Is a pharmacist still a good carrer based on the current economic situation? (Chicago: insurance, school)

[sammieger]

I am just a sophomore in college and am still deciding what I want to be by the time I graduate. However, I have something in my mind already, which is being a pharmacist. Could anyone tell me if being a pharmacist a good decision based on the current or the future condition because I don't want to spend another 4 years in a pharmacy school if pharmacists would be eliminated in the future.

[tonythetuna]

I have no idea. Maybe this thread should be in the general U.S. forum for jobs since the question is not Chicago specific.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by sammieger

I am just a sophomore in college and am still deciding what I want to be by the time I graduate. However, I have something in my mind already, which is being a pharmacist. Could anyone tell me if being a pharmacist a good decision based on the current or the future condition because I don't want to spend another 4 years in a pharmacy school if pharmacists would be eliminated in the future.

No one can predict the future, especially with health care changes possible.

However, given the aging of the population, most people think pharmacists will have significantly better-than-average job security for at least the next 10-20 years. Predicting jobs beyond 20 years is pretty much meaningless.

[tomcho]

Health care professionals and funeral directors are always going to be in demand.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by tomcho

Health care professionals and funeral directors and always going to be in demand.

Garbage men too.

[JacksonPanther]

Tell me again what it is that pharmacists do? Count pills? Add liquid to concentrate?

This isn't 1940, and you're not gonna be Mr Gower from It's a Wonderful Life, mixing medicine from scratch. In today's world there's no way this "career" manages to stay around too much longer. Not with the Walgreens and Walmarts of the world continuing to dumb down the distribution of medicine.

[ofcjim40]

And who do you think distributes the medicine? It's still Pharmacists. Oddly enough when I first entered college I started to pursue Pharmacy. It is very intensive study with a lot of Chemistry, etc. I happened to go to a University where the College of Pharmacy was very competitive to get in to. Only about 30 out of 300 made it in. My GPA was 3.8 out of 4 and I didn't make it in. Granted in hind sight I'm glad I didn't make it because I love being a Cop and I think would honestly be bored doing Pharmacy, but my initial interest was because it is a high paying career. Now I know some things might have changed over the past decade, but I'm sure it is still a competitive and challenging career path. Go to to an advisor at school and have him/her put you in touch with advisors or professors in the program so that they might give you some solid guidance and advice. A Pharmacist isn't limited to just spending your time behind the counter at Walgreens, there is more diversity to the profession than that.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Tell me again what it is that pharmacists do? Count pills? Add liquid to concentrate?

This isn't 1940, and you're not gonna be Mr Gower from It's a Wonderful Life, mixing medicine from scratch. In today's world there's no way this "career" manages to stay around too much longer. Not with the Walgreens and Walmarts of the world continuing to dumb down the distribution of medicine.

Actually I took pharm tech and what you are describing is called compounding and it still happens whenever a drug is needed in a different form or the patient requests (and pays for it). For instance a drug that is only in a pill needs to be given to a patient who can't swallow. Also in order to dispense drugs there must be a registered pharmacist and so even at Wal-Mart or Walgreens there is one on every shift.


From what I can tell a pharmacist will still be needed. There are drug interactions, drugs that should not be given to people with certain conditions, drugs that should not be given to people of certain gender, Narcotics which come in five classes and each class has varying lengths of time associated with how long you can legally prescribe them and the amount you can give out. There is even a drug for epilepsy that by state law that cannot be substituted.

There is an antibiotic that can’t be stored in liquid form for more than 3 days ( I think). If stored as a liquid it turns toxic after a certain amount of time. However it is often put in liquid form to give to small children.

Even filling a prescription isn’t easy. You have to check three times to make sure you have the right drug and dosage. If more than one generic is present you must fill with the generic that the patient last got and you must keep multiple generics present because different insurance companies have deals with pharmaceutical companies such that blue cross members might get one generic and other insurance companies another.

Oh and there is a book which rates how well generics perform in various tests vs. the non generic which allows the pharmacist to choose the best generic if he should need to order it. Also a file is kept at the pharmacy about your prescription history and the answers to questions about health conditions you have such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

A pharmacist basically knows more about any particular drug than a doctor and that is his job. To know as much as possible about different drugs. A pharmacist also can make recommendations to doctors concerning prescriptions (in a hospital setting this is more common for a doctor to ask the pharmacist if he can prescribe something). A pharmacist can also recommend over the counter drugs to patient(i.e. If a person has Diarrhea it does little good to be using gas x) and if the diarrhea or other condition has gone on too long it may be time to see a doctor.

Oh even in the dispensing of the drugs you can’t use the same tablet for antibiotics as for regular drugs because of allergic reactions.

Did you also know that a prescription is good for up to a year after it is signed and that certain information much be present on the prescription or else it cannot be filled(Date, Doctor’s name, telephone number, drug, dosage, and if it is a narcotic the doctor’s drug id number). My recommendation to the op is that he take pharmacy tech and see if he likes working in a pharmacy. Lots of pharmacist started off that way.

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by chirack

Actually I took pharm tech and what you are describing is called compounding and it still happens whenever a drug is needed in a different form or the patient requests (and pays for it). For instance a drug that is only in a pill needs to be given to a patient who can't swallow. Also in order to dispense drugs there must be a registered pharmacist and so even at Wal-Mart or Walgreens there is one on every shift.


From what I can tell a pharmacist will still be needed. There are drug interactions, drugs that should not be given to people with certain conditions, drugs that should not be given to people of certain genders, Narcotics which come in five classes and each class has varying lengths of time associated with how long you can legally prescribe them and the amount you can give out. There is even a drug for epilepsy that by state law that cannot be substituted.

There is an antibiotic that can’t be stored in liquid form for more than 3 days ( I think). If stored as a liquid it turns toxic after a certain amount of time. However it is often put in liquid form to give to small children.

Even filling a prescription isn’t easy. You have to check three times to make sure you have the right drug and dosage. If more than one generic is present you must fill with the generic that the patient last got and you must keep multiple generics present because different insurance companies have deals with pharmaceutical companies such that blue cross members might get one generic and other insurance companies another.

Oh and there is a book which rates how well generics perform in various tests vs. the non generic which allows the pharmacist to choose the best generic if he should need to order it. Also a file is kept at the pharmacy about your prescription history and the answers to questions about health conditions you have such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

A pharmacist basically knows more about any particular drug than a doctor and that is his job. To know as much as possible about different drugs. A pharmacist also can make recommendations to doctors concerning prescriptions (in a hospital setting this is more common for a doctor to ask the pharmacist if he can prescribe something). A pharmacist can also recommend over the counter drugs to patient(i.e. If a person has Diarrhea it does little good to be using gas x) and if the diarrhea or other condition has gone on too long it may be time to see a doctor.

Oh even in the dispensing of the drugs you can’t use the same tablet for antibiotics as for regular drugs because of allergic reactions.

Did you also know that a prescription is good for up to a year after it is signed and that certain information much be present on the prescription or else it cannot be filled(Date, Doctor’s name, telephone number, drug, dosage, and if it is a narcotic the doctor’s drug id number). My recommendation to the op is that he take pharmacy tech and see if he like working in a pharmacy. Lots of pharmacist started off that way.

This has to be your best post ever IMO. Good for you.

[girltalk]

Originally Posted by tomcho

Health care professionals and funeral directors are always going to be in demand.

Not really. I worked in the "death" or "final arrangements" business. Believe it or not, there are funeral directors getting laid off! Funerals are very expensive and the trend now is just simple cremation.