why not look into PA?

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cons from a rph perspective: not as much money initially, more hands on as in touching the patient, probably have to look at blood (which i know is a reason why people go into pharmacy), lots of paperwork to do (documentation and stuff)

as far as jobs, a lot of people are going into PA too, so who knows what happens with saturation
 
Manayy said:
if your questioning pharmacy now, why not look into PA?
what are the PROS/CONS??
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Because they dont have their own section on SDN forums.
 
but i will say there is no easy answer

do something you want to do

if you REALLY want to be a rph, then do it (you'll probably have to relocate to find a job, but if thats what you REALLY want to do, then its not a big deal, right?)

I dont think students should panic and switch into something else just b/c its the flavor of the month, and then realize hey I dont like this at all
 
although if enough people stop going into pharmacy perhaps there will one day soon be another shortage...:idea: or probably not. *shrug*
 
Cons: DREs, pelvic exams, funky nasty feet, draining abscesses , etc. *shudder*

They are not comparable careers.
 
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spacecowgirl said:
Cons: DREs, pelvic exams, funky nasty feet, draining abscesses , etc. *shudder*

They are not comparable careers.
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not like you lick and smell your fingers after doing these though.
 
If I wanted to do the type of stuff PAs do, I would have gone to medical school. I don't, which is why I'm in pharmacy school.
 
spacecowgirl said:
Cons: DREs, pelvic exams, funky nasty feet, draining abscesses , etc. *shudder*

They are not comparable careers.
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OK, the first three things are painful, I will admit. There are few things more satisfying however than opening up a huge painful abscess and evacuating a ton of pus! Every teenager has gotten satisfaction from popping a big pimple; now imagine the satisfaction with popping a pimple the size of a golfball or a baseball 😀 I usually have techs arguing over who comes in to assist me with an I&D, because they all love to watch a big abscess meet the knife as well.
 
Rx MPLS said:
If I wanted to do the type of stuff PAs do, I would have gone to medical school. I don't, which is why I'm in pharmacy school.
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Exactly. If you're academically talented, I wouldn't pan from looking into Pharm. D. to P.A. I would instead glance towards at MD or OD.
 
I don't understand this mindset some people seem to have that every job in the medical field is interchangeable. I don't think I'd ask someone "If you're not sure about being a restaurant hostess, why not become a butcher?" just because both jobs involve food.
 
I wouldn't be a PA because they get way more respect from nurses according to some folks...

oh, wait...
 
owlegrad said:
What career would you consider comparable to pharmacy?
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I get tons of PMs of people asking me dentistry VS pharmacy. So I guess they are comparable?
 
Manayy said:
if your questioning pharmacy now, why not look into PA?
what are the PROS/CONS??
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Almost everyone tells me they didn't want to do PA b/c PA schools require 3000hrs of live experience with a doctor. I don't understand why that would be hard....just get a job at a doctor's office.

PROS-job security is 1000000000000 times better than pharmacy. The demand for PA is very high and they are guarantee jobs.

CONS-even MORE patient interaction and BLOOD.

BLOOD is enough to send me running the other way.
 
there is nothing comparable to pharmd

5 yrs and a 100K salary while hands off?

thats why so many people went into it and now we have lots of saturation as a result
 
SHC1984 said:
I get tons of PMs of people asking me dentistry VS pharmacy. So I guess they are comparable?
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When I was in undergrad I wanted so bad to want to be a dentist. I love everything about the career except the work itself I could never do which is a huge problem.
 
Hello2011 said:
When I was in undergrad I wanted so bad to want to be a dentist. I love everything about the career except the work itself I could never do which is a huge problem.
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I was in dental school and DROPPED out of it b/c I hated the work so badly.

People go into dentistry b/c the money is INSANELY GOOD and if your practice is successful...you only have to work 3 days a week if you want. Dentistry also offers GREAT job security (unlike pharmacy), they don't have to worry about saturation or no jobs etc. They open their own practice.

Pretty much everything about dentistry is good, good hours, GREAT money, and great job security etc.

But the work is just to disgusting for me....but sometimes I really wish I can make a dentist's salary. If you knew how much they actually make it will make you really sick.
 
lorain said:
there is nothing comparable to pharmd

5 yrs and a 100K salary while hands off?

thats why so many people went into it and now we have lots of saturation as a result
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Commerical real estate, investment banking, hedge fund analyst, or any other kind of investor etc. are what I can think of. The jobs are CLEAN and they make six figures or more.

Oh and optometry. If I was better at physics I would have gone into optometry instead of pharmacy.
 
