tired of retail... how do i get out?

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vardenafil said:
i have no experience.[/U] this seems to be the big issue. i have been thinking about geting an MPH or MBA online. so i can move on up and out of retail. anybody have any tips on how to free the chains of retail pharmacy?
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ok, dont know where you live, but here is a great suggestion--- find a closed-door, home infussion pharmacy or similar and walk in. ask for any prn work they got. if you have to drive 30mins to work at a place like that for prn work, so what, it will start to add up. pretty soon, you will get used to the ropes of actual IV compounding, etc... maybe that will get your foot in the door. you could take a few dollar cut and find an independant pharmacy to work for. sure the benefits suck, but the ones i have worked and currently work for have a heart. plus you wont have the feelings of commiting mass murder... well... maybe not as much....
 
Are there recruiters who could help you with this kind of thing? I think with a little effort you could definitely "get back" the clinical knowledge you'd need for hospital or otherwise.
 
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I'm wanted to ask this question and I wasn't sure if its threadworthy or not, but is working retail pharmacy comparable to working at a fast food restaurant? I mean, everyone I know who has worked at a fast food place hates it and bashes on it constantly...and from what I've been reading on this forum it seems like the same case for retail pharmacy. Can anyone give a little insight?
 
xxxhotstuffxxx said:
I'm wanted to ask this question and I wasn't sure if its threadworthy or not, but is working retail pharmacy comparable to working at a fast food restaurant? I mean, everyone I know who has worked at a fast food place hates it and bashes on it constantly...and from what I've been reading on this forum it seems like the same case for retail pharmacy. Can anyone give a little insight?
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fast food joints only dispense a handful of items on the menu and dont have to deal with insurance.
 
so are you saying working at a fast food place would be better than retail pharmacy?
 
To the OP. I think you need to just bite the bullet and do a residency. Its only a year, and maybe your kids wont get as much stuff as they're used to, but they'll have a happier more fulfilled mother. You can defer your student loan for those 12 months too. The year will come to pass in the blink if an eye, and when it does you can either be where you are right now, or have completed a residency and be on the brink of a new fulfilling career. Don't throw your life away on something you hate just for the sake of a few bucks.

As for whether retail pharmacy is like a fast food chain. I'd say its actually worse, but at least you get paid more. I did it for 8 months (at a chain) and could never go back to it. It's a horrible job and I didn't go to school for 8 years to be a bean counter and be disrespected by overweight lazy *****s yelling at me through the drive thru window.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Dude Pizza Hut is where all the hot girls were! Popeyes? Please, who eats at Popeyes?
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That's the difference between you and me. You had to chase after hot girls even resorting to working at places where they were..and have them be forced to be around you... I didn't need to do that..

btw, I love popeyes... even knew the owner's kids as they lived down the road from me.. at the end of Transcontiental in Metairie, LA. I still eat it bout once a month...
 
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StaviZFingerZ said:
That's the difference between you and me. You had to chase after hot girls even resorting to working at places where they were..and have them be forced to be around you... I didn't need to do that..

btw, I love popeyes... even knew the owner's kids as they lived down the road from me.. at the end of Transcontiental in Metairie, LA. I still eat it bout once a month...
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Heyyyyyyyy. The boyz are back.
 
pharmwannebe2 said:
i would like to know where the hell you work. at all the pharmacies I have been to it is crazy. No time for sitting. Just continuous running around. Even for pharmacists....counseling then back to verifying then off to the telephones.

Also, sparda is right every company I have been too gets angry if you sit down.
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This very much, but my pharmacy has three chairs and no one cares if you sit as long as you're doing your job.

And I'm only a third year student, but if you hate standing, a hospital job may be out? The staff at the place I rotated at stood all the time. It wasn't even a busy hospital.

Retail pharmacy sucks, its true. But part of the reason it sucks is because pharmacists have let the retailers push them around. Stand up for yourself. Be one less cog in the wheel. You hate the job anyways.
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I think one of the biggest reasons it sucks is because after six years, you shut your brain off; no more questions about G+ or G- or wide spectrum antibiotics, you just say yes doctor and take the verbal script. Whenever I have questions for my pharmacists, the answer is met with half hearted replies with "let's take it down to retail level".

