Hello,
I'm considering a career in pharmacy but I have some questions and concerns. I can be very absent minded sometimes, and I don't know if I trust myself with the health of other people. I feel like I might give somebody the wrong medicine or forget about another medication a person is taking.
Are physician prescriptions usually very hard to read? Do you have to call the physicians a lot and say "what the heck did you write on this prescription?" What if the physician is unavailable? Is considering any harmful effects of mixing two medicines a pretty straight forward process? I mean, the physician prescribed it, so he should have determined that it's safe to take it already, right?
Also, where's a better place to work? In a hospital, or in a retail store like CVS or walgreens? I've heard that it can get pretty busy in drug stores, filling like 500 prescriptions per day. One person said that he works 12 hour days and often doesn't even get to eat or go to the bathroom during his shift. Is this sort of thing common? I hear drug stores also complicate things for pharmacists by offering to call the doctors office for a patients refills, accepting coupons or transfer customers from other stores, and discouraging prescription counseling because it takes too much time.
What's the hardest part about being a pharmacist? Are prescription mix ups common? How easy or hard is it to avoid them?
I don't need every single question answered but hopefully you get the idea of what I'm asking. I'm just very concerned about making mistakes in this line of work because of my air headed-ness.
I'm considering a career in pharmacy but I have some questions and concerns. I can be very absent minded sometimes, and I don't know if I trust myself with the health of other people. I feel like I might give somebody the wrong medicine or forget about another medication a person is taking.
Are physician prescriptions usually very hard to read? Do you have to call the physicians a lot and say "what the heck did you write on this prescription?" What if the physician is unavailable? Is considering any harmful effects of mixing two medicines a pretty straight forward process? I mean, the physician prescribed it, so he should have determined that it's safe to take it already, right?
Also, where's a better place to work? In a hospital, or in a retail store like CVS or walgreens? I've heard that it can get pretty busy in drug stores, filling like 500 prescriptions per day. One person said that he works 12 hour days and often doesn't even get to eat or go to the bathroom during his shift. Is this sort of thing common? I hear drug stores also complicate things for pharmacists by offering to call the doctors office for a patients refills, accepting coupons or transfer customers from other stores, and discouraging prescription counseling because it takes too much time.
What's the hardest part about being a pharmacist? Are prescription mix ups common? How easy or hard is it to avoid them?
I don't need every single question answered but hopefully you get the idea of what I'm asking. I'm just very concerned about making mistakes in this line of work because of my air headed-ness.