SHC1984 said:
Commerical real estate, investment banking, hedge fund analyst, or any other kind of investor etc. are what I can think of. The jobs are CLEAN and they make six figures or more.

Oh and optometry. If I was better at physics I would have gone into optometry instead of pharmacy.
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I contemplated optometry, but the optometry forums on sdn are defintely the worst when it comes to professionals discouraging students and talk of saturation. It's way worse than what you read on the pharmacy boards.
 
SHC1984 said:
Commerical real estate, investment banking, hedge fund analyst, or any other kind of investor etc. are what I can think of. The jobs are CLEAN and they make six figures or more.

Oh and optometry. If I was better at physics I would have gone into optometry instead of pharmacy.
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real estate? ROFL good luck with that this year

I banking? sure, you have to work 120 hours per week during internships just to make it with a company, just ridicolous work up front to make it in(and yes its muchos money once you are in)

hedge fund analyst? sure if you can pass the CFA, which is probably the HARDEST test there is in america.
 
Hello2011 said:
I contemplated optometry, but the optometry forums on sdn are defintely the worst when it comes to professionals discouraging students and talk of saturation. It's way worse than what you read on the pharmacy boards.
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lorain said:
real estate? ROFL good luck with that this year

I banking? sure, you have to work 120 hours per week during internships just to make it with a company, just ridicolous work up front to make it in(and yes its muchos money once you are in)

hedge fund analyst? sure if you can pass the CFA, which is probably the HARDEST test there is in america.
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Minor details.
 
lorain said:
real estate? ROFL good luck with that this year

I banking? sure, you have to work 120 hours per week during internships just to make it with a company, just ridicolous work up front to make it in(and yes its muchos money once you are in)

hedge fund analyst? sure if you can pass the CFA, which is probably the HARDEST test there is in america.
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And the same thing can be said about pharmacy. Sure pharmacy offers a 100K a year, but with this saturation you can only make 100K IF you can find a job. That's a big IF and not everyone can find a job in this market. SO in a way it's similar to the jobs I listed. It's only good IF you can find a job. 😉

Oh and people always assume I mean real estate as people going door to door selling houses. That is NOT commerical real estate. Commerical real estate is when you own tons of buildings you rent out to public businesses. You basically just collect RENT every month from each of the businesses that you rent to. That is the best job...provided you own tons of buildings to rent out to businesses. LOL...If I had lots of money I would go into commerical real estate right now and earn 10X my money back.
 
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nycrxdream said:
alright guys Imma ask admissions today if I can do my dual degree in MBA or PA. Which one do you guys recommend?
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do dual PA. you can do an MBA in the future on weekends and comapanies will pay for it.

you cannot do a PA degree on weekends because of the clinical components. I think this would be a very wise decision. I wish my pharm school offered this.
 
I'm curious though, what are the practical (i.e. real life) benefits of a PharmD/PA as opposed to just a PA? How would this dual degree work in clinical practice? Would you be allowed to function as both at the same time? Just trying to understand the point I guess.
 
spacecowgirl said:
Nothing.
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I had a feeling you were going to say that. 😉

But from a practical standpoint, pre-whatever students do pick from a variety of careers. I would say they usually pick from a selection of healthcare careers. I agree they (pharmacy vs PA) are not directly comparable, but it is not unusual to be in the OP's shoes and need to make a choice about your future. How many people just know pharmacy is for them and never consider another field?

NYCGuy86 said:
I'm curious though, what are the practical (i.e. real life) benefits of a PharmD/PA as opposed to just a PA? How would this dual degree work in clinical practice? Would you be allowed to function as both at the same time? Just trying to understand the point I guess.
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And you hit the nail on the head. You will either be a PA with a ridiculous amount of drug knowledge or the reverse. It is not a combo that makes any kind of sense. Plus who would want to keep two professional degrees active simultaneously?
 
owlegrad said:
But from a practical standpoint, pre-whatever students do pick from a variety of careers. I would say they usually pick from a selection of healthcare careers. I agree they (pharmacy vs PA) are not directly comparable, but it is not unusual to be in the OP's shoes and need to make a choice about your future. How many people just know pharmacy is for them and never consider another field?
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I did. But I had a lot of experience in pharmacy before I decided to go that route. I see what you're saying but I gave my reasons why I'm not interested in being a PA in my post. I don't understand the comparison of PA specifically vs PharmD. Should be MD/DO/PA/NP (not saying these are equal, I'm just lumping together the direct patient care practioners aka will I have to look at orifices normally covered by pants) vs PharmD.
 