Ex: Victoza comes out. I read that it is a glucagon like peptide receptor agonist that stimulates insulin release. I do a double take. After a few minutes of going huh? what? with my pharmacist and debating on what the MOA is, it's "down to retail action - helps control your blood sugar".

Pharmacist and chain specific of course...
 
pfaction said:
This very much, but my pharmacy has three chairs and no one cares if you sit as long as you're doing your job.

And I'm only a third year student, but if you hate standing, a hospital job may be out? The staff at the place I rotated at stood all the time. It wasn't even a busy hospital.



I think one of the biggest reasons it sucks is because after six years, you shut your brain off; no more questions about G+ or G- or wide spectrum antibiotics, you just say yes doctor and take the verbal script. Whenever I have questions for my pharmacists, the answer is met with half hearted replies with "let's take it down to retail level".

Ex: Victoza comes out. I read that it is a glucagon like peptide receptor agonist that stimulates insulin release. I do a double take. After a few minutes of going huh? what? with my pharmacist and debating on what the MOA is, it's "down to retail action - helps control your blood sugar".

Pharmacist and chain specific of course...
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I have been in that exact situation. The pharmacists try to humor me and sometimes they are interested in the answer but when it comes down to it, they do not care because they feel they will never use it in retail.
Why do they care about adjusting for renal function, when is the last time a script came to a retail pharmacy with a CHEM7 attached....
I have had the chance to make all sorts of interventions and expand my learning at sites where I had access to the whole patient profile but in retail, you are in the dark and I hate it! We can make sure they have a followup appt. for labs but that is about it.

I do enjoy some good ole fashion OTC counseling though...party on.
 
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pfaction said:
This very much, but my pharmacy has three chairs and no one cares if you sit as long as you're doing your job.

And I'm only a third year student, but if you hate standing, a hospital job may be out? The staff at the place I rotated at stood all the time. It wasn't even a busy hospital.



I think one of the biggest reasons it sucks is because after six years, you shut your brain off; no more questions about G+ or G- or wide spectrum antibiotics, you just say yes doctor and take the verbal script. Whenever I have questions for my pharmacists, the answer is met with half hearted replies with "let's take it down to retail level".

Ex: Victoza comes out. I read that it is a glucagon like peptide receptor agonist that stimulates insulin release. I do a double take. After a few minutes of going huh? what? with my pharmacist and debating on what the MOA is, it's "down to retail action - helps control your blood sugar".

Pharmacist and chain specific of course...
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That post made me sad.
 
rxlea said:
That post made me sad.
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Was it something I did? :(

It's also when I asked about oxybutynin, I never connected anti-cholinergic (or was it muscarinic, now look at me, getting Enablex and all these confused) with bladder convulsions so I was really confused, but we can all guess what happened.
 
rxlea said:
That post made me sad.
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Well, it's not just to retail patients. Even in hospitals, you don't really need to go too far in depth.

Just earlier this week, my preceptor and I were rounding in the CCU when the issue of missing ulcer prophylaxis came up. The resident naturally said he'll start nexium, at which the attending started to educate him that this an open heart surgery patient who is on plavix. The attending is a pulmonaoloigist who knew vaguely of the drug interaction, but turned to us for info. I explained that it's via CYP2C19 inhibition and plavix is a prodrug that needs activation. That's when he laugh laughed and said "explained like pharmacists, we just kind of know it involves a P450 enzyme and decrease effect."

The hint being that he doesn't need to know the specifics, and the residents won't remember some exact P450 enzyme or which ones are prodrugs. And if the physicians don't need that kind of detailed info, nurses certainly won't. But truly, dumbing it down is not bad. All that info is meaningless if they can't remember or understand it.
 
xiphoid2010 said:
Well, it's not just to retail patients. Even in hospitals, you don't really need to go too far in depth.

