Who PREFERS RETAIL pharmacy over hospital/non-traditional settings, and why?

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CAPharmD123

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It seems like the majority of these threads advise avoiding retail pharmacy at all costs. I've worked retail & hospital and currently work in a less traditional setting. I am thinking of going back to retail, but I wonder if I must be crazy. One of the major advantages I see of working retail is that the working hours are more "set in stone" and usually require less unexpected overtime. Someone talk some sense into me....
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I can only speak for the people I know, but the people who actually ENJOY retail seem to work for independent pharmacies and they like the fast pace because they get bored sitting in a chair in front of a computer all day. Retail at least has some variety. The other 95% of retail pharmacists are probably in it for the money. Where else are you going to get 120k as a new grad with no residency?
 
Varies 1000% by store for most people. There are the amazing few who flourish anywhere, but I'm not one of them. I enjoy retail when I'm at a store that is staffed well, but those are hard to come by.
 
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Reasons to prefer retail:

You prefer interacting with the general public.
Work 3-4 long days to get full-time vs 5 8-hour days to get full-time.
More pay.
Time goes by fast.
Since you're the only pharmacist there, don't have to deal with any pompous pharmacists questioning your decisions. (I've seen people suspend and call to clarify orders for acetaminophen, maalox, benadryl.)
 
Retail in a properly staffed store is actually not that bad. I like the 13 hour shifts followed by 4 days off and there are plenty of opportunities for OT where I am. Although the lack of critical thinking and mindless work drive me insane as I feel like my mind is rotting...
 
Money is king, and the extra $30,000 a year you get in retail trumps ALL.

Besides, I love being the boss at work. When you're the pharmacist in retail, what you say goes. Nobody can tell you what to do. Sure, you have a district manager but he's probably miles away and only ever really bothers you if you're over payroll or not meeting business metrics, both of which are an understandable part of any job.

In a hospital you're pulled left and right by doctors and bitchy nurses and on top of that you're sitting in a basement somewhere with no reception and the day goes by SLOW. In retail a 10 hour shift goes by quickly.

Oh, and did I mention the extra $30,000( for some people in America this is how much they make a year!!) 😉
 
NateRobinson said:
Money is king, and the extra $30,000 a year you get in retail trumps ALL.
Oh, and did I mention the extra $30,000( for some people in America this is how much they make a year!!) 😉
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Not if at CVS apparently haha
Retail is best if you have a great store, as I do! I would never take 30000 raise to go to cvs.
 
I work for Walgreens and I love retail . I love the fast pace ,interactions with the general public and not having another pompous pharmacist question my decisions. I enjoyed my retail rotation so much that I threaded in my infectious disease rotation to spend another 6 weeks in retail.
Having said that, I hated floating. I believe that the people you work with in retail and the population you serve make a big difference.
I will never quit retail for a hospital job except if the hospital job is the only job available. I will even work for CVS before I take a hospital job. I just don't like the environment and all the back biting.
 
I moonlighted in retail for a couple years out of school while I was working full time in hospital in hybrid role. I am now working fully clinical ambulatory role and hands down think it is the best pharmacy practice environment, at least for me. The work life balance, money and scope of practice are amazing.
 
I love how I'm not the only one who sees not having to work with other pharmacists as a plus!

Personally, I couldn't sit in front of a computer all day, whether it's on the floor or in the dungeon. That's one of the major reasons why I prefer retail over hospital/any other desk job.
 
croquemonsieur said:
I love how I'm not the only one who sees not having to work with other pharmacists as a plus!

Personally, I couldn't sit in front of a computer all day, whether it's on the floor or in the dungeon. That's one of the major reasons why I prefer retail over hospital/any other desk job.
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uhhh what? you are in front of the computer all day in retail too, except for sitting you are standing and running around lol
 
croquemonsieur said:
I love how I'm not the only one who sees not having to work with other pharmacists as a plus!

