pharmacy in Taiwan

[LasagnaBoy]

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Hi,

Does anyone know about the pharmacy system in Taiwan? As in, would an American PharmD be able to practice there? Also, what is the pay like in Taiwan?

Was just interested in possible options of going abroad if I get a PharmD.

 

[drgunn82]

I don't think PharmD is required for entry level pharmacist job. In fact, pharmacy school is 2-3 years after high school. Pharmacy system and health care system is very different over there. Don't think PharmD will be any useful in a clinical setting. Just curious, are you planning to move there after pharm school?

 

[LasagnaBoy]

Thanks. I was thinking about moving there. If I do, it wouldn't be until having practiced pharmacy in the states for a few years. But I don't think I will be moving there anymore if what you say is true. If pharmacy school is just 3 years after high school, then I don't imagine a pharmacists' pay being anywhere near comparable to American pharmacists' pay.

 

[prlester]

do you know any info about u.s. pharmds practicing overseas?

 

[Keppra]

I actually go back to Taiwan to visit relatives every year and each time I go to Taiwan, I frequent a pharmacy there since I always seems to come down with a cold, insomnia, etc. To tell you the truth, I don't think there is a system for pharmacists in Taiwan. I'm not sure what the academic requirements are over there but talking to family and friends there, they seem to look down upon pharmacists since they don't really make a substantial salary and it's not a well-respected profession over there. I think pharmacists over there are just fresh grads from college and they are trained minimally on medications.

For example, my mom had a fungal nail infection and she went to the pharmacy over there and the pharmacist gave her a month supply of oral ketaconazole. The thing with oral antifungals is that it takes a long time to clear nail infections, plus it may cause hepatotoxicity if not monitored. Regardless, the pharmacist told my mom she cold take it as a long-term regimen. I was shocked when my mom came home with the medication. I told her to refund it immediately.

Another example was when my dad was in Taiwan and he sprained his ankle. We went to the pharmacy and the pharmacist gave him ketorolac for inflammation, and get this, he also have my dad amoxicillin with clavulanate!!! I asked them why the antibiotics when he was at no risk whatsoever for infection when he only got a sprained ankle, no open sores, nothing. Then I questioned why he was giving my dad ketorolac as an NSAID when there were others with a better safety profile. Basically, in the end, I had a HUGE fight with the pharmacist. It was bad.

So if you do decide to practice pharmacy in Taiwan, you do have your work cut out for you. First off, they are paid very less and second off, the don't really understand pharmacotherapy well over there. However, if you decide to practice there, best of luck to you. If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me.

 

[gaku]

I heard they do need clinical pharmacist in Taiwan( according to doctors from big hospitals). However, they can't find adequate people to do this job because they don't have enough pharmD. The pay is less compare to here but compare to the average income over there is pretty good. Maybe the pay will be higher for PharmaD due to supply and demand.🙂

I think maybe you can call several big hospitals in Taiwan to check out the options before making your decision.

 

[drgunn82]

I heard they do need clinical pharmacist in Taiwan( according to doctors from big hospitals). However, they can't find adequate people to do this job because they don't have enough pharmD. The pay is less compare to here but compare to the average income over there is pretty good. Maybe the pay will be higher for PharmaD due to supply and demand.🙂

I think maybe you can call several big hospitals in Taiwan to check out the options before making your decision.

your salary is going to be lower for sure. cost of living, at the same time, is lower too.

 

[SCCpharm]

do you know any info about u.s. pharmds practicing overseas?

I've been to the philippines and the pharmacists there are paid very little. I asked why and a friend told me that they are just paying people to be behind the counter and hand out the pre-packaged pills and they don't really need formal education for that.

 

[Avrelian]

standing behind the counter even in pharmacy doesnt pay very well anywhere in the world. Pharmacy technicians here in states are another example. Some of them make even less than a grocery clerk in front of them.

 

[coolslugs]

http://www.jecm-online.com/article/S1878-3317(12)00098-8/fulltext

 

[gwarm01]

I spent a month in southern Taiwan at a large medical university for one of my 4th year rotations. From my experiences I would say a US PharmD would find practicing pharmacy in Taiwan to be very unfulfilling. To echo what others have said, the level of education is far different and the expectations of the profession along with it. The university I attended had speculated about changing to a six year program, but the dean really didn't think it was necessary.

