Staffing Director of Pharmacy Psych Hospital (outsourced) VS Critical Care

[WorkingPerson]

Please help my all my pharmacy friends. I don't know what to choose. What would you each choose? Which is a better career move?

1. Money wise - the staffing director position is 40k extra per year
- I'm concerned that it is not really a director job but really a staffing job with additional director
responsibilities
(is this good? Will this take me to the next level?)
- Will I loose my clinical skills since it's psych? Also will I have time to perform clinical duties?
- Working as an outsourced department. Is this negative or positive?
2. With my current job (critical care) and PRN I can cut my looses to 20k per year
- Is that decrease in pay worth it?
- My current work is stimulating, team oriented and very positive work environment (critical care at small hospital and PRN at big hospital)
- No director promotion availability unless I relocate to another location

Please help. Any advice/insight will be greatly appreciated!!

Does anyone have any experience working in an outsourced department. If so, please assist!

My gut says the company is cheap and the work load will be unmanageable
I also have a family and kids.

Thanks in advance for any responses
I appreciate it!

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[Xarelto-10]

Please help my all my pharmacy friends. I don't know what to choose. What would you each choose? Which is a better career move?

I do work for a pharmacy management company in a psych hospital where they manage its pharmacy. So I kind of know what you are referring to but I also want to say my experience and opinion remains mine.

1. Money wise - the staffing director position is 40k extra per year
- I'm concerned that it is not really a director job but really a staffing job with additional director
responsibilities
(is this good? Will this take me to the next level?)

Yes the PIC at the facility usually works with just 1 Tech. M-F 9-5 type of schedule. Weekends and holidays are covered by PT RPHs. Typically these pharmacies are open 5 hrs weekends and holidays.
I did filin lots of weekday shifts tooo and know the typical day for the PIC. They have to be able to do basic pharmacist duty and administrative work at the same time. You can be scheduled for P&T committee meeting, nursing fair, JC planning, etc you drop what you’re doing and go attend such meetings.
So yes you will get a managerial type fundamental experiences but I’m not sure to what extent that experience can be extrapolated to potential future DOP positions you aspire towards. But definitely you’d be a head of most with no exposure to such unique combination.
- Will I loose my clinical skills since it's psych? Also will I have time to perform clinical duties?

No and Yes. No because people with psych issues have the same acute and chronic diseases like the general population. They are continued with their chronic meds while at psych hospitals.
Yes...because ( at least for me) the plat form this particular company provides doesn’t allow for RPH to view labs or progress notes. Most are still paper based documentation.
There are definitely opportunities for intervention but it remains very basic and tedious.
However you’d gain a significant skill set in psych med management and innovations. That’s a new and added skill set to you with your experience in acute care already.
- Working as an outsourced department. Is this negative or positive?

Depends. As a PIC you’re the face of the company and a bridge between he facility and the company. Depending how well established the place is, you’d have to put lots of hours and effort in establishing and making sure policies are followed for an efficient operation. There is definitely an expectation of ROI from the facility as far as making sure you’re meeting certain performance, budget, regulatory, and quality standards the facility wants to achieve through your precense there.
2. With my current job (critical care) and PRN I can cut my looses to 20k per year
- Is that decrease in pay worth it?
- My current work is stimulating, team oriented and very positive work environment (critical care at small hospital and PRN at big hospital)

Well given the info I provided above you need to do some soul searching. There are also several factors that you don’t know about the job or the facility and may be you can shade some light after the interview.
Is this a new facility? Why did the precious PIC left? How many Texhs and RPHs will you manage? What do they want to accomplish in the near and long term? Etc
Life is about taking risks friend. Sometimes it’s hard to say but if you’re happy and even being compensated to your liking I feel it is taking a leap in to the unknown.
- No director promotion availability unless I relocate to another location


Please help. Any advice/insight will be greatly appreciated!!

Does anyone have any experience working in an outsourced department. If so, please assist!

My gut says the company is cheap and the work load will be unmanageable
I also have a family and kids.

Thanks in advance for any responses
I appreciate it!

 

[confettiflyer]

“Staffing director” sounds like “here’s two jobs and we’ll pay you an extra $40k”


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[WorkingPerson]

Thank you so much for your response. It has shed some light into this situation and that has been very beneficial.

I am beyond nervous and I am trying to decide how much is risk I am willing to take.

I didn’t look at the perspective about the added experience that I would be gettting in addition to what I currently have. I have just been focused on being too scared to loose my acute footing.

Where can I go from here? What career path does this position take me? What about staying in critical care, where would that take me? Those are the questions I am thinking about.

It’s a new facility so there’s a lot of unknown. I’m hesitant and skeptical. I hope the personalities are better than the impression I have.

Work life balance, happiness, working with good people count. I have that now. Do I want to loose that and will I regret leaving later on in life. Decisions and choices.

Thanks my friend for your response. It’s has been greatly appreciated!

 

[awval999]

Loose vs lose.

Very important to understand the difference.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Obviously, whatever you are working with in your current job, that is what is going to be most familiar to you, and in a sense, yes, you will "lose", some of your current skills. However, if you are aware of that, you can take measures to lessen that loss by staying educated in the areas you aren't working with day to day. Any new job will have a learning curve, any dedicated pharmacist can quickly relearn "lost" areas, when they get a new job.

 

[JustAnotherRph]

I briefly did the director position at a psych facility. It wasn't a bad position, but I finally received my offer from managed care and that is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I still work part time at a psych facility every other weekend.

First and foremost, your main job is order entry. Psych facilities have med dispense machines but nurses can still override meds if an order isn't in. It probably will just be you and a tech and a lot of inventory control and maintenance. I started at a new company and created a P & T Committee, which was fun, but definitely not how I saw my career path.