Personally, I couldn't sit in front of a computer all day, whether it's on the floor or in the dungeon. That's one of the major reasons why I prefer retail over hospital/any other desk job.
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I don't really get the computer thing in this thread. The retail pharmacists I worked with always spent a lot of time on the computer as well. Plus it's not like you are just staring at the computer as a hospital pharmacist all day (or at least I'm not). Though you do verify orders on the computer, there are plenty of other things I have to do every day that don't involve sitting at a computer. :shrug:
 
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mustang sally said:
I don't really get the computer thing in this thread. The retail pharmacists I worked with always spent a lot of time on the computer as well. Plus it's not like you are just staring at the computer as a hospital pharmacist all day (or at least I'm not). Though you do verify orders on the computer, there are plenty of other things I have to do every day that don't involve sitting at a computer. :shrug:
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Let me clarify because I didn't explain myself very well.

Firstly, I'm speaking from my limited experience as a student who's done rotations at 4 different hospitals. Also since there are no rotations that involve staffing duties, my experiences have been with decentralized pharmacists. So, keep that in mind.

Here's where I was too glib: it's not the using a computer to do your job thing that I dislike, it's what the computer is being used for. Most of what I've had to do on these rotations is something akin to the job of a research librarian or a secretary. Physicians asks us to research a drug info question they don't have time to look up and I dig up data for them. Or they ask us to do admission med rec., so I'm on the phone/fax all day hunting down home meds (pts hardly ever know what they take at home). Reading this makes me think that being a student is what I really hate most of all.
 
a) Money.
b) You are the biggest fish in the building.
c) The office politics of hospital pharmacy is nauseating. Its the reason I will never go back, nor try something like hospice or ambulatory care.
 
I like working in a hospital, but the idea of not working with other pharmacists does sound inviting. No more "I paged the doctor for the fifth time today over some asinine problem I have perceived, and now I am going to lunch so you have to take the call and explain why this PRN Tylenol is just unacceptable." Ugh.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
b) You are the biggest fish in the building.
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Until the FS manager with a couple years of college writes you up for [insert stupid customer complaint here]

I don't think anyone has mentioned insurance adjudication yet either. Probably the biggest headache in retail (maybe even worse than drive thru) is resolving insurance rejections. At least at CVS where the tech hours are cut to the point that the pharmacist has to help out with that job.

What are some major stressors in hospital? I've actually heard and read that the workload is too much for one person (APhA career path reviews)
 
gwarm01 said:
I like working in a hospital, but the idea of not working with other pharmacists does sound inviting. No more "I paged the doctor for the fifth time today over some asinine problem I have perceived, and now I am going to lunch so you have to take the call and explain why this PRN Tylenol is just unacceptable." Ugh.
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Haha. I get some of that though - a floater or my partner will call for 'clarification' on a script I can't find a problem with or on an issue that is for me a non-issue. It happens in retail too.
 
gwarm01 said:
I like working in a hospital, but the idea of not working with other pharmacists does sound inviting. No more "I paged the doctor for the fifth time today over some asinine problem I have perceived, and now I am going to lunch so you have to take the call and explain why this PRN Tylenol is just unacceptable." Ugh.
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Working with other pharmacists can be both good and bad, but yeah, this sounds like the story of my life. My main partner in crime is always paging doctors for stuff that I find ridiculous.
 
gwarm01 said:
I like working in a hospital, but the idea of not working with other pharmacists does sound inviting. No more "I paged the doctor for the fifth time today over some asinine problem I have perceived, and now I am going to lunch so you have to take the call and explain why this PRN Tylenol is just unacceptable." Ugh.
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When that happens I just verify it as soon as they leave without calling and if they ask me what happened to it, I just say the doc called back. One time though I got caught lying about that and the person bitched about it to the clinical pharmacist who then told the DOP so I had to go through one of those "please come to my office" situations.

Also hate it when you have to do a double pharmacist verification. Try explaining to an angry nurse that you cannot give them something because you're the only pharmacist on duty so you have to wait until the other pharmacist returns so that they can verify it as well.
 
Sparda29 said:
When that happens I just verify it as soon as they leave without calling and if they ask me what happened to it, I just say the doc called back. One time though I got caught lying about that and the person bitched about it to the clinical pharmacist who then told the DOP so I had to go through one of those "please come to my office" situations.