Just earlier this week, my preceptor and I were rounding in the CCU when the issue of missing ulcer prophylaxis came up. The resident naturally said he'll start nexium, at which the attending started to educate him that this an open heart surgery patient who is on plavix. The attending is a pulmonaoloigist who knew vaguely of the drug interaction, but turned to us for info. I explained that it's via CYP2C19 inhibition and plavix is a prodrug that needs activation. That's when he laugh laughed and said "explained like pharmacists, we just kind of know it involves a P450 enzyme and decrease effect."

The hint being that he doesn't need to know the specifics, and the residents won't remember some exact P450 enzyme or which ones are prodrugs. And if the physicians don't need that kind of detailed info, nurses certainly won't. But truly, dumbing it down is not bad. All that info is meaningless if they can't remember or understand it.
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I bet only 5% or less of practicing pharms can name off the exact enzyme involved with that interaction off the top of their head, just sayin.....
 
quick question,

do you think it is difficult to switch from hospital to retail?
 
I'm considering Pharmacy and Physical Therapy so I read some of your threads every now and then. How would an MBA be useful to a pharmacist? Thanks.
 
I just graduated from pharmacy school and been dong retail since I graduated in May. I only have 3 months of intern hospital experience when I was a P1. Is it too late for me to switch over to hospital? It seems as though all the job postings for hospital require minimum 1 year hospital experience.
 
xiphoid2010 said:
I think evening MBA is the way to go. A residency leads to a low income for 1 year and no increased earning power than retail after completion. Evening MBA will increase your earning power without causing an acute budget deficit. With luck, you might even get your employer to pay for some of the tuition.
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So...you're a resident now?
 
Sparda29 said:
Because corporate management does not like pharmacy staff sitting down while working. You actually have to file a request with the district supervisor to get a stool at CVS.

The pharmacist I work with has told me that she has seen many pregnant pharmacists she's worked with miscarry because of the stress. You also have to get a signed form from a MD to present to the district if you are pregnant and absolutely need to sit down.
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:mad:

I absolutely do not understand this way of thinking. WHO CARES if the personnel are standing or sitting, as long as the job gets done?

I also know of 4 cities where EVERY CVS experienced 100% turnover when they bought out Osco. A main reason was because they were not grandfathered in regarding seniority, and even had to wait for insurnace and 401(k) benefits as if they were brand new employees. Some of the people had obligations like kids in college or disabled spouses, and they weren't that desperate for a job. :eek:
 
xxxhotstuffxxx said:
I'm wanted to ask this question and I wasn't sure if its threadworthy or not, but is working retail pharmacy comparable to working at a fast food restaurant? I mean, everyone I know who has worked at a fast food place hates it and bashes on it constantly...and from what I've been reading on this forum it seems like the same case for retail pharmacy. Can anyone give a little insight?
Click to expand...

A woman I know used to be an assistant manager at Steak & Shake, and she said, "How do you know so much about fast food? I thought you were a pharmacist." I replied, "I am, but I haven't always been, and the jobs are not as different as you might think."

:laugh:
 
BMBiology said:
Unfortunately most hospitals would rather hire a new graduate than a pharmacist with 5 years of retail experience. Most hospital pharmacists are very anti-retail and they look down on retail pharmacists.
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Actually, they're really wanting new graduates with PGY1 experience. I asked someone just last week if it was because a lesser experienced pharmacist can be paid less, and she said it wasn't but I'm not totally convinced.

C'mon, I would rather have a clinical person with 20 years of experience over someone with 7 years of book learning, but then again, a younger person/new graduate is easier to manipulate and potentially abuse. :thumbdown:
 
ksiem said:
I'm considering Pharmacy and Physical Therapy so I read some of your threads every now and then. How would an MBA be useful to a pharmacist? Thanks.
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If you want to own your own business (home infusion, retail, etc.) it would be, and most large hospitals require it for directors.
 
evilolive said:
Never heard of them, but do you get what i'm saying? Obviously this is an extreme example, but what if you heard marilyn manson in your pharmacy? What would patients think? there is some mysterious subjective line in terms of what's acceptable within a professional work environment.
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I once worked at a 24-hour Hy-Vee store (midwestern grocery chain) and their satellite music service had over 100 channels, and sometimes the overnight crew would turn on hard rock, rap, or progressive. The middle one especially got lots of complaints from customers, and one time the hard rock channel played that Ted Nugent song where he screamed "If you came here to be mellow, you can just turn around and get the #$%^ out of here!" ;) :laugh: Another time, someone changed the channel to country gospel and also accidentally bumped the volume, and trust me, Anne Murray doesn't sound very good at volume 11.