The community pharmacies actually didn't seem to carry many traditional drugs. Sure, you could get a prescription filled, but even in the large chain that I visited their stock was limited. They seemed more interested in selling herbal teas, cosmetics, and baby diapers (they made a point to tell me the diapers are their biggest seller).

I got the impression that many people filled their prescriptions at the hospital's outpatient pharmacy. Speaking of which, the pharmacy seemed much more like an assembly line. Pharmacists filled massive amounts of prescriptions and dispensed them to patients, who would get their counseling and drug information by scanning a label at a computer in the lobby. The culture of pharmacy, even in the hospital, was that you did not (or could not) question a doctor's orders. They shared tales like that of a pharmacist dispensing a non-specific beta-blocker to a severe asthmatic, who ended up dying when their rescue inhaler became ineffective. The pharmacist was fully aware of the danger, but would not speak up.

I was told the pay would be equivalent to about 30-40k in the US. Someone mentioned earlier that the cost of living was lower, and I would say that is true based on the food prices. However, housing was a giant issue. Everyone lived in tiny, cramped apartments. No one had a kitchen, which might be why there were so many affordable street vendors. Many of the pharmacy students I met were interested in continuing their education by doing PhD research.

This was just my impression from visiting for a month. I can't say whether or not my experiences were indicative of the country as a whole. It was a lovely place to visit with many great people, but I could not imagine practicing pharmacy there after having been a pharmacist in the United States.

 

[boriqua]

taiwan is a nice place to visit (preferably in the winter for me) but a nightmare to live in. the humidity there is year round and you can be soaked in sweat just from walking down the block. in the summertime, you need to stay indoors with the AC blasting, period or you will boil. lots of typhoons, strong winds, rain, random earthquakes, etc. In general, it is an incredibly tiny country too and most apartments i've been in anyways have been cramped.
in short, great place to visit and party and experience the night life, but i can never imagine living there every single day for the rest of my life, i would probably sweat myself to nothing which also probably explains why everyone is so skinny over there.
as for the pharmacy stuff, their system is kinda like how ours was pre-1980's they are pretty much just professional pill distributors. not too much education needed and don't have to worry if the doctor is killing the patient or not. salary is about 40k which is actually pretty good by TW standards. put it this way, a pack of cigarettes there is less than 30 NT dollars which is equivalent to about 95 cents. would cost 15 bucks here in NY.

 

[aussiepharmer]

taiwan is a nice place to visit (preferably in the winter for me) but a nightmare to live in. the humidity there is year round and you can be soaked in sweat just from walking down the block. in the summertime, you need to stay indoors with the AC blasting, period or you will boil. lots of typhoons, strong winds, rain, random earthquakes, etc. In general, it is an incredibly tiny country too and most apartments i've been in anyways have been cramped.
in short, great place to visit and party and experience the night life, but i can never imagine living there every single day for the rest of my life, i would probably sweat myself to nothing which also probably explains why everyone is so skinny over there.
as for the pharmacy stuff, their system is kinda like how ours was pre-1980's they are pretty much just professional pill distributors. not too much education needed and don't have to worry if the doctor is killing the patient or not. salary is about 40k which is actually pretty good by TW standards. put it this way, a pack of cigarettes there is less than 30 NT dollars which is equivalent to about 95 cents. would cost 15 bucks here in NY.

The 40k is in US dollars or in Taiwanese currency??

 

[Rx_Leo]

The 40k is in US dollars or in Taiwanese currency??

Probably in USD. I had friends in Taiwan with BSPharm and the annual salary pay in the hospital is only 35K/yr before bonus. Keep in mind though, the cost of living is lower in Taiwan.

Still, if one went through the US PharmD training and graduated with student loan..., she/he probably wanna make more than 35K/yr 🙂 OP should just stay in the US and visit Taiwan for vacation while making 100-120K here!

 

[panasoniku]

I had several students in my class that were from Taiwan that were seeking the PharmD and planned to go back to Taiwan with it. Not sure why, but there must be a need for a PharmD.

