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A-F@&#in'-Men to that!!!!!!
med school or pharm school?
- Thread starter prettymean
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A-F@&#in'-Men to that!!!!!!
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To those of you who were offended by my words, you have only proven my point. And I'll probably get flamed for saying this as well, but drug prescribing under protocol is actually the *absence* of clinical decision-making authority, by definition. If the patient's problem does not conform in ALL aspects to the protocol, the pharmacist is supposed to step back and let the physician decide treatment.
I do know pharmacists who practice autonomously, and write orders without a protocol, and without actually getting a verbal order. But it's not legal to do so, and if any of their patients decided to sue, those pharmacists would be in very hot water if anything they decided was at all questionable. Since clinical judgment is just a fancy phrase for playing the odds, a 99% chance means that 1% of the time they will be wrong. And even a 99% likelihood of appropriateness can't be defended that 1% of the time it's wrong, if it's not within the legal scope of your practice to write the order without asking first.
So, for myself, I'd rather be a physician practicing WITHIN the scope of my license, than a pharmacist practicing outside it.
As for the other considerations I listed, you might be surprised at which ones refer to which profession. I deliberately didn't specify, for the reasons stated in my quote above.
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"This other point that keeps popping up, but you guys never seem to wanna address is: A lot of the time the pharmacist will get first crack at the pt. They come to me, before they go to their doc. Once again, people don't like doctor visits. They don't enjoy spending their time and money in an office. Pts will come to a pharmacist and when the pharmacist tells them they need to see the doc they go. Like it or not, that's the reality, particularly in underserved areas. So don't give me any garbage about who's making decisions."
-- posted by triangulation
Well said. ANYONE (including patients, pharmacists, md, do, relatives, nurses, pharmacy interns/students, environmental service staff, pharmacy techs, nursing students, radiology techs, social workers, medical students, store managers, etc. ) who gives input into a patient's care for the better of the patient is involved in the decision process that the healthcare TEAM shares.
Yes, in every decision regarding a patient's care, there is a heirarchy, but whoever is at the top for each decision should be willing to be flexible when someone else has a better idea.
And pharmacists, thank goodness, are the most accesible health care professional and give countless non-reimbursed hours of good advice to their patients every month.
I know this off the scope of the OP, but hopefully contributes to the discussion that developed.
-- posted by triangulation
Well said. ANYONE (including patients, pharmacists, md, do, relatives, nurses, pharmacy interns/students, environmental service staff, pharmacy techs, nursing students, radiology techs, social workers, medical students, store managers, etc. ) who gives input into a patient's care for the better of the patient is involved in the decision process that the healthcare TEAM shares.
Yes, in every decision regarding a patient's care, there is a heirarchy, but whoever is at the top for each decision should be willing to be flexible when someone else has a better idea.
And pharmacists, thank goodness, are the most accesible health care professional and give countless non-reimbursed hours of good advice to their patients every month.
I know this off the scope of the OP, but hopefully contributes to the discussion that developed.
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i know this reply is a little late but i just saw this thread last night and wanted to respond to prettymean and suey...i know you guys got tons of responses regarding med vs pharmacy but i still wanted to put my two cents in since i was in your situation about 3 years ago. Sorry in advanced for the loooooooong reply...
Suey, look, if you are worried about the application process to med school being stressful then maybe it's just not for you cuz that's barely the tip of the iceberg. Med school is so awful that the student must be so fully committed and psyched that this is what he/she really truly wants. otherwise, seriously, it's not worth all the pain. In fact even for those who were sure that medicine was the one and only career path for them say that if they had a chance to do it all over again, they wouldn't. they would do either pharmacy or dental or even something completely different like engineering, law, or MBA.
MCAT is tough but nothing at all compared to what lies ahead. You have to be psyched and really want this or else you won't have the drive to get through all the crap that med school throws at you. And it's ok if you are not up for that. In fact you will probably be much better off and live a happier life. Medicine is a wonderful and extremely respectful profession but for a very good reason---it's hard!!!
Prettymean, great job on MCAT. But again, you gotta really want to do medicine in order to sacrifice so much of you life. You guys, shadowing a pharmacist is a great idea. But as someone else already mentioned, you will not get much out of shadowing a doctor cuz you are not seeing what they had to go through to get there. So instead, TALK to doctors. forget shadowing them. Talk to residents especially, and 3rd and 4th year med students and get their honest opinion. ask them about boards. ask them about rotations. ask them if they would do it over again. you'll see exactly what i mean.
thanks for reading all this and i hope it helps.
