Retail to VA?

[Somatic]

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I always see ads in pharmacy magazines about some pharmacist that went from working retail to the VA. Does anyone know if the VA hires pharmacists that have been working retail for clinical positions? I was always planning on doing a residency and definitely have very good credentials but I was offered a retail job and the starting pay is very tempting. I hate the idea of doing a residency. I feel very qualified already to work a clinical job but I know that no one will hire me without a residency, straight out of school. I'm just wondering if I work retail for a few years if I will have a chance of getting a clinical job at the VA later on?

I'm very scared about the future of retail. I worked with a pharmacist last night that said retail pharmacist wages will drop drastically over the next 10 years until they will be basically making tech wages. Oh and of course automation is going to make retail pharmacists go extinct within 10 years as well.

What does everyone think?

 

[DYSF777]

I worked with a pharmacist last night that said retail pharmacist wages will drop drastically over the next 10 years until they will be basically making tech wages. Oh and of course automation is going to make retail pharmacists go extinct within 10 years as well.

If you truly believe this then you are certainly not qualified for a clinical position. Generally speaking, your average resident is not this delusional.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I work for the VA. I'd be surprised to see a retail pharmacist go directly into a clinical specialist position, especially if they didn't have residency training. We've hired a few retail/LTC pharmacists, but they were hired for staff positions (inpatient and outpatient).

 

[hckyplyr]

I'm very scared about the future of retail. I worked with a pharmacist last night that said retail pharmacist wages will drop drastically over the next 10 years until they will be basically making tech wages. Oh and of course automation is going to make retail pharmacists go extinct within 10 years as well.

What does everyone think?

And what was the reason the pharmacist thought that? Pharmacists will never make a techs wage, thats ridiculous. Also, automation will never make pharmacists obsolete in the future either. I agree with you to some degree though, I feel wages will obviously come to a hault or crash because of all the new schools opening, causing irreversible damage. Simply supply vs. demand. I forget exactly where I read these statistics, so the numbers may be off a bit. All in all, very disturbing for the future of the profession.
Year:
2000: 82 pharm schools
2005: 92 pharm schools
2010: 128 pharm schools
20 more schools trying to open.

 

[Somatic]

Well he told me that "Obama is trying to get rid of pharmacists" and that the law will change to allow techs to dispense meds. He was an older pharmacist that has obviously been around a while. He said he has seen periods of saturation in his past but this is by far the worst oversupply of pharmacist he has ever seen.

It's so frustrating and ridiculous to see the current number of pharmacy schools. Why can't anyone do anything about it? I think preceptors should tell these schools that are pumping out grads like no other that they refuse to precept students from such schools. If there are no sites available to precept students then they will have to cut back their class sizes. Also, these grads that will be coming out in the next few years will have so much debt and possibly no jobs. Maybe they will default on their loans and schools will be forced to close. I don't see how anyone would go into pharmacy right now since the jobs are already getting scarce and pharmacy school is getting more and more expensive!

 

[Somatic]

People should really look at what they are getting themselves into when they go into pharmacy these days. I know another pharmacist who took out a little over $150 K in student loans for a private pharm school. He graduated 10 years ago and is still making huge payments on his student loans due to interest. One of the technicians actually makes the same take home amount of money as this pharmacist considering the payments the pharmacist is making to pay back his loans.

 

[Allure]

People should really look at what they are getting themselves into when they go into pharmacy these days. I know another pharmacist who took out a little over $150 K in student loans for a private pharm school. He graduated 10 years ago and is still making huge payments on his student loans due to interest. One of the technicians actually makes the same take home amount of money as this pharmacist considering the payments the pharmacist is making to pay back his loans.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. An average pharmacy student takes out about $100K, give or take. Most private loan lenders want their money back within 10-15 years. If the interest is around 6%, in 10 years, they would make around 50K in interest. An average monthly payment is probably around $1500. How is it that a technician makes around $10 have the same take home as a pharmacist who makes around $50 an hour? If a pharmacist takes home $5000 a month - $1500 student loan = $3500 is still a lot more than what a tech brings home. Unless this technician makes a lot more money an average tech.

 

[DYSF777]

Well he told me that "Obama is trying to get rid of pharmacists" and that the law will change to allow techs to dispense meds.

