Whats the VA like?

[StriveForGlory]

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It seems like lately a lot of people have been recommending that I look into a VA upon graduation (im a P2). All I hear is prescribing rights and awesome benefits. The problem is that none of these people have ever worked at a VA hospital. So i come to you guys; whats the deal with the VA?

Im looking to do a residency upon graduation and the VA seems to put a lot of emphasis on how good its pharmacy residencies are. And while prescribing rights (albeit not full prescribing rights) and awesome benefits sound good on paper, how do they actually play out in real life?

The VA website seems to view pharmacists as a hot and much needed career within their system. And it seems like most of their pharmacist openings are for clinical specialists.

So whats the down side? Assuming one can get over the fact that VA hospitals inherently cater to a more specific patient population is there anything bad about working there? Or is the VA really the leader in pharmacy services as they so claim?

 

[coffee4drug]

It seems like lately a lot of people have been recommending that I look into a VA upon graduation (im a P2). All I hear is prescribing rights and awesome benefits. The problem is that none of these people have ever worked at a VA hospital. So i come to you guys; whats the deal with the VA?

Im looking to do a residency upon graduation and the VA seems to put a lot of emphasis on how good its pharmacy residencies are. And while prescribing rights (albeit not full prescribing rights) and awesome benefits sound good on paper, how do they actually play out in real life?

The VA website seems to view pharmacists as a hot and much needed career within their system. And it seems like most of their pharmacist openings are for clinical specialists.

So whats the down side? Assuming one can get over the fact that VA hospitals inherently cater to a more specific patient population is there anything bad about working there? Or is the VA really the leader in pharmacy services as they so claim?

I have not worked at the VA as a pharmacist, but I did my ambulatory rotation at VA San Diego. I felt that the pharmacists there were very cliquely, and they gossiped a lot. If there is something about you that they can talk about, it would spread like fire. Also, a lot of the younger pharmacists there appeared to have inflated self-esteem just because they had Pharm.D., residency training background, and the privilege of working at VA. If they smell any scent that you are not as smart as they are, they won't hesitant to chew you into pieces. Finally, professionalism is not fostered well. I have seen pharmacists flirting and chasing each other around in the pharmacy during work. It just doesn't like an environment I would feel comfortable working as a professional.

 

[FruitFly]

I have not worked at the VA as a pharmacist, but I did my ambulatory rotation at VA San Diego. I felt that the pharmacists there were very cliquely, and they gossiped a lot. If there is something about you that they can talk about, it would spread like fire. Also, a lot of the younger pharmacists there appeared to have inflated self-esteem just because they had Pharm.D., residency training background, and the privilege of working at VA. If they smell any scent that you are not as smart as they are, they won't hesitant to chew you into pieces. Finally, professionalism is not fostered well. I have seen pharmacists flirting and chasing each other around in the pharmacy during work. It just doesn't like an environment I would feel comfortable working as a professional.

As the saying goes in "Big Lebowski"- 'well, that's just like... ur opinion man...'

The above is the opinion of one student rotation (few weeks at most). Definitely not generalizable to the whole system. Definitely weird the poster mentioned one particular VA by name, when the thread obviously called for more global impressions... As a pre-psychology, it sure makes you wonder what kind of sour grapes occurred during the learning process.

 

[firework]

obviously, you're not a golfer.

As the saying goes in "Big Lebowski"- 'well, that's just like... ur opinion man...'

The above is the opinion of one student rotation (few weeks at most). Definitely not generalizable to the whole system. Definitely weird the poster mentioned one particular VA by name, when the thread obviously called for more global impressions... As a pre-psychology, it sure makes you wonder what kind of sour grapes occurred during the learning process.

 

[coffee4drug]

As the saying goes in "Big Lebowski"- 'well, that's just like... ur opinion man...'

The above is the opinion of one student rotation (few weeks at most). Definitely not generalizable to the whole system. Definitely weird the poster mentioned one particular VA by name, when the thread obviously called for more global impressions... As a pre-psychology, it sure makes you wonder what kind of sour grapes occurred during the learning process.