Also hate it when you have to do a double pharmacist verification. Try explaining to an angry nurse that you cannot give them something because you're the only pharmacist on duty so you have to wait until the other pharmacist returns so that they can verify it as well.
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Luckily we only have double verification for chemo, and the oncology team all communicate enough that they understand the process. I do have a problem with the ER thinking they have to call me to let me know orders have been put through. Don't worry, you will get your phenylephrine nose drops.
 
msweph said:
Omg that is the worst. or when a doctor callsand asks another pharmacist for antibiotic dosing recommendations and you click on the order and they are absolutely not what you would do..... Then you page them back and they say they have already consulted the pharmacist and those doses came from them.
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It also bothers me when I am the one who gave the physician dosing recommendations, then when I come back the next day I see it the order has changed and someone left an I-vent about adjusting an incorrect dose. It's especially annoying when your dose was straight from the book, the exact recommended dose for that condition, but the other pharmacist just had to make some insignificant change.
 
Best retail gig IMO - Sam's Club or Costco. Interned at a Sam's Club during pharm school...was really chill. On our busiest days we'd do like 120-150 scripts. Had a lot of time to talk to customers, counsel. People think you need a membership to use the pharmacy, so a lot of these stores aren't that busy.
 
rph3664 said:
But you have to work overnights to get it.
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That makes more sense. I'm kind of glad I'm in la la land out west, hospital gigs (days) are ~ $20-25k over retail, but that's just on the hourly part and not including stock purchases & bonuses for the retail folk, so the gap is probably closer to $15k-ish assuming a standard benefit plan.

I've seen some hospital salaries here, though, that end up being a draw with retail. But I haven't seen what WVU sees with such a lopsided retail > hospital differential.
 
confettiflyer said:
That makes more sense. I'm kind of glad I'm in la la land out west, hospital gigs (days) are ~ $20-25k over retail, but that's just on the hourly part and not including stock purchases & bonuses for the retail folk, so the gap is probably closer to $15k-ish assuming a standard benefit plan.

I've seen some hospital salaries here, though, that end up being a draw with retail. But I haven't seen what WVU sees with such a lopsided retail > hospital differential.
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$40/hr to $60/hr. Pittsburgh suburbs to Philly suburbs.
 
I work FT at retail and PRN at the hospital. There are a couple full time openings at the hospital, but I'm not considering them, because I prefer retail and once I get my student loans paid off, I'm just going with retail. I like the fast pace of retail and I like the feeling of "going at war" with my retail pharmacy staff when times get crazy instead of the plush, boring environment of the hospital.
 
I vastly enjoy retail and could post forever about it but it really comes down to just a few main reasons.

Fast paced high stress environment , keeps me on my toes and the adrenaline and excitement flowing.

Ability to truly help someone and potentially change their life or just their day or month multiple times per day.

High pressure teamwork mentality. Studies show group struggles are almost always more rewarding than personal struggle.

Pay and benefits (gained 60k over my office Rph job )

Professional autonomy.

Prestige and respect in the community.

Did I mention a decent physical and mental workout ?
 
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confettiflyer said:
That makes more sense. I'm kind of glad I'm in la la land out west, hospital gigs (days) are ~ $20-25k over retail, but that's just on the hourly part and not including stock purchases & bonuses for the retail folk, so the gap is probably closer to $15k-ish assuming a standard benefit plan.

I've seen some hospital salaries here, though, that end up being a draw with retail. But I haven't seen what WVU sees with such a lopsided retail > hospital differential.
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Depends on the area of the country. There is California and then there's the rest of the US , yet again !
 
type b pharmD said:
I vastly enjoy retail and could post forever about it but it really comes down to just a few main reasons.

Fast paced high stress environment , keeps me on my toes and the adrenaline and excitement flowing.

Ability to truly help someone and potentially change their life or just their day or month multiple times per day.

High pressure teamwork mentality. Studies show group struggles are almost always more rewarding than personal struggle.

Pay and benefits (gained 60k over my office Rph job )

Professional autonomy.

Prestige and respect in the community.

Did I mention a decent physical and mental workout ?
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Here's a serious question. Since you love retail so much, have you thought about transferring stores and going to a store that is struggling? Struggling in the sense that the store does 3,000/week and the employee turnover rate is so high and it's difficult to find good quality technicians. Would you be up for that challenge? That will most likely give you more of a rush, no?

I'm sure pharmacy supervisors love pharmacists like you...
 
