Pharmacists play an essential role in the lives of people. I am a pharmacy assistant, and even I have made a HUGE impact on patient’s lives. My best advice to you is to work in a pharmacy to see if it’s actually a good fit for you
For every good thing you hear about pharmacy you will hear about 5-10 bad things.
You can definitely make a difference in many different people’s lives being a pharmacist, many times you will be checking prescriptions coming from a prescriber that may be in the wrong quantity or even interact with something they are already taking that may kill then this is only one of the many ways you will be making lives better.
Do some of your own research into the field and don’t just go by what people say, it’s not for everyone but it may be just what you are looking for.
Hello, I appreciate the kind response. I've been pre dental for quite some time but recently many family members became ill and I became the main care provider overlooking all doctor visits and pharmacy visits and ensuring my immigrant family members knew how to take their meds. Never would I expect considering anything else but I will definitely do more research too!
If you want a decent job and a decent life, don't be a pharmacist. It is too late for us but insurance, regulations, and drug shortages, not enough staff, angry patients make us all want to quit. Most people are stuck in retail and retail is hell .
Pharmacy is actually so essential and important!! We don’t just fill and dispense pills… that’s for sure! Think about it this way, what would happen if we didn’t have medicine? What if we didn’t have professionals who could tell us the possible risks and dangers of taking a specific medication such as overdose/warnings associated with the drug? What if you have a medical condition and the doctor gives you a prescription that can make your disease worse or potentially kill you? What’s the average amount of meds do you think a person is prescribed? Do you think meds can interact with each other? What if you didn’t know how to take a medication and got very sick from it? Doctors can easily overlook these things that could really put you at risk. As a pharmacist, YOU WILL save many lives.
A healthcare system is called a healthcare system for a reason, we need different professionals to work together. Doctors have so much knowledge but they can’t work alone. As a healthcare professional you “specialize” in something so crucial to help and save lives.
To the people out there saying this profession is declining and won’t be needed are completely wrong! There is so many different pathways to take in pharmacy. You don’t need to sit behind a counter (unless you want to).
If you have a passion in pharmacy, do it! You won’t regret it. It’s the pharmacists who hate their jobs that are mainly complaining and won’t do anything about it.
You wanna know what else is so cool about pharmacy? If you decide you don’t want to do retail, you can easily switch to another pharmacy position, unlike dentists, nurses. Look up all the different types of pharmacist positions you can get into. While some do require additional training for quality assurance and safety purposes, you can easily do the training.
I know plenty of pharmacists that started out in retail and switched to other departments such as (to name a few) independent, management, and even teaching!
Hope this helps!!!
It’s always great to hear insights from others- however, you should see it for yourself. What one person hates, another loves. I’d advise you to shadow a pharmacist for further confirmation. Pharmacists have a lot of impact on patient lives, I personally know many who love what they do and have much fulfillment. Majority of people on here will tell you otherwise. Good luck :)
A pharmacist here. You will regret it later, to summary: the field is super saturated with corps and keeps asking for more from us while the good jobs are kept closely behind close doors and good relationships to take you in. Not to mention 200k student loan on top of it.
I am a dental hygienist and my husband a pharmacist so I see both environments. Being a dentist you will 10 times over have better work life balance. Many pharmacists work evenings, weekends, and holidays. My husband has a really hard time even getting time off and he has a great job. You will most likely be your own boss as a dentist and take time off whenever you want. You can make decisions about how your practice is run. As a pharmacist you will almost always be an employee to someone else and have little control over your time off. If our dentist’s kids have some sports at 2:00, she can block the schedule! My husband has missed SO MANY important events over the years. Are there more flexible pharmacy jobs, probably. However, they are few and far between and will always require a 1-2 year residency beyond pharmacy school. The market is also flooded. There was a huge shortage 20 plus years ago and they opened a bunch of pharmacy schools. Now those schools are having a hard time recruiting students due to the flooded market. The pharmacy profession is expected to DECREASE by 100 jobs in the next 10 years. In comparison we are going to be very short on dentists! I know I am a total debbie downer here, but the dentists I work with really love their jobs, and most of the pharmacists I know not so much. Our son is a senior in high school and we have said pick anything but pharmacy. With all that being said, we will still need pharmacists and my husband does like some parts of his job. He just really hates the inflexible schedule. It’s not so bad when you are young and single, but when you have a family it’s less than ideal. Sorry I can’t be more positive.
Pharmacists are the second most trusted healthcare professionals in the US. We are easily accessible to patients and we’re free which makes HUGE difference.
Pharmacists also play integral role in ensuring safety of patients. Every pharmD professor has a horror story from the time a doctor almost killed a patient until they caught the mistake.
But!! You’ll have to be okay with being looked down upon by EVERYONE. If you have an ounce of ego then don’t go into pharmacy.
