OMNICARE..Any Pharmacists working for them out there?

[Karisma23]

Hey all,
I was recently offered a second shift job as a dispensing Pharmacist for Omincare. It's Monday-Friday with no weekends. Sounds great right? I don't know what to do. I have heard some crazy things about them from other pharmacists. I don't know anyone that actually works for the company but I've heard things. I think LTC would be interesting since I"ve never even gotten close. I have a consultant license also and would like to work my way up to becoming a consultant pharmacist for them but just needed other opinions.

Thank you kindly Have a great day!

PS: I know some of you are Hospital pharmacist and managers etc, but would you hire a pharmacist who worked in a LTC pharmacy for your hospital pharmacy? I am hearing a lot of hospitals down in my area won't hire a retail pharmacist for their hospital but what about a LTC pharmacist? THANKS

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[WVUPharm2007]

The monthly consulting thing might be ok....but unless you like the idea of scanning barcodes on little white boxes endlessly, I'd look elsewhere.

 

[genesis09]

I'm thinking about doing a rotation there next year. I've talked to a pharmacist working there. To get into the pure consulting jobs, you either should work for them for a while or do a residency.

 

[pharmacogenomic]

I don't work for Omnicare nor know anyone who does.

But, I am very familiar with hospital work. Working for LTC doesn't give you anymore experience than working at your local corner drugstore. In fact - it gives you probably less when considering you for acute hospital work.

Why? - ok LTC pharmacy is "closed door" - that means, no interaction with the public (within hospitals our public is the prescribers, nurses, techs - cardiac cath/rads/, therapists). With LTC, you don't get any of that. Someone is always accepting the referral, going over the orders with the acute discharge person (maybe a nurse manager, but could also be social services). Everything has been stabilized prior to discharge, so all you need to do is fill the orders.

Sometimes, more acute situations come up in LTC, but they are ususally handled by the intake nurse/pharmacist. On a rare, very rare circumstance, the order will require intervention by the pharmacist. But, that doesn't often happen nor will it go on too long because you need the right kind of nursing at the other end to facilitate it (think pain management).

So, a pharmacist in LTC, particularly second shift, will be doing that bar code scanning WVU spoke about. Perhaps compounding some bizarre & probably not actually needed oral or topical.

If you get far enough, you'll do monthly chart reviews. Here you are just making sure the facility is in compliance with state & federal rules with regard to old orders being discontinued, not using chemical restraints unless properly documented, limiting sleepers & pain meds, etc...

As someone who sometimes people who want to work in a hospital setting, I need to see you be able to "shift gears" fast - can you do an ICU trauma admit with all those orders quickly, get a streptokinase made & sent to cath lab & get that aminoglycoside dose calculated, mixed & delivered so it can be given within 30 minutes of the order?

See where LTC doesn't function that way? Retail does, but with a different set of scenarios.

So, if ultimately you want to try acute hospital pharmacy, you need to get into that. There is a thread somewhere on here. If you want to take this job at the LTC place for stability, do it & use your weekends to be on-call in a hospital. We are getting to the holidays & people want weekends off. Get in, get trained (you can do this in the AM if you work second shift) & be willing to take crappy shifts in a hospital to prove what you can do. Yeah - its hard, but doable!