This ? is posed to the veterans(experience not service) of the forum

[Zeta09]

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If you check the new member forum my story is there.

I am at a crossroads. Considering hospital but don't have any hospital experience. I had done retail for a large part of my short career but have Home Care in the repertoire (2 of the 5 years).

Any suggestions?

I have applied to some of the hospital positions in my area but seems that they prefer hospital experience. Seems that hospital work out here is heavy order entry for the non-residency prepared. I suppose if I showed up and performed above expectations I could have a shot at making a Logan's run (I'm not that old but I do remember it) to a floor where I could actually see a pt chart and make a recommendation. A little less progressive where I am (I hear on the East coast "clinical" is more robustly defined)

Again any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Zeta09]

Anyone?

C'mon sdn1977, Tussionex? Jeddevil?? priapism321?

 

[Farmercyst]

SDN's posting time seems to vary. Sometimes between 4-12am, other times between 7am-12. Give her some time. The others I haven't noticed posting times on, but usually when one weighs in, the other's will share.

 

[binghamkid]

I've actually talked to some of the residency placement directors at a few of the prominent hospitals in the California area, and for the most part, they don't accept people for hospital positions without you first going through a residency. Very very few exceptions may be made if you demonstrate proficiency and experience well above and beyond a pharmacy residency would expect you to have.

The fastest and quickest way to get a hospital position is to probably apply for the residency that may be available at the hospital you are interested at working that. That may translate into a quick job after you finish. You have to work from the ground up, do your time, and wait patiently is what i've been told.

 

[ZpackSux]

Want my input?

 

[sdn1977]

Want my input?

Of course we do - you're an ex dop!!!

Where are you??? Still wiping the butter from your chin from the last lobster tail or ordered or at Disneyland?

Who can keep up with a consultant anyway??

 

[sdn1977]

SDN's posting time seems to vary. Sometimes between 11:00pm-2am, other times between 2-5 pm. Give her some time. The others I haven't noticed posting times on, but usually when one weighs in, the other's will share.[/QUOTE

- not usually at 2AM - at least not CA time!!!! I'm an old person remember???

But, seriously, for the op - if you want to make that transition into hospital from retail in CA - its best done in a community hospital environment - not a teaching environment. Why? because you're not up to date enough to be a good preceptor. That doesn't mean you're not a good pharmacist - just not a good enough teacher - yet. But it can & does happen.

In my area, most hospital pharmacists are hired off their "float" pool. That means - you're hired into a part-time, on-call position. This puts all the balls in the employers court. They can see what you're actual clinical skills are, how trainable you are, how versatile you are, how compatible with the staff & staffing you are - and, honestly, what your areas of weakness are. We all have them!

So - get hired into the float pool. Tell them, you'll work every Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4, whatever for a year. Work relief in retail while you get your experience & your feet wet. By then, you'll have some real experience & real references to put on your resume.

You do know your stuff - they just don't want to put all their pins on someone they're not sure of. Remember - its tremendously expensive & hard on the staff to train someone new (you know what its like to get a graduate intern in retail - right?). So - they want some assurance their time & money won't be wasted.

You'll be ok, IMO. You'll just have a few unsettled months ahead. You need to plan for your own benefits for a bit, perhaps work as a floater or in an agency for retail while you pick up hours in a hospital. If you perform great, you'll get a position - perhaps not at that institution, but another one.

Good luck!

 

[Farmercyst]

SDN's posting time seems to vary. Sometimes between 11:00pm-2am, other times between 2-5 pm. Give her some time. The others I haven't noticed posting times on, but usually when one weighs in, the other's will share.[/QUOTE

- not usually at 2AM - at least not CA time!!!! I'm an old person remember???

But, seriously, for the op - if you want to make that transition into hospital from retail in CA - its best done in a community hospital environment - not a teaching environment. Why? because you're not up to date enough to be a good preceptor. That doesn't mean you're not a good pharmacist - just not a good enough teacher - yet. But it can & does happen.

In my area, most hospital pharmacists are hired off their "float" pool. That means - you're hired into a part-time, on-call position. This puts all the balls in the employers court. They can see what you're actual clinical skills are, how trainable you are, how versatile you are, how compatible with the staff & staffing you are - and, honestly, what your areas of weakness are. We all have them!

So - get hired into the float pool. Tell them, you'll work every Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4, whatever for a year. Work relief in retail while you get your experience & your feet wet. By then, you'll have some real experience & real references to put on your resume.

You do know your stuff - they just don't want to put all their pins on someone they're not sure of. Remember - its tremendously expensive & hard on the staff to train someone new (you know what its like to get a graduate intern in retail - right?). So - they want some assurance their time & money won't be wasted.

You'll be ok, IMO. You'll just have a few unsettled months ahead. You need to plan for your own benefits for a bit, perhaps work as a floater or in an agency for retail while you pick up hours in a hospital. If you perform great, you'll get a position - perhaps not at that institution, but another one.

Good luck!

Ok so I randomly selected 5 pages of your posts from the last 4 months and did a survey. My original post has now been edited.

You know though, based on the times it would almost appear that you work 4 hrs/day. Good thing I know that Old Lady Jane (yeah I saw gasforums) has two jobs.

 

[sdn1977]

Ok so I randomly selected 5 pages of your posts from the last 4 months and did a survey. My original post has now been edited.

You know though, based on the times it would almost appear that you work 4 hrs/day. Good thing I know that Old Lady Jane (yeah I saw gasforums) has two jobs.