There is no need for such sarcasm, Fruitfly. I did my rotation at that particular VA, and I had bad experiences. That thread wants people's opinions, and I shared mine. I clearly stated that I did not work there as a pharmacist, and the experiences are indeed from a single rotation. If I had good impression of that site, I would share it too.

BTW, how come there is no smiley for fly swatter? It sure can be handy.

 

[Dalteparin]

I have not worked at the VA as a pharmacist, but I did my ambulatory rotation at VA San Diego. I felt that the pharmacists there were very cliquely, and they gossiped a lot. If there is something about you that they can talk about, it would spread like fire. Also, a lot of the younger pharmacists there appeared to have inflated self-esteem just because they had Pharm.D., residency training background, and the privilege of working at VA. If they smell any scent that you are not as smart as they are, they won't hesitant to chew you into pieces. Finally, professionalism is not fostered well. I have seen pharmacists flirting and chasing each other around in the pharmacy during work. It just doesn't like an environment I would feel comfortable working as a professional.

It's been my experience that inflated self-esteem is a problem for young pharmacists in a lot of settings, not just the VA. Sorry you had a bad experience; I did an ambulatory VA rotation and learned more there than just about any of my other rotations. However, I don't work for the VA as a pharmacist so I really can't tell you what that's like.

 

[aboveliquidice]

It seems like lately a lot of people have been recommending that I look into a VA upon graduation (im a P2). All I hear is prescribing rights and awesome benefits. The problem is that none of these people have ever worked at a VA hospital. So i come to you guys; whats the deal with the VA?

Im looking to do a residency upon graduation and the VA seems to put a lot of emphasis on how good its pharmacy residencies are. And while prescribing rights (albeit not full prescribing rights) and awesome benefits sound good on paper, how do they actually play out in real life?

The VA website seems to view pharmacists as a hot and much needed career within their system. And it seems like most of their pharmacist openings are for clinical specialists.

So whats the down side? Assuming one can get over the fact that VA hospitals inherently cater to a more specific patient population is there anything bad about working there? Or is the VA really the leader in pharmacy services as they so claim?

I completed a 6 week pain management rotation and a 6 week adult internal med rotation. The computer system is top notch and I found the professionalism to be high as well.

My only gripe, and it's minor, was with the technicians. There seemed to be twice as many techs, but they completed less-than-half as much work... Everything was SLOW. The inpatient RPh prepared IVs because none of the techs knew how (or were physically able to do so). They were all good people though, and work was completed one way or the other.

The VA I was at had a pain clinic, anticoag, HTN clinic, diabetes clinic, inpatient and psych ward. It was impressive to see a culture dedicated to furthering professional / clinical development. All in all, it would be a great place to work.

 

[FruitFly]

BTW, how come there is no smiley for fly swatter? It sure can be handy.

😳😳

 

[FruitFly]

obviously, you're not a golfer.

over the line!!!

 

[Mariachi]

My understanding is that every VA hospital is different and you can't generalize about them nationally. Just because one hospital in a particular location is innovative and a sweet gig doesn't mean the one in your hometown is. There are some very good ones from what I've read/heard and some very bad ones.

One thing that you can generalize though is that most everyone is tenured and really hard to fire. That means if the management and culture in a hospital stink things won't be changing anytime soon.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

I work for the VA. I've posted about it quite a bit if people want to search. Every facility is different. Some have residencies and some don't.

At my facility, we just started a residency and it's not yet accredited. Most of our pharmacists DO NOT have prescriptive authority and the ones who do adjust medications by protocol (diabetes, anti-coagulation). I'm not sure why people get all excited over prescriptive authority anyway. It brings it's own set of responsibilities and issues...

The hours are good at my VA, the benefits are good. We have enough tech help and the techs are well trained. It's hard to get a full time RPH job at the local VA right now.