I'm ashamed that pharmacy school admission standards have become so lax. 👎

 

[MountainPharmD]

I'm very scared about the future of retail. I worked with a pharmacist last night that said retail pharmacist wages will drop drastically over the next 10 years until they will be basically making tech wages. Oh and of course automation is going to make retail pharmacists go extinct within 10 years as well.

What does everyone think?

If you are scared about the future of retail pharmacy then you are scared about the future of the whole profession. The majority of pharmacists work retail. What happens to retail will effect all of us. Your Nostradamus Pharmacist friend is delusional if he thinks retail Pharmacist salaries will drop while hospital Pharmacists will not. Things are getting tight in hospital pharmacy as well. Who gets hours cut first when the census drops? Its not the Nurses and Doctors its the Pharmacists. A Hospital can run without a Pharmacist. A retail pharmacy cannot even unlock the doors without a Pharmacists.

How will automation make retail pharmacists go extinct? Automation will affect technicians more than it does pharmacists. A Scriptpro takes 25 technician hours away. It doesn't take any Pharmacist hours away.

Pharmacists have likely topped out in salary for awhile. What I have seen is the yearly 3% to 4% pay raises stop as well the criteria for bonuses get much harder to meet.

 

[hckyplyr]

edit

 

[hckyplyr]

If you are scared about the future of retail pharmacy then you are scared about the future of the whole profession. The majority of pharmacists work retail. What happens to retail will effect all of us. Your Nostradamus Pharmacist friend is delusional if he thinks retail Pharmacist salaries will drop while hospital Pharmacists will not. Things are getting tight in hospital pharmacy as well. Who gets hours cut first when the census drops? Its not the Nurses and Doctors its the Pharmacists. A Hospital can run without a Pharmacist. A retail pharmacy cannot even unlock the doors without a Pharmacists.

How will automation make retail pharmacists go extinct? Automation will affect technicians more than it does pharmacists. A Scriptpro takes 25 technician hours away. It doesn't take any Pharmacist hours away.

Pharmacists have likely topped out in salary for awhile. What I have seen is the yearly 3% to 4% pay raises stop as well the criteria for bonuses get much harder to meet.

Really? So who compounds the IV's (chemo, tpa, tpn,emergency meds,peds, nicu,lipids,etc), does clinical interventions, order entry (cpoe is not what it should be yet), refills pyxis machines, doses antibiotics, catches all the errors by doctors, answers questions regarding interactions, iv compatability,flow rates, etc. etc etc. etc. etc.

 

[coffee4drug]

It's so frustrating and ridiculous to see the current number of pharmacy schools. Why can't anyone do anything about it?

Because our profession ain't short of people who have absolutely no sense of commitment to this profession but who are just here to devour as much of the pie as possible before its completely gone. They do not care whether our profession is going down the drain because once pharmacy is totaly screwed they will just wipe their mouths and walk away from the table to take a dump.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I'm just wondering if I work retail for a few years if I will have a chance of getting a clinical job at the VA later on?

No. There will be plenty of residency trained graduates coming out, why would they hire a retail pharmacist? I was asking a VA pharmacist about this topic not too long back when I was asking about residencies and he mentioned that their hospital/CBOCs had not hired a non residency trained pharmacists in a few years.

It is a tough job market out there, best thing you can do is standout amongst your peers through networking and acquiring the proper training for the positions you desire.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

I worked with a pharmacist last night that said retail pharmacist wages will drop drastically over the next 10 years until they will be basically making tech wages. Oh and of course automation is going to make retail pharmacists go extinct within 10 years as well.

What does everyone think?

Did that pharmacist happen to be rxforlife?

 

[Samus2008]

🙂

Did that pharmacist happen to be rxforlife?

I got accepted to pharmacy school and I'm so excited to be part of all the great pharmacists I read about in here. YAY!

I think anyone who doesn't want to be in pharmacy should get out to make room for me. I don't care how much debt, family, circumstances you have please GTFO. Thank you. I feel bad for your familys who have to deal with your misery daily.🙂

 

[naseuy]

Well he told me that "Obama is trying to get rid of pharmacists"

That's probably when you should have stopped listening.