Add me to not understanding the combo PA/PharmD degree. Why would you be paid as a pharmacist to do a PA's work. I'm not sure I understand how it's practically useful. Deciding between a dual degree with PA or MBA - those would lead you down VASTLY different paths. Decide which path you want to go down because they are so very different.
 
nycrxdream said:
alright guys Imma ask admissions today if I can do my dual degree in MBA or PA. Which one do you guys recommend?
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this is an easy one

there is NO point I see in pharmd/PA...you'll either work as one or the other

get the mba, that way you can use that in combination with the pharmD to do good things in the pharm world

but only do the mba if you are interested in management, budgets, and HR stuff
 
SHC1984 said:
And the same thing can be said about pharmacy. Sure pharmacy offers a 100K a year, but with this saturation you can only make 100K IF you can find a job. That's a big IF and not everyone can find a job in this market. SO in a way it's similar to the jobs I listed. It's only good IF you can find a job. 😉

Oh and people always assume I mean real estate as people going door to door selling houses. That is NOT commerical real estate. Commerical real estate is when you own tons of buildings you rent out to public businesses. You basically just collect RENT every month from each of the businesses that you rent to. That is the best job...provided you own tons of buildings to rent out to businesses. LOL...If I had lots of money I would go into commerical real estate right now and earn 10X my money back.
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i see where you are coming from

but traditionally pharmacy offers a safer route....we know that is changing now, but lots of students still dont see it

and i stand by the cfa comment, as I am interested in doing that in the future, step 1 pass rate is like 35% :scared:
 
spacecowgirl said:
I did. <snip.>
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Well sure, but we can't all be unicorns. 😛😉

I guess what I am asking is, what other careers should someone with an interest in pharmacy consider? I agree about the direct patient care fields not being comparable to pharmacy, but what might be a more natural field to look into? It's an honest question - if not some other healthcare job, then what?
 
owlegrad said:
I guess what I am asking is, what other careers should someone with an interest in pharmacy consider? I agree about the direct patient care fields not being comparable to pharmacy, but what might be a more natural field to look into? It's an honest question - if not some other healthcare job, then what?
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If someone is truely interested in pharmacy and LOVE pharmacology the most logical career for them to take on is research in a lab trying to develop new drugs etc. That is something someone with a true interest in pharmacy would do. Retail pharmacy does not enable one to do that at all...so hence why I say people go into retail for MONEY, not b/c they love pharmacy. :laugh:
 
lorain said:
i see where you are coming from

but traditionally pharmacy offers a safer route....we know that is changing now, but lots of students still dont see it

and i stand by the cfa comment, as I am interested in doing that in the future, step 1 pass rate is like 35% :scared:
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Why is the CFA so hard? I really don't know much about those fields...I just know they make the real BIG BUCKS.

If you are interested in that why did you not go into business instead? why did you do pharmacy?

If I can do anything I would choose commerical real estate. If I had some start up money I would do it right now and QUIT pharmacy! :laugh: The only reason I am in pharmacy is b/c I need the start up money for bigger/better things like commerical real estate and other forms of investing. That's where the REAL money is at. If I win the lottery I would go straight into commerical real estate RIGHT NOW.
 
Immunization? There is a increase for the pharmacist to do primary care. In certain states they can prescribe medicine under a supervision of a physician. Sounds like pa? In ny state I think they are passing or passed a bill a few weeks ago to allow pharmacist to be like PA. Primary care is on the raise, I'm doing PA dual because of everyone doom and gloom and because I want to have that knowledge. I guess ill just use my MBA for retail pharmacy though... Also Hippocrates was a physician and had pharmacy knowledge... Why can't I have some extent of primary care knowledge... If not for the job, just for the knowledge itself.
 
SHC1984 said:
Why is the CFA so hard? I really don't know much about those fields...I just know they make the real BIG BUCKS.

If you are interested in that why did you not go into business instead? why did you do pharmacy?