 

[SpartanLaser]

I would love to go there. I heard pharmacy working conditions are much better there. Sadly....I can only speak chinese and not read or write

 

[fewaopi]

I imagine the job situation is worse there than it is here.

It's a small island w/20 million people...how many pharmacists do you need? They have their own schools and graduates so I imagine it's pretty tough on them.

The 30-40K in USD sounds about right and cost of living is cheaper. Food is great. Lifestyle is great. It beats living in US suburbs for sure imo. Most places in developed Asia kinda are. Problem is the money. Even w/the lower COL, the salary is so low, and rent/housing can be really expensive.

Pharmacists in other countries don't do much of anything. And they probably have to know some of the traditional herbal medicines that are there.

 

[xiphoid2010]

I actually go back to Taiwan to visit relatives every year and each time I go to Taiwan, I frequent a pharmacy there since I always seems to come down with a cold, insomnia, etc. To tell you the truth, I don't think there is a system for pharmacists in Taiwan. I'm not sure what the academic requirements are over there but talking to family and friends there, they seem to look down upon pharmacists since they don't really make a substantial salary and it's not a well-respected profession over there. I think pharmacists over there are just fresh grads from college and they are trained minimally on medications.

For example, my mom had a fungal nail infection and she went to the pharmacy over there and the pharmacist gave her a month supply of oral ketaconazole. The thing with oral antifungals is that it takes a long time to clear nail infections, plus it may cause hepatotoxicity if not monitored. Regardless, the pharmacist told my mom she cold take it as a long-term regimen. I was shocked when my mom came home with the medication. I told her to refund it immediately.

Another example was when my dad was in Taiwan and he sprained his ankle. We went to the pharmacy and the pharmacist gave him ketorolac for inflammation, and get this, he also have my dad amoxicillin with clavulanate!!! I asked them why the antibiotics when he was at no risk whatsoever for infection when he only got a sprained ankle, no open sores, nothing. Then I questioned why he was giving my dad ketorolac as an NSAID when there were others with a better safety profile. Basically, in the end, I had a HUGE fight with the pharmacist. It was bad.

So if you do decide to practice pharmacy in Taiwan, you do have your work cut out for you. First off, they are paid very less and second off, the don't really understand pharmacotherapy well over there. However, if you decide to practice there, best of luck to you. If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me.

sorry, be it mainland or taiwam, western medicine is going to be against the wind. US is going to be the harbor that you will make the most money per effort compared to most of the would for your degree. If you are eye ballinging taiwan, look to combine traditional chinese medicine (TCM) with western medicine. There will problem with unregulated TCM and westerm medicine sydicate regardless. It's not easy money if that's what you are thinking of.

 

[nLua]

I've been to the philippines and the pharmacists there are paid very little. I asked why and a friend told me that they are just paying people to be behind the counter and hand out the pre-packaged pills and they don't really need formal education for that.

I'm a foreign grad from the Philippines. Not sure if intended since you heard it from a friend but I kinda found that offensive. Sure the pay is low but it's because the service sector is not compensated as well as in other economies. And they do have a pharmd program as well.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[aussiepharmer]

Probably in USD. I had friends in Taiwan with BSPharm and the annual salary pay in the hospital is only 35K/yr before bonus. Keep in mind though, the cost of living is lower in Taiwan.

Still, if one went through the US PharmD training and graduated with student loan..., she/he probably wanna make more than 35K/yr 🙂 OP should just stay in the US and visit Taiwan for vacation while making 100-120K here!

According to the information below, pharmacy graduates are required to complete the internship before taking the pharmacy license exam :

http://dusseldorf.fip.org/files/static/PZ_-_and_Tony_Tarn_EN.pdf

http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/main/ExamLaws/wHandLaws_File.ashx?Laws_id=109&serial_no=1

Are international pharmacy graduates required to do the intern only in Taiwanese Mandarin? Is there really no alternative, like doing the internship in English?

 

[BidingMyTime]

Are international pharmacy graduates required to do the intern only in Taiwanese Mandarin? Is there really no alternative, like doing the internship in English?

Why wouldn't they be? Foreign pharmacy grads coming to the US have to do so many hours to apply to get licensed in the US. Don't you think someone working in a country, should be familiar with pharmacy practice in that country & able to speak the language in that country?