Is a pharmacist still a good carrer based on the current economic situation? (sales, credit)

[Drover]

Pharmacy is a practically recession-proof business. People still need their meds even in a down economy. So demand isn't the issue, it's supply. Are there more people graduating from pharmacy school than there are positions available for them? If not, then go for it.

[Drover]

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.

Who do you think mans the counters at Walgreens and Walmart? Pharmacists. Who created that distribution system in the first place? Pharmacists. Who's in charge of drug distributions at hospitals and clinics? Who creates the drugs that are distributed? Who oversees their production? Who studies their efficacy, their interactions, their long-term effects, etc.? Whose ass is on the line if you go to Walgreen's and you're given the wrong drug, the wrong dose, if a harmful interaction between an existing prescription and a new prescription isn't caught, et cetera? The pharmacist, that's who. And that's why the supposedly simple act of distributing pills won't be relegated to register jockeys any time soon. For that and the other foregoing reasons, careers in pharmacy aren't going away any time soon.

[sammieger]

Thank you guys for replying to my thread. Another reason why I asked this question is also because many of my friends told me that computers will be replacing pharmacists. However, I still believe that there are still certain tasks that could not be achieved by computers. This is one of my concerns. Anyways, thank you guys for replying my thread once again!

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by sammieger

Another reason why I asked this question is also because many of my friends told me that computers will be replacing pharmacists.

What is their justification and evidence for that statement?

[salegoi1]

Google "aggregate demand index." It might give you a better idea. I am a pharmacist and love it and have decent job security. However, I'm not sure how much I would push others to do it because there are way too many new schools opening up and the major retailers (which provide the majority of the jobs) aren't openings as many stores and so aren't hiring as many new grads. With that of course, comes a lower salary (which I would imagine will be in the future) and worse schedules/conditions. For example, even though I don't want to do it I end up having to fill in some overnight shifts (10pm-8am), and they will get mixed in with the day shifts in the same week... that will really mess with your system. Also, this is not true for many pharmacies but I don't get to take a break which means I either don't eat or try to cram in a powerbar while people from all directions are asking me to do things.

[CoolSocks]

Pharmacists are #3 on the list of the top 10 most secure jobs in 2011 according to the U.S. Department of Labor and they predict job growth for pharmacists will rise a total of 17 percent by 2018, which isn't surprising. Pharmacists are just as important/needed as doctors. They're dispensing medicine instead of practicing medicine, but still have knowledge on all kinds of medical conditions. In short, pharmacists aren't going anywhere.

Top 10 Most Secure Jobs in 2011

[cfd2rph]

Is pharmacy a good career choice - I would say no, based on my experience. I am a pharmacist and am totally overwhelmed by the need for health care professionals who understand drug therapy. Believe me, quite a few of the Doctors out there do not understand drug therapy well enough to write prescriptions without the kind help from the pharmacist. I see prescriptions all day long that are flawed and if left alone will do the patient harm. I worked Saturday and I reviewed a prescription written for a patient to take 1000 capsules twice per day - really! Then there is the business of processing that prescription in minutes, from the Doctor's order, to insurance payment, to selecting the correct drug product, to producing the proper labeling, to packaging the product. All this work flow has got to be done in minutes, while balancing the demands of hundreds of these prescriptions at any given time, and it has to be perfect. Perfect! You can go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac and receive a Quarter Pounder and there really is no harm done. In the typical pharmacy you've got 1000's of drugs, grab warfarin 10 mg instead of 1 mg, and the potential for causing a life changing event just occured. Keep in mind the phone is ringing, a customer is staring at you waiting to be served, and your technicians are grabbing your shirt asking for help. Then there is the clinical aspects of a typical patient's drug therapy - most drug programs are flawed and need help. Many, many patients are on drugs such as warfarin and cholesterol medications, such as Lipitor, that are resulting in some level of drug interactions and you don't have the time to properly manage these drug reactions. Say the Doctor raises the dose of warfarin, but fails to adjust the dose of Lipitor because now the higher dose of warfarin is causing the Lipitor levels to raise in the body. If the pharmacist had the time he would call the Doctor and discuss this drug change with the Doctor, but neither the Doctor nor the pharmacist have the time and the patient loses out. Then there is that customer waiting at the counter with an itchy rash, you want so bad to drop everything and help the customer with proper antibiotics and/or any itch cream, but there is no time, because you've got two phones calls waiting from Doctors offices calling in prescriptions.
Being a pharmacist is madness. The need is so great, but there is not enough time to properly leverage all the pharmacy skills that one has to reach a rewarding result. Of course I did not dispense a drug with directions for the patient to take 1000 capsules twice per day, but in my time on the phone of discussing what the Doctor really wanted I missed other really good opportunities to promote better health care. The pharmacist is overwhelmed. I got into pharmacy after 20 years of working as an engineer and was tired of the long, long hours of solving R&D problems in record time. Pharmacy is no different - it is a tough profession with zero room for human error. Consider Medical school instead.

[cfd2rph]

I discussed this question and my post with a Doctor friend of mine and he suggested just the opposite, don't consider Medical school and become a pharmacist. He told me that nobody really understands the stresses that a typical Doctor has to deal with. Money flow into Doctor offices is drying up and yet the demand for good quality health care is not stable, but increasing. Therapeutic choices, be it drugs or physical therapy, etc. are becoming more complex. Health care has a very large problem right now: the demand for health care services will continue to put pressure on a system that can't be afforded anymore.

[prinsessa]

I think Health Care professionals in general are over stressed. I am a Registered Nurse and it seems like there are never enough hours in my shift to finish what I need to do. My 8 hour shifts always turn into 10 or even 12 hour shifts. And this is without taking a lunch or break. We are the last people to catch any mistakes the Doctors or Pharmacists make. And we make plenty of mistakes ourselves.

People want more health care but don't want to pay for it. We have come very far in terms of health care but that also means people are staying alive longer and sicker. People who would have been in the hospital years ago are now sent home or to a Long Term Care facility (aka nursing homes). Of course worrying that a little mistake you make can kill someone or make them very sick doesn't help with the stress. Even though working in health care is stressful I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

And I don't think Pharmacists are going to be phased out anytime soon. Nurses use pharmacists all the time for questions regarding medication or for dosing of certain antibiotics. Someone asked me once if nurses will be replaced by robots one day. If that happens it will be a long time in the future. There are some things a robot just can't do, like knowing when a patient isn't quite right (even though the vital signs are stable) or holding a patients hand when he or she just got diagnosed with cancer. I'm sure the same is true with pharmacists.

[MKE-Ed]

About two years ago, I heard that the average starting salary right out of college for a pharmacist was $65,000 a year and that didn't include their sign up bonus. The job prospects for them looked very good, especially with the big drug store chains expected to hire a lot of pharmacist in the next couple of years.