OMG!!!! You know when I post & Caverject knows I wear glasses.....now two of you are stalking me😱 !!!

 

[sdn1977]

The question is...Zeta....do you feel comfortable enough now to try for a hospital job???

Did that answer your question? Zpak hasn't chimed in yet & he's hired lots of hospital pharmacists, but he's in the RV on this long weekend probably.

You might hear from him next week......

Again - good luck!

 

[Farmercyst]

The question is...Zeta....do you feel comfortable enough now to try for a hospital job???

Did that answer your question? Zpak hasn't chimed in yet & he's hired lots of hospital pharmacists, but he's in the RV on this long weekend probably.

You might hear from him next week......

Again - good luck!

I still think he should get satellite internet for that RV.

 

[ZpackSux]

I still think he should get satellite internet for that RV.

I do have a satellite system in the RV...just haven't subscribed to it...though I have been reading the forum on and off on my blackberry but I hate to type on it.

Trip to New England was fun but getting home was painful... flight delays and mechanical failure on the plane which forced me to shuttle from Manchester to Boston to take a flight.. 😡

Rainy condition in Texas..so no RVing this weekend. And too many people are on the road anyways.

To the original poster. You have to decide how hard you want to work. No doubt you know pretty much everything there is to know about retail. But how comfortable are you with critical care in a hospital where patients come through ER in a stretcher? You will eventually have to understand the course of medical treatment of a patient from admission to discharge. I'm not going to try to explain the process since that is not the scope of this thread.

You will have to start from the most basic hospital pharmacy practice. If I was the DOP hiring you, I would have you make IVs for a week, unit dose medications for a week...and other pharmacy technician task. Why? Because you will be supervising them and you need to know what they do.

Then you will need to learn the order entry. Order entry is more than just a distribution process. The order entry process is where clinical interventions are initiated. This is where you're going to shine as a clinical pharmacist...calling the docs to recommend renal dosing of medications..correcting faulty doses...making therapeutic interchanges..

Being a clinical pharmacist doesn't mean you're always on the floor rubbing elbows with docs. It means you're providing the best pharmaceutical care you can to a patient in a team oriented environment where everyone works together. It also means you know one regimen is more cost effective than the other and you can convince the physician to take the more cost effective route. It also means you can detect adverse drug reactions and make appropriate recommendations to stop and treat the ADRs.

And if you're up to it, then you can learn the dynamics of group purchasing and the contract pricing..then bridge the gap between "clinical" and "financials" of pharmacy practice. And if you have a knack for leading by example and can influence others..and want to go gray early, then maybe you might want to become a director of pharmacy...

That being said...some people in the field feel that 1 year of hospital residency is equal to 5 years of hospital staff pharmacy work. I don't really agree with it but I do know you will have to go through a huge learning curve.

Take a staff position at a hospital willing to hire you...get involved..learn everything...work crappy rotations...and eventually you'll find your niche in hospital pharmacy.

Good Luck!

 

[sdn1977]

Bingo - got your answer!

 

[Zeta09]

Thanks for the thorough responses.

You guys still non-reciprocating out there in CA or has Walgreens changed that yet??? You do know they were trying don't you?

Yes. ZPS. You're probably right.

After about a month of trying to interview at several places my best options are work for the County Hospital here (it was a seemingly unfriendly place) or to have a blast with a fun staff at a LTCF.

I have only been out of school for six years so I am young and willing to work. As far as feel comfortable??

I didn't have ANY Home Care experience, volunteered at a smaller home care company and then got hired on to work there part time. Many times I would work a retail shift then go on after to work at the Home Care company and close them up or work at the Home care when I was off at Walgreens. I didn't feel real comfortable until much later when I worked for another HCC full time but I got it.

In my estimation it will be the same process and feeling (except I'll be getting paid from the get go). I just don't know if I could pull a residency off now. I've got a 11 month old and haven't really had to study, present material and be a slave in years. I don't know if I could do it now.

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[sdn1977]

No - no reciprocity in CA - not like you're thinking about. Even Walgreens can't pull that off!

However, a few years ago, it became a bit easier to get licensed here since CA now accepts the NAPLEX, but only if taken in the last few years. But, they forced the NAPLEX to be rewritten to correspond more closely to our board exam. Plus, you have the pass the CA jurisprudence which is much, much harder than it used to be and much more clinically oriented rather than just law.

But, it sounds as though you've got a plan & have some knowledge of how the process will work....so good luck & enjoy the journey!

 

[ZpackSux]

Thanks for the thorough responses.

You guys still non-reciprocating out there in CA or has Walgreens changed that yet??? You do know they were trying don't you?

Yes. ZPS. You're probably right.

After about a month of trying to interview at several places my best options are work for the County Hospital here (it was a seemingly unfriendly place) or to have a blast with a fun staff at a LTCF.

I have only been out of school for six years so I am young and willing to work. As far as feel comfortable??

I didn't have ANY Home Care experience, volunteered at a smaller home care company and then got hired on to work there part time. Many times I would work a retail shift then go on after to work at the Home Care company and close them up or work at the Home care when I was off at Walgreens. I didn't feel real comfortable until much later when I worked for another HCC full time but I got it.

In my estimation it will be the same process and feeling (except I'll be getting paid from the get go). I just don't know if I could pull a residency off now. I've got a 11 month old and haven't really had to study, present material and be a slave in years. I don't know if I could do it now.

Thanks for the replies guys.

PM me with your location. I'll try to help you if I can. You sound like someone I would love to hire.