we sat down and talked to them about it and explained to them that we choose to be _______ because it was a more interesting career option to us then most of the time they understood.
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I know some DO that couldn't get into MD school too. But in all seriousness if someone really wants to get an MD, they should just try for it and KEEP TRYING. Bring their GPA up or MCAT score up. Its crazy to settle for a career that you don't like b/c you can't get want you really want. (unless what you really want is to be a celebrity...in that case you will have to settle. :rolleyes:)
 
SHC1984 said:
I know some DO that couldn't get into MD school too. But in all seriousness if someone really wants to get an MD, they should just try for it and KEEP TRYING. Bring their GPA up or MCAT score up. Its crazy to settle for a career that you don't like b/c you can't get want you really want. (unless what you really want is to be a celebrity...in that case you will have to settle. :rolleyes:)
Click to expand...

It's easy to be a celebrity. Follow these step by step instructions and you will be famous:

1. Go down to your local gun shop.
2. Buy some weapons.
3. Go to your local police precinct.
4. Go inside.
5. Open fire.
 
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