Outpatient Pharmacy Military Base

[rphpharmd14]

Hi everyone! I am currently in retail pharmacy, but am curious about how life is working in the outpatient pharmacy at a military base? The pharmacy I've got my eye on in closed on weekends and holidays, which would be nice. But is it more/less stressful than regular retail? The script volume is huge, which makes me wonder if it will be just as stressful as retail. Thanks for any information about your experience you can provide!

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[hurx]

Since no one has replied I will answer with my very limited knowledge. I was interested in military pharmacy for a little while but I wanted to become a commissioned officer, not a civilian working on a military base so I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes.

One of my professors was a retired military pharmacist and he said that laws are different on base and pharmacy techs are allowed to dispense. Therefore, he didn't spend all of his time in the pharmacy, it gave him a lot of time to run different programs like smoking cessation or whatever he felt was needed. You also don't necessarily have to be concerned with insurance. So with those 2 things, the high script volume seems more manageable.

I also spent a day shadowing a Coast Guard pharmacist. He also verified that techs could dispense, especially because nationally the Coast Guard only has ~17 pharmacists. Each pharmacist is in charge of several pharmacies. So while he was in charge of about 7 pharmacies, he can clearly only be at one of those at a time. And he spent less than 15 minutes that day in the actual pharmacy. He went out to counsel one patient and then went back into his office in the back of the pharmacy. He said his job is basically all administrative.

 

[Corytrade]

Hi everyone! I am currently in retail pharmacy, but am curious about how life is working in the outpatient pharmacy at a military base? The pharmacy I've got my eye on in closed on weekends and holidays, which would be nice. But is it more/less stressful than regular retail? The script volume is huge, which makes me wonder if it will be just as stressful as retail. Thanks for any information about your experience you can provide!

Are they hiring? You say you have your eye on the pharmacy, but it's not like you just walk in there and take an application. What makes a military pharmacy more stressful can be the patients. Even though they get their meds free, they can easily become upset at waiting (nothing new if you are in retail), especially if they need to return to their duty section ASAP. Other stresses can be programs that pharmacists are in charge of and base exercises, but as a civilian you probably wont be involved in those.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

Walk in and talk to one of the pharmacists

 

[CUninja]

Depends on the base, honestly. And the pharmacy officer in charge.

 

[Topcat15]

I was a pharmacy tech in the military. My base filled anywhere from 500-1500 prescriptions per day, but we had a lot of automation and were usually well-staffed. Our base did a lot of tech-check-tech and, as already mentioned, the techs can dispense, so if a pharmacist was getting swamped, we had techs who could jump in from other stations to help out. Most bases also have Red Cross Volunteers at the pick-up and/or drop-off window to help out. It was busy, but I felt like our patients were (overall) more polite and patient than the general public. Also, there was no insurance to deal with. And the schedule was very nice.

PM me if you have any specific questions I can answer.

 

[rxcatlady]

I will let you know! I am starting as a civilian in one next month. From what I understand, stresses and work environments vary from base to base, although protocols are the same.