VP_Pharm2004 said:
Here's a serious question. Since you love retail so much, have you thought about transferring stores and going to a store that is struggling? Struggling in the sense that the store does 3,000/week and the employee turnover rate is so high and Tis difficult to find good quality technicians. Would you be up for that challenge? That will most likely give you more of a rush, no?

I'm sure pharmacy supervisors love pharmacists like you...
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That's actually what I'm working on at the moment ! And yes it is really the best rush.

I would like to settle down permanently at this location though .. I would need at least 200k/yr to be a dedicated 'fixer' .. I plan to pursue community outreach as my next challenge after this one.
 
type b pharmD said:
The secret sauce is that Tis all about attitude
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Well, you must definitely have more patience that I do. Spent nearly 3.5 years helping turn stores around as staff pharmacist. Now I could care less since retail chains make it nearly impossible to function with continuous tech hours being cut. A store really struggles when you can't even properly train your staff because there are no damn hours and you're timed on everything.
 
VP_Pharm2004 said:
Well, you must definitely have more patience that I do. Spent nearly 3.5 years helping turn stores around as staff pharmacist. Now I could care less since retail chains make it nearly impossible to function with continuous tech hours being cut. A store really struggles when you can't even properly train your staff because there are no damn hours and you're timed on everything.
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I am probably in the top 1% of pharmacists when it comes to relaxed patient attitude .. but I will admit y'all CVSers have to deal with crazy on a whole nother level.

I'd probably open my own shop if confronted with that.

That said.. if you have too many techs, nobody is going to work to their full potential.
 
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What I'll never understand about hospitals is how the executive director, CEO, etc is less educated than me and makes a ****ton more money than me. What makes someone with a MBA in healthcare administration more capable of running a hospital than a MD or pharmacist or nurse?
 
Sparda29 said:
What I'll never understand about hospitals is how the executive director, CEO, etc is less educated than me and makes a ****ton more money than me. What makes someone with a MBA in healthcare administration more capable of running a hospital than a MD or pharmacist or nurse?
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Consider the job market for CEO's and you'll have your answer. You can't compare rank and file to management. It's like arguing the smartest/best programmer at Google should be CEO.

Running a hospital/health system has more in common with running GE than being a physician.
 
confettiflyer said:
Consider the job market for CEO's and you'll have your answer. You can't compare rank and file to management. It's like arguing the smartest/best programmer at Google should be CEO.

Running a hospital/health system has more in common with running GE than being a physician.
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Well put !
 
Sparda29 said:
What I'll never understand about hospitals is how the executive director, CEO, etc is less educated than me and makes a ****ton more money than me. What makes someone with a MBA in healthcare administration more capable of running a hospital than a MD or pharmacist or nurse?
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Are you serious? Most pharmacists I know don't want to have to do anything with management. Which means these jobs are fairly easy to get from pharmacist with almost no managerial experience and poor communication skills. Worst case, you get pharmacist whose ego says they can handle it but wind up doing a more terrible job OR you get the OCD pharmacy manager who can't possibly imagine the big picture and just micromanages everything.

I could give tons of examples from what I have seen. But I'll Sparda points because most MBA programs are worthless diploma farms. IMHO, the only MBAs worth a damn come from a top 20 school that is a full-time (not silly part time) programs. And even then, any candidate (MBA or not) better come with good strategic big picture and communication skills.
 
I have never worked in a hospital setting outside of my rotations in school. That being said....

Today I went to the wake of one of my long time customers. When I introduced myself to the family, they all told me how their father spoke so highly of me and the level of care I have him. His widow said my being there meant more then I knew.

I'm not sure if you can build this type of relationship in a hospital setting. And even though I may be looking for a change, I know it will be very difficult for me to leave.
 
For those of you that love retail, I'd like to know:

1) Which company
2) Store volume
3) Population demographic

In my opinion these things make or break retail and no amount of money makes it worth it for some situations.
 
I did retail as an intern for a few years and never really like working the whole register/answering the phone thing. Only did it for a couple months for Rite Aid a bit back and was always understaffed in every store I floated at. Pay was good but I never really liked the job as I did both a pharmacist's and a tech's job and was losing weight with the lack of a defined lunch break plus all the stress. I now work overnight in a hospital and make more per hour than in retail all while being able to surf the net and watch a movie every night. Work life balance is much better and I now qualify for PLSF in ten years.... Will never go back to retail unless for a supplement job.
 
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