Why I Chose Medicine

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if physicians were competent when it came to drugs - why do pharms need to check their work?

Because everyone makes mistakes. 😛

 

[Z e r o X]

I don't want to be a doctor because I don't want to do a digital rectal examination or check other males for testicular cancer.

Being a pharmacist is better in that you don't have to touch males for testicular cancer. But the pay is so much less...

Is there any way for a pharmacist to earn as much as a high paying surgeon (500k +) ?

 

[kwakster928]

Being a pharmacist is better in that you don't have to touch males for testicular cancer. But the pay is so much less...

Is there any way for a pharmacist to earn as much as a high paying surgeon (500k +) ?

being a pharmacist is better because we dont have to pick up someone else's grabage everyday but we get paid so much more. i know it is an extreme example but everything is relative. if you are in 100 for the money, you will regret it.

 

[ForgetMeNot]

I'm so glad this thread got revived. 🙄

 

[Z e r o X]

You can't get diseases from being a pharmacist because you don't have to touch sick people.

 

[Glycerin]

You can't get diseases from being a pharmacist because you don't have to touch sick people.

No, you just get to talk face-to-face with people who have flu or some other contagious infection in a retail setting, or something in the hospital, you get to go into a patient's room who may have something contagious. 🙄

 

[bananaface]

You can't get diseases from being a pharmacist because you don't have to touch sick people.

Pinworms, pinkeye, the flu, anything communicable we can get from being around parients. Many of us come into contact with way more sick people on a daily basis than say an FP. We deal with blood products too if we are handling used diabetes meters or doing cholesterol screening. And, technically we have the potential for a needle stick when we do flu shots. We aren't immune to disease transmission by any means.

 

[lazydazy]

Pinworms, pinkeye, the flu, anything communicable we can get from being around parients. Many of us come into contact with way more sick people on a daily basis than say an FP. We deal with blood products too if we are handling used diabetes meters or doing cholesterol screening. And, technically we have the potential for a needle stick when we do flu shots. We aren't immune to disease transmission by any means.

does a pharmacist actually administer a flu shot, screen cholesterol, and check a patient's sugar level? i noticed in retail that the stores will have signs posted for diabetes & cholesterol screenings or flu shots, etc. i thought that a nurse would be hired to come in and work at the store to do such tests. i know from volunteering in a hospital that a pharmacist would do such tasks. just curious...

Thanks!

 

[azynchica]

does a pharmacist actually administer a flu shot, screen cholesterol, and check a patient's sugar level? i noticed in retail that the stores will have signs posted for diabetes & cholesterol screenings or flu shots, etc. i thought that a nurse would be hired to come in and work at the store to do such tests. i know from volunteering in a hospital that a pharmacist would do such tasks. just curious...

Thanks!

Yup, the Sav-on I work at will start offering diabetes and cholesterol testings within the next month. The pharmacists I work with had to also watch training videos for it. Some retail pharmacies do hire nurses to do this though, so i guess it depends on where you go. 👍

 

[Trancelucent1]

There are many clinical pharmacists in clinics that screen cholesterol an check sugar level's. You'd be hardpressed to find them in most retail chains though. They are usually at specialty clinics. And as far as administering flu shots, I think that Washington state is the only one where pharmacists can administer flu shots. I think this will be changing in the future though.

 

[ApothRM]

Actually, there are 43 states in which pharmacists can give immunizations. Florida and New York not being one of them. I actually spent much of last week in the state capital lobbying for pharmacist's ability to immunize in Florida.
AMA is extremely opposed to this.

 

[njac]

personally, the OB/GYN rotation is enough for me to avoid med school. There are some fields I think I would love, but I hate babies enough that one required rotation is enough to steer me away from the field.

 

[tmbbmt]

personally, the OB/GYN rotation is enough for me to avoid med school. There are some fields I think I would love, but I hate babies enough that one required rotation is enough to steer me away from the field.

don't know why i found this so funny. do you like dead baby jokes? A girl on my cheer team HATED babies so we always told them. i so want to post a joke but im sure it will offend ppl.

 

[njac]

lol

dead baby jokes don't bother me. but oh god babies do. I just could not spend 6 weeks dealign with slimy nasty germ mongers.

Can I say that in mypharm interview? "so why don't you want to be a dr?" "well the ob/gyn rotation involves feces covered germ mongers so I thought I'd find another profession"

 

[dgroulx]

Actually, there are 43 states in which pharmacists can give immunizations. Florida and New York not being one of them. I actually spent much of last week in the state capital lobbying for pharmacist's ability to immunize in Florida.
AMA is extremely opposed to this.

I went to Legislative Days, too. I also went last year and lobbyed, but with the same results. They always tell me that the AMA doesn't want us infringing in their territory and that they have more power than the pharmacist's lobby. How did you make out?

 

[dgroulx]

don't know why i found this so funny. do you like dead baby jokes? A girl on my cheer team HATED babies so we always told them. i so want to post a joke but im sure it will offend ppl.

I absolutely love dead baby jokes. I probably know them all, but go ahead and post one anyway.

 

[tmbbmt]

what's the difference between a bucket full of dead babies and a bucket full of bowling balls?

you can't stick a pitchfork in a bucket full of bowling balls.

