There is so much stupidity in this thread.
Wrong. There is literally no advantage to being a PharmD/PA over just being a PA. Programs who offer both are taking advantage of people who had too bad of grades to get into a regular stand-alone program. There may be a small market for this, just like there is a market for Caribbean medical schools, but overall there will be very few programs offering a combo PharmD/PA.
This is sad (and the stupidity is in the clinical pharmacists who can't verify orders or check IV's. I get that they might be a little rusty, but it's like riding a bike, they should be able to quickly jump back into it. If they can't, that speaks poorly of their school and residency.
Depends on how many pharmacists die of COVID.
California is the only state where hospitals pharmacists make more than retail pharmacists (because CA is one of the few places where pharmacists are unionized.) Retail salaries have always been higher then hospital, and they always will be. Because retail is almost all *for profit*, and a good portion of hospitals are *non profit*. The only reason hospital salaries are currently as high as they are, is because hospitals had to greatly up their pharmacist salaries during the shortage of the 2000's, in order to get any pharmacists to work for them. It was not uncommon then, to go to a retail interview, get a job offer in writing, show it to management and ask for a raise. Management would never be able to match the retail offer, but they would give across the board raises, because they realize $10 - $15/hr more would cause them to lose a lot of pharmacists.
This is so true! Almost no employer work sponsors pharmacists anymore, because the paperwork isn't worth it unless there is a real need, and there is obviously no need as there is no shortage of pharmacists in the US.
Yeah, I don't think this was ever true. But no chains are sponsoring foreign pharmacists these days, they have stopped sponsoring the ones who were already here and working.
This is true. But the other side of the coin, there are always pharmacists who die young. I can think of several pharmacists I've worked with throughout the years who died young (<50 years.) At least one even in their early 20's. Sure maybe statistically, I'm likely to live to old age and need to retire. But realistically? I don't regret my decision to save a moderate minimum for retire, and enjoy my living in the present.
Umm....you do realize the average PA/NP does not earn that? They are offering that much, because they need them to working with highly infectious patients with minimal protective gear. It's called hazard pay. Sure, they will make bank if they survive it, but some of them are going to die. It's a lottery where the loser gets death, and many people would rather not play the lottery, that is why they have to pay so much to get people to agree to play it.
And as for the OP....like other's have mentioned, what does the coronavirus have to do with pharmacist worth? Nobody is hiring physical therapists or sending them to the front lines either, it doesn't mean physical therapy don't have worth. You can make the argument that in a "war-time" situation, the pharmacist isn't needed, but you could say that about ALOT of jobs. Which is why so many non-pharmacist people aren't working AT ALL now. It doesn't mean that there is a real need and want for the goods and services those jobs provide. It just means in a "war-time" survival situation, nobody is focusing on those goods and services. There is no reason to think we will stay in this "war-time" situation forever. The absolute worst estimate I've heard is 18 months, but I think it's likely things will stabilize before then.