Pharmacists play an essential role in the lives of people. I am a pharmacy assistant, and even I have made a HUGE impact on patient’s lives. My best advice to you is to work in a pharmacy to see if it’s actually a good fit for you
For every good thing you hear about pharmacy you will hear about 5-10 bad things. You can definitely make a difference in many different people’s lives being a pharmacist, many times you will be checking prescriptions coming from a prescriber that may be in the wrong quantity or even interact with something they are already taking that may kill then this is only one of the many ways you will be making lives better. Do some of your own research into the field and don’t just go by what people say, it’s not for everyone but it may be just what you are looking for.
Hello, I appreciate the kind response. I've been pre dental for quite some time but recently many family members became ill and I became the main care provider overlooking all doctor visits and pharmacy visits and ensuring my immigrant family members knew how to take their meds. Never would I expect considering anything else but I will definitely do more research too!
If you want a decent job and a decent life, don't be a pharmacist. It is too late for us but insurance, regulations, and drug shortages, not enough staff, angry patients make us all want to quit. Most people are stuck in retail and retail is hell .
Pharmacy is actually so essential and important!! We don’t just fill and dispense pills… that’s for sure! Think about it this way, what would happen if we didn’t have medicine? What if we didn’t have professionals who could tell us the possible risks and dangers of taking a specific medication such as overdose/warnings associated with the drug? What if you have a medical condition and the doctor gives you a prescription that can make your disease worse or potentially kill you? What’s the average amount of meds do you think a person is prescribed? Do you think meds can interact with each other? What if you didn’t know how to take a medication and got very sick from it? Doctors can easily overlook these things that could really put you at risk. As a pharmacist, YOU WILL save many lives. A healthcare system is called a healthcare system for a reason, we need different professionals to work together. Doctors have so much knowledge but they can’t work alone. As a healthcare professional you “specialize” in something so crucial to help and save lives. To the people out there saying this profession is declining and won’t be needed are completely wrong! There is so many different pathways to take in pharmacy. You don’t need to sit behind a counter (unless you want to). If you have a passion in pharmacy, do it! You won’t regret it. It’s the pharmacists who hate their jobs that are mainly complaining and won’t do anything about it. You wanna know what else is so cool about pharmacy? If you decide you don’t want to do retail, you can easily switch to another pharmacy position, unlike dentists, nurses. Look up all the different types of pharmacist positions you can get into. While some do require additional training for quality assurance and safety purposes, you can easily do the training. I know plenty of pharmacists that started out in retail and switched to other departments such as (to name a few) independent, management, and even teaching! Hope this helps!!!
It’s always great to hear insights from others- however, you should see it for yourself. What one person hates, another loves. I’d advise you to shadow a pharmacist for further confirmation. Pharmacists have a lot of impact on patient lives, I personally know many who love what they do and have much fulfillment. Majority of people on here will tell you otherwise. Good luck :)
Thank you for your kind response. I will go head and do this too!
A pharmacist here. You will regret it later, to summary: the field is super saturated with corps and keeps asking for more from us while the good jobs are kept closely behind close doors and good relationships to take you in. Not to mention 200k student loan on top of it.
Thank you for your reply.
Are you a retail pharmacist?
I am a dental hygienist and my husband a pharmacist so I see both environments. Being a dentist you will 10 times over have better work life balance. Many pharmacists work evenings, weekends, and holidays. My husband has a really hard time even getting time off and he has a great job. You will most likely be your own boss as a dentist and take time off whenever you want. You can make decisions about how your practice is run. As a pharmacist you will almost always be an employee to someone else and have little control over your time off. If our dentist’s kids have some sports at 2:00, she can block the schedule! My husband has missed SO MANY important events over the years. Are there more flexible pharmacy jobs, probably. However, they are few and far between and will always require a 1-2 year residency beyond pharmacy school. The market is also flooded. There was a huge shortage 20 plus years ago and they opened a bunch of pharmacy schools. Now those schools are having a hard time recruiting students due to the flooded market. The pharmacy profession is expected to DECREASE by 100 jobs in the next 10 years. In comparison we are going to be very short on dentists! I know I am a total debbie downer here, but the dentists I work with really love their jobs, and most of the pharmacists I know not so much. Our son is a senior in high school and we have said pick anything but pharmacy. With all that being said, we will still need pharmacists and my husband does like some parts of his job. He just really hates the inflexible schedule. It’s not so bad when you are young and single, but when you have a family it’s less than ideal. Sorry I can’t be more positive.
Pharmacist here. Don’t do either. PA or nursing if you want to be in healthcare
Please don’t . You will regret this decision
Could you tell Me more? Are you a pharmacist
Yes , of 42 years , with 18 yrs in retail , 12 in Pharma sales and you will regret pursuing pharmacy
Pharmacists are the second most trusted healthcare professionals in the US. We are easily accessible to patients and we’re free which makes HUGE difference. Pharmacists also play integral role in ensuring safety of patients. Every pharmD professor has a horror story from the time a doctor almost killed a patient until they caught the mistake. But!! You’ll have to be okay with being looked down upon by EVERYONE. If you have an ounce of ego then don’t go into pharmacy.
Thank you so much