 

[Caverject]

Dana,

Thats why that jackass Jim King needs to get voted out. Once he is out, we can have more pharmacist friendly legislation.

 

[ApothRM]

I think I made out pretty well. Many of the reps I spoke with seemed to embrace the idea, and really couldn't understand why the FMA had an arguement. Two of the senators I spoke with were practicing physcians, and the openly admitted that they lost money giving vaccinations.
All in all it went pretty well. It was my first time, so i was kinda nervous.

 

[Z e r o X]

No, you just get to talk face-to-face with people who have flu or some other contagious infection in a retail setting, or something in the hospital, you get to go into a patient's room who may have something contagious. 🙄

If the pharmacist gets sick, so would the cashier, technician, and every other person in the retail setting. And thats rare and unheard of.

 

[kwakster928]

If the pharmacist gets sick, so would the cashier, technician, and every other person in the retail setting. And thats rare and unheard of.

you must have had zero immunology or you are just playing stupid.

 

[sbass0317]

I find it very interesting how the pre-med and med students come into this forum saying how their job will be better and pay more than a pharmacists will. Well there is one thing that most of you pre-med and med students are overlooking, that is MALPRACTICE INSURANCE. You hear about this in the news all the time how doctors like OBGYN's are going broke because of malpractice insurance. So if we were to compare a regular doctors salary to a pharmacists salary I believe they would be very comparable with slight delineation going in the medical doctors favor, however, pharmacists have a better quality of life than does say a surgeon. Also, I'm not saying that a surgeon or anesthesiologist won't make more than a pharmacist, but there again you need to take into account malpractice insurance, which for both is sky high and almost incomprehensible. So in closing, to all of those pre-med and medical students who think they will be getting more, you need to think again and look at all the expenses and bills that come with becoming a doctor, because in the end both pharmacists and physicians have a doctorate and get comparable salaries at the end of the day when all bills and expenses are calculated. The reason I choose pharmacy is for quality of life, I want a family and I don't want to wait for 8 years to have one (4 years school, 4 years residency).

 

[Z e r o X]

I find it very interesting how the pre-med and med students come into this forum saying how their job will be better and pay more than a pharmacists will. Well there is one thing that most of you pre-med and med students are overlooking, that is MALPRACTICE INSURANCE. You hear about this in the news all the time how doctors like OBGYN's are going broke because of malpractice insurance. So if we were to compare a regular doctors salary to a pharmacists salary I believe they would be very comparable with slight delineation going in the medical doctors favor, however, pharmacists have a better quality of life than does say a surgeon. Also, I'm not saying that a surgeon or anesthesiologist won't make more than a pharmacist, but there again you need to take into account malpractice insurance, which for both is sky high and almost incomprehensible. So in closing, to all of those pre-med and medical students who think they will be getting more, you need to think again and look at all the expenses and bills that come with becoming a doctor, because in the end both pharmacists and physicians have a doctorate and get comparable salaries at the end of the day when all bills and expenses are calculated. The reason I choose pharmacy is for quality of life, I want a family and I don't want to wait for 8 years to have one (4 years school, 4 years residency).

Doctors make about 500k a year. That accounts to millions more over their working life. Its a a better investment.

 

[kwakster928]

Doctors make about 500k a year. That accounts to millions more over their working life. Its a a better investment.

i demand a full statstical analysis of your claim, beginning from projected income of this year factor in inflation rate, taxes, malpractice insurance rate, frindge benefit, investment return, roan payments, IRA, HSA (if you have it), FSA(if you have it) and most importantly dont forget to include the impact of current interest increase by feds (assume .3% rise every fiscal year) for each year until the year 2015. then get back to me.

p.s. also assume you will be paying current rate in medicare, social security, and wage taxes until 2010, and 1.2% rise in medicare, and social security rate starting from year 2011 to year 2015

 

[Z e r o X]

i demand a full statstical analysis of your claim, beginning from projected income of this year factor in inflation rate, taxes, malpractice insurance rate, frindge benefit, investment return, roan payments, IRA, HSA (if you have it), FSA(if you have it) and most importantly dont forget to include the impact of current interest increase by feds (assume .3% rise every fiscal year) for each year until the year 2015. then get back to me.

p.s. also assume you will be paying current rate in medicare, social security, and wage taxes until 2010, and 1.2% rise in medicare, and social security rate starting from year 2011 to year 2015

Its the same in every field.

 

[kwakster928]

Its the same in every field.

you just proved yourself that you are the most financially incompetant person in this forum, yet all you talk about income and etc. what a waste of space. 👎

 

[Z e r o X]

i demand a full statstical analysis of your claim, beginning from projected income of this year factor in inflation rate, taxes, malpractice insurance rate, frindge benefit, investment return, roan payments, IRA, HSA (if you have it), FSA(if you have it) and most importantly dont forget to include the impact of current interest increase by feds (assume .3% rise every fiscal year) for each year until the year 2015. then get back to me.

p.s. also assume you will be paying current rate in medicare, social security, and wage taxes until 2010, and 1.2% rise in medicare, and social security rate starting from year 2011 to year 2015

Even with all that expenses, doctors still earn more than pharmacist.

 

[OoShimmeroO]

I personally know a bunch of pharmacists and doctors. The doctors live in bigger houses and have more vacation time. The doctors also don't complain as much as the pharmacists.