Suey, look, if you are worried about the application process to med school being stressful then maybe it's just not for you cuz that's barely the tip of the iceberg. Med school is so awful that the student must be so fully committed and psyched that this is what he/she really truly wants. otherwise, seriously, it's not worth all the pain. In fact even for those who were sure that medicine was the one and only career path for them say that if they had a chance to do it all over again, they wouldn't. they would do either pharmacy or dental or even something completely different like engineering, law, or MBA.
MCAT is tough but nothing at all compared to what lies ahead. You have to be psyched and really want this or else you won't have the drive to get through all the crap that med school throws at you. And it's ok if you are not up for that. In fact you will probably be much better off and live a happier life. Medicine is a wonderful and extremely respectful profession but for a very good reason---it's hard!!!
Prettymean, great job on MCAT. But again, you gotta really want to do medicine in order to sacrifice so much of you life. You guys, shadowing a pharmacist is a great idea. But as someone else already mentioned, you will not get much out of shadowing a doctor cuz you are not seeing what they had to go through to get there. So instead, TALK to doctors. forget shadowing them. Talk to residents especially, and 3rd and 4th year med students and get their honest opinion. ask them about boards. ask them about rotations. ask them if they would do it over again. you'll see exactly what i mean.
thanks for reading all this and i hope it helps.
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lilmk, I couldn't have put it better myself. All this fighting back and forth is unnecessary. Both professions are great. What it all comes down to is...for which career are you willing to sacrifice. Don't get me wrong, I know that pharmacy is no cakewalk. But medicine is extremely stressful. The amount of pressure and stress that is placed upon you is crazy. I have an excellent GPA and I know that I would do well in medical school and would have no problem getting in. It just wasn't for me. I couldn't deal. I didn't have the passion for it anymore. (I give mad props to all the med students out there cause it is rough) I began looking at other careers in the health field. I talked to my uncle who is a retired retail pharmacist. He opened my eyes to the field. I know now that pharmacy is what I what to pursue. Sure, there is stress, but I am willing to do what it takes to succeed.
So what I am trying to say is simply this, it is not about what profession is better than the other (cause obviously a doctor will think his/her job is the best job there is while a pharmacist would probably disagree) Because by definition there is no good or bad job. It's all comes down to which job will make you happy. Which job are you willing to put hours and hours of work into? Because ultimately in the end, it doesn't matter which job is more prestigious, who gets paid more, who has the most power and makes the decisions. What is important is what career you are willing to spend the rest of your life doing. For me it is pharmacy! Medicine is great, but I have a lot of reasons why I choose not to pursue it (I won't go into it because I don't want to sound like I am knocking the medical profession). You have to make that decision for yourself. You can?t make that kind of a choice based on the bickering and fighting going on in this thread. You are the only one who has to live with this decision, no one else. So all this arguing must stop because I think it is childish to argue over this. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. No profession is perfect. Pharmacy has flaws and Medicine has flaws. I do however think it is wrong to come on a PharmD board and degrade it. That's just not right. Please show some respect!
So what I am trying to say is simply this, it is not about what profession is better than the other (cause obviously a doctor will think his/her job is the best job there is while a pharmacist would probably disagree) Because by definition there is no good or bad job. It's all comes down to which job will make you happy. Which job are you willing to put hours and hours of work into? Because ultimately in the end, it doesn't matter which job is more prestigious, who gets paid more, who has the most power and makes the decisions. What is important is what career you are willing to spend the rest of your life doing. For me it is pharmacy! Medicine is great, but I have a lot of reasons why I choose not to pursue it (I won't go into it because I don't want to sound like I am knocking the medical profession). You have to make that decision for yourself. You can?t make that kind of a choice based on the bickering and fighting going on in this thread. You are the only one who has to live with this decision, no one else. So all this arguing must stop because I think it is childish to argue over this. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. No profession is perfect. Pharmacy has flaws and Medicine has flaws. I do however think it is wrong to come on a PharmD board and degrade it. That's just not right. Please show some respect!