I once opened the pharmacy at 7:55am to this. I've never taken acid, but it almost made me want to, and that channel also had the 17-minute version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EeIWKTthOw
 
rph3664 said:
Actually, they're really wanting new graduates with PGY1 experience. I asked someone just last week if it was because a lesser experienced pharmacist can be paid less, and she said it wasn't but I'm not totally convinced.

C'mon, I would rather have a clinical person with 20 years of experience over someone with 7 years of book learning, but then again, a younger person/new graduate is easier to manipulate and potentially abuse. :thumbdown:
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Don't know about hospitals but I do know of one very large retail chain that is systematically getting rid of all the pharms with years of service. Writing them up for anything stupid they can find. replacing them with grads that get paid less per hour. Grads hate it and moral goes to the bottom but its about money. Seeing a bunch of friends getting the ax and stressed out trying to hold on to support their families.
 
netrx said:
many options here..however, with 3 kids and student loan(s) you know what your priorities are and retail pays the most. If you seek educational advancement to get out, it will add more stress to you financially and take more time out of family time. Suck it up, "burnout yourself" and not the kids, your spouse and the family $$$ account. Retail is tough, but only the tough can manage it...be focused here.:)
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Perhaps an agency like RXrelief that does temp/per diem staffing would provide a way to get hospital experience. At least something to put on a resume anyway.:confused:
 
Hello, I hear ya. In order to change your career, you are going to have to be more flexible with yourself. I suggest relocating to a hospital pharmacy which you will love and be there for a while.

The other option is to go back to school and work part time in retail. The money you get from working part-time in retail should be enough to support you through your school, etc.

Once you have your other degree then you can think about a career change. Like an MBA will probably allow you to get jobs in other fields but you should expect not to make the 100K that you are making. HOWEVER, the good news is that you will still have your license and with so many burned out retail pharmacists, you will probably be still able to work and pick your own hours to compliment your new job. It will take time before you can make the 100K as a pharmacist but its worthiness is entirely up to you.

Sources: my own personal experience working in retail for 2 years and went back to get an MBA
 
RPHTXRE said:
LOL How wrong you are.
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Any job that's not fully staffing that I see now requires a residency or experience in a similar position (but residency preferred), so it's not really wrong. I am not arguing the usefulness of doing a residency, just saying that employers like people with residencies.
 
xxxhotstuffxxx said:
so are you saying working at a fast food place would be better than retail pharmacy?
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It's like working at a burger king where your customers expect their credit card to be on file because they went to taco bell last week.
 
gtpederson said:
It's like working at a burger king where your customers expect their credit card to be on file because they went to taco bell last week.
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Exactly. Or they wonder why their hamburger cost $2.50 when they had a taco at Taco Bell last week that cost a $1.25. Or they do not understand why their hamburger costs $2.50 when 10 years ago they got it for $1.00. Or better yet they go to pay for their hamburger and their credit card doesn't work. They stand there and demand you call the credit card company and find out why it isn't working because they need their hamburger and will stave to death right there if they do not get it.
 
Old said:
Don't know about hospitals but I do know of one very large retail chain that is systematically getting rid of all the pharms with years of service. Writing them up for anything stupid they can find. replacing them with grads that get paid less per hour. Grads hate it and moral goes to the bottom but its about money. Seeing a bunch of friends getting the ax and stressed out trying to hold on to support their families.
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What chain is it? You can PM me if you don't want to post it here.

I have been unemployed since March because I was given the heave-ho to make room for the son of one of the hospital big shots, and seriously believe I will never work as a pharmacist again. :(

I refuse to do retail, and far too many hospitals are now requiring their pharmacists to have a Pharm.D. and at least 1 year of PGY fellowship or residency. You just know they're doing this so they can pay them less than someone with, say, 20 years of experience, and they can d1ck them around in ways that they can't to people with more life experience.
 
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