Pharmacy RN to PharmD

[BC_89]

So I am having a dilemma I hope you would be able to provide insight on. Currently I have a BSN and have been practicing as an RN for over 3 years. I really dislike my job and have no interest in doing bedside nursing or going back to school for any advanced nursing degree. I have completed all of my prepharm prerequisites and have been accepted to attend my dream school this upcoming August. However as the time approaches I am becoming stressed about ending with almost 300k in loans. My end goal would be to work in regulatory affairs and I was planning to do a dual degree PharmD/MS reg affairs. Am I crazy for even thinking about going into that much debt? At the moment all of my undergrad loans are paid for and I have no debt. I have always wanted to become a pharmacist but the job market and some of my friends who have recently graduated are scaring me with the amount of debt and inability to secure jobs. However they are not interested in the same pharmacy sector as myself. They all want clinical or retail.

Concerning your debt: I highly advise against taking out 300k in student loans that will only capitalize in interest month after month while in school. A Regulatory Affairs job specialist with a pharmD is what is known as a niche or "unicorn" specialty. This simply means the jobs available for this specific uniqueness with your degree is not as common as you may believe. On top of this, many people can get the job title with a bachelors degree in clinical science, engineering, or public health related degrees. If you were to try and apply to a job not tied to the pharmacy niche management, many may not hire you due to being over-qualified or would take you in at a lower salary than what you may need with a 300k debt on your back.


I would suggest following up on the pharmacy job market by simply viewing the pharmacy forums. The market has been talked about so much with saturation and hours being cut that a job market sub-forum has been created to help alleviate the same comments being repeated in different shades of the same color. In short, the market is not ideal for a new student pharmacist with currently no debt looking to take out an additional 300k. I understand you have no desire for an advanced nursing degree, but I would strongly revisit the idea of becoming a Nurse Practitioner with the possibility of working independently in specific regions. With that, after a few more years of experience as a midlevel clinician, you could easily laterally move towards your goal of being a Regulatory Affairs officer with your experience and education in the public health sector.

It will take a long time to put a dent in your soon-to-be-debt. The market may not correct itself in time to give you the job security and hours you'd need to tackle this debt and give you back your career autonomy. Keep with your current job and consider going part time while working on your MS in regulatory affairs. You'll still bring in income while moving towards your goal. Albeit it may be outside the niche specialty you want with a PharmD, you still have the opportunity to perform similar roles while having your money work for you rather than heavy loans beating you down.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lord999]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but have you considered "desk" jobs in nursing like regulatory affairs (I assure you, there are plenty of those) or quality management (JC preparation and such)? They do not require an APRN degree, and in fact, you could possibly get more mileage from an MS Regulatory Affairs (I'm a big fan of the Temple program M.S. in Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance (RAQA) | School of Pharmacy , but I would consider Rutgers the premier one Fundamentals of Regulatory Affairs | Master of Business and Science Degree )

I strongly recommend to search the Pharmacy forum for the Regulatory Affairs and Industry postings in terms of skills needed/desired. I have very strong opinions due to my currently abusive contracting relationship with them as well as surviving two downturns in industry.

Just musing for a bit, but you know, there's actually a field that is so underrepresented for regulatory affairs that I'm surprised that we can't seem to recruit more people into it. It's cosmetics/cosmecuticals and their regulation:

Cincinnati
MS Cosmetic Science and Certificate | James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy

and

Rutgers
Personal Care Science | Master of Business and Science Degree

(Rhode Island is the secret good program, but I doubt you have the analytic chemistry background to get admitted. If I'm wrong, then that program is a secret society for cosmetics.)

I had four pharmacy students that went to those programs, and ended up doing very well for themselves (well, the takehome pay kind of sucks in France for pharmacists (but Sanofi pays for rent in Paris and a very generous expense account and working on dermatology products for cosmetic and cosmeceutical reasons was their deep interest).

What I'm trying to convey is this question?

"What is your end state? Would you like to do pharmacy work even if it pays the same as nursing? Or is it some less public job?" If the former, then by all means, consider pharmacy as someone who is motivated will prevail even in a bad market. If you are looking for a niche job, you already have the basics down in your BS RN to shoot for entertaining graduate programs.

 

[lord999]

I have applied to many jobs as an RN regarding regulatory affairs but all require prior experience or want familiarity with databases I am unaware of. The internships available are only for those currently seeking an advanced degree. I will look into the masters in regulatory affairs as I see that as a stepping stone into the career I want but with significantly less debt if none at all. Many programs are online (I looked up Temple) and I would still be able to work and then possibly land an internship.
I ultimately want to do pharmacy and feel I would be more happy. But financially I would feel stressed. It seems like I have more research to do. Thank you for your help!

That's partly why you do the MS. I don't presume to know where you work, but I would recommend changing jobs to a more bureaucratic hospital system (Catholic Healthcare, the local Academic Health Center, or something like the VA) which has a more sustainable budget for RA/QA to get some exposure to those databases.

Now, if you do want to practice as a pharmacist, know that there is quite a bit of patient contact (and even moreso with respect to institutional clinical pharmacy) that is actually more frustrating than being a nurse at times. If you really want to do regulatory affairs, I would remain an RN and just specialize further in it. Also, depending on your family situation, consider taking an entry job at the FDA or CMS as a nurse, they do not require advanced degrees beyond BS RN for the junior levels, but you would get the contacts and experience necessary to parley into another sort of job. Ultimately though with the credential games in nursing, you will need to pursue higher education sometime.