If I can do anything I would choose commerical real estate. If I had some start up money I would do it right now and QUIT pharmacy! :laugh: The only reason I am in pharmacy is b/c I need the start up money for bigger/better things like commerical real estate and other forms of investing. That's where the REAL money is at. If I win the lottery I would go straight into commerical real estate RIGHT NOW.
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i only realized i liked business once i got working in a pharmacy and dealing with budgets and stuff...youre not really exposed to that stuff before

i have both business and pharm degrees....i am leaning more towards the business side long term given the saturation in pharm and how hard it has become to find jobs (this is me for long term)...i dont mind pharmacy at all, i love the field....but long term, where my family is from, and if I marry who Im involved with now (she cant move since shes partner), I cant sniff a job in that area in a 4 hr radius (even with me willing to drive 1.5 hrs each way each day, I cant find anything), hence I am looking at other non pharm careers...currently i have a decent job, but its far away from everything and only something I can do for a short period

basically all im trying to say is that if you want the opportunity to be be able to move around during your working career, pharmacy is not really the field anymore (unless of course you have a niche to differentiate yourself from new grads)


the CFA is a ridicolous test that covers a lot of information, i dont make the test so dont ask me why its so hard.....but once you get (and the pass rates are low) you are open to a world of opportunities not seen b4
 
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SHC1984 said:
If someone is truely interested in pharmacy and LOVE pharmacology the most logical career for them to take on is research in a lab trying to develop new drugs etc. That is something someone with a true interest in pharmacy would do. Retail pharmacy does not enable one to do that at all...so hence why I say people go into retail for MONEY, not b/c they love pharmacy. :laugh:
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I don't understand why you don't think people can love retail pharmacy. No one is going to love every part of it, but it is possible for people to enjoy it on the whole.
 
owlegrad said:
I don't understand why you don't think people can love retail pharmacy. No one is going to love every part of it, but it is possible for people to enjoy it on the whole.
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I'm going into pharmacy for retail. Since nobody else is, I'm betting on no competition for jobs. Or I guess I could no a residency and waste another year making no money, have my student loan interest shoot through the roof and dealing with even more educational BS, then MAYBE get a hospital job making less than retail and have to smell gross, old people all day while I preform OMM/spinal manipulation/hocos pocos/astrology or MTM, whatever it's called.
 
Hello2011 said:
I'm going into pharmacy for retail. Since nobody else is, I'm betting on no competition for jobs. Or I guess I could no a residency and waste another year making no money, have my student loan interest shoot through the roof and dealing with even more educational BS, then MAYBE get a hospital job making less than retail and have to smell gross, old people all day while I preform OMM/spinal manipulation/hocos pocos/astrology or MTM, whatever it's called.
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You might want to do a bit more research before you commit to pharmacy. :meanie:
 
This is from my point of view bcuz i seriously considered this profession for a minute literally a minute.

Pros-finish quicker, less money for schooling, help people, lots of jobs, alot of different specialities, more biology less chemistry

Cons- super competitive to get into PA programs, direct pt contact (no telling what you will end up with next), even more classes to take than pharmacy just to make sure your application is super competitive to get in, you make less money and do more work, have to complete at least 1000 direct pt hours on top of what you already have in pharmacy and some schools do not consider pharmacy hours direct pt hours so you have to start from strach

I sat myself down and was completely honest with myself (and after that I shadow a PA because I wasnt been honest with myself). After shadowing I reliaze PA wasnt for me I kept asking myself if I finish PA school would I be satisfied with my choice I honestly said no. Pharmacy is my passion! Its tough but this is where I belong!
 
lorain said:
i only realized i liked business once i got working in a pharmacy and dealing with budgets and stuff...youre not really exposed to that stuff before

i have both business and pharm degrees....i am leaning more towards the business side long term given the saturation in pharm and how hard it has become to find jobs (this is me for long term)...i dont mind pharmacy at all, i love the field....but long term, where my family is from, and if I marry who Im involved with now (she cant move since shes partner), I cant sniff a job in that area in a 4 hr radius (even with me willing to drive 1.5 hrs each way each day, I cant find anything), hence I am looking at other non pharm careers...currently i have a decent job, but its far away from everything and only something I can do for a short period
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If you can't find a job, why not make a job for yourself? Open up a pharmacy, use your business skills. This country needs more independent pharmacies so pharmacists have an alternative to working in chains (pun intended).
 
nycrxdream said:
In ny state I think they are passing or passed a bill a few weeks ago to allow pharmacist to be like PA.
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Really? I'm curious about this. Do you have anymore info on this (links?). I've read about pharmacist clinicians and clinical pharmacist practitioners, so I'd be interested in hearing more about this development in NY.
 
Ackj said:
If you can't find a job, why not make a job for yourself? Open up a pharmacy, use your business skills. This country needs more independent pharmacies so pharmacists have an alternative to working in chains (pun intended).
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hahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha


ok sir let me get this straight, you are a new graduate with 200k in debt
you want our BANK to loan you money to start a NEW BUSINESS in the economy where banks are NOT lending money
then you can try to compete with the big chains and get demolished

keep dreaming young pharmacy student, keep dreaming
 
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