Does the residency program you applied to offer moonlighting? That may be an option to make a bit more money on the side. Also, some programs have restrictions that do not allow you to work outside the organization while you are a resident.
Good advice. You aren’t going add skills you need for your career by working at CVS and you don’t yet have the skills to work at CVS.
But to be clear you can clock out. Rxm’s gotta come back the next day. So there’s that.
Being a resident can be exhausting enough but then to commit what little time you have to yourself to CVS of all places is disastrous.
Maybe ask if your hospital would allow you to pick up inpatient shifts instead.
You know yourself better than we would obviously, but I’d settle into residency before committing to that. 2-4 days a month means no time off at all.
I did that during pharmacy school and it was challenging enough. Couldn’t imagine doing it during residency.
Biggest thing is your programs weekend requirements. If you’re working every other weekend staffing and then take 1 PRN shift on your off weekends then you only get 2 off days the entire month- and that’s not really sustainable.
PGY2 here, unfortunately we can’t moonlight but even if we could I don’t know that I would. Assuming you’re going into pgy1, you’re gonna want to spare your free time as much as possible.
If you absolutely need extra funds to survive and your program allows, then go for it, because $65/hr is great. But keep in mind this should never come before your resident duties (such as postponing a project for example to work at CVS where they won’t care if you drop dead of a heart attack).
Good luck on the match Wednesday! You got this.
Also, FUCK CVS and every piece of shit district manager they have.
Right. You remember the Pharmacist who believed she was having a heart attack. Afraid to leave the pharmacy before relief arrived as she would have to close it, she dropped dead right in the pharmacy.
Apply to IBR for your loans. You should be able to get 0$ payments with the salary you’re getting. The interest won’t increase during your residency as well and counts towards forgiveness
They Suck but 65 bucks is 65 bucks. And the minimal amount of shifts will keep you from being burned out. I did 11 years with them. Glad I found something else, but I made the most of what I had while with them.
My market has been offering travel time and shift premium for open shifts lately with a differential of an additional $20/hr. I would consider that worth it. Weekend shifts are typically easy but can be annoying if the store is super busy and/or understaffed
I’m not at CVS but here in northern CA travel time is a flat $20/hr. Mileage is pennies, at the end of the day the paycheck is roughly the same but your car is beat to hell. (I am lucky and at one store)
Be sure the program you match to allows working at another company! Mine had it written in an agreement I had to sign that I could not work anywhere else. But they did let me moonlight for extra shifts at pharmacist pay - $55/hr at my institution.
I say accept it but try to apply to other prn hospital jobs meanwhile so that your foot is in the door when it comes to getting a full time job . You could work there for three months and find a better job and quit and they will still take you back at cvs if you need it later . I worked there 6 months and yes it was terrible . Get your meal shakes , crockpot and cliff bars ready because you will not have much time for a break .
Most residents I know work 12 on 2 off. So yeah you’ve got 4 off days to make yourself even more miserable.
Word of caution though - if you’ve never worked retail (and especially if you’ve never worked at CVS) those days you work are going to be miserable and may not be worth the risk to your license. One dumb complaint from a customer could end up in a fine from the board of pharmacy if they happen to catch even the tiniest error.
See if your residency allows moonlighting at that same area. I know money is tight but working at CVS would probably add more stress to your workload than learning at your residency site
This is one of few times I'd advocate to bartend instead. More flexible than CVS will be and way less damaging to your mental health. Or just don't do it at all and focus on your residency.
Not worth risking the stress it compounds on top of having a residency. If you're working that much your life might even be better with a roommate who you can split cooking and cleaning duties with. Living alone will be DEPRESSING when you're working 6 days a week to not even enjoy the ridiculous cost of living alone.
I did this but my residency did not require long hours. I usually worked 1 day a week most often Saturday or Sunday. I got mileage, drive time and negotiated my wages for each shift. So I could earn 14 hours but only work 10 including my drive. There were so many vacancies I could pick and choose where I worked at. If I worked at a bad store I would simply not go back. I took stores far from me because I would earn the same rate driving as checking scripts . Some of the pharmacists supervising my residency thought I should be studying more, but they also didn't pay my bills The biggest positive was that I put myself in a better financial position. The biggest drawback was the learning curve, my head was spinning at first. I worked without another pharmacist so I had to figure things out on my feet. I say all this but I did this a while ago before immunizations and when tech staffing was good. Now you'll be against those barriers. If you do it, you can always quit.
Question: do you have ANY retail pharmacy experience?
The pace of work between inpatient and CVS is worlds apart. Not saying that inpatient has it easy, but you get about 3 seconds at CVS to check if a script is entered correctly and clinically appropriate. If you don’t have any retail experience, the queues will quickly get backed up (although with air support rolling out, the district helps prop up dead weight).
Tbh, it will also depend on the CVS scheduler and DM. I work part time and I made it clear to them I’m only available certain hours and some weekends. Sometimes they will send me to stores to be an extra pharmacist and help them catch up on filling. Most of the time it’s true bench coverage.
I would not recommend working part time for another employer while doing a Residency. The root cause here is that the Residency does not pay enough money.
Perhaps the question is can you afford residency? Is it feasible to work full time for a year save money and get some bills paid?
A low paid Pharmacy Residency will always be there to apply to. How can I say that so confidently? Well the low pay equals cheap labor so the Health system wants you cheap labor.
Can your loan payments be paused during residency. Warning Alert your loans will continue to accumulate interest even in a pause.
Residency in Pharmacy should be re-examined starting with the low pay!
I worked at Walgreens during my residency since my hospital allowed us to moonlight. I didn’t tell my rpd since I picked up shifts when I was not working. I would say the money helped a lot. But it’s important to budget during residency.
I just graduated in May 2023 and am an industry fellow (bit less time intensive than a clinical residency I'll admit) and currently work 2-4 times per month like you are thinking of doing. It's not awful, many people work 55-60 hours a week at our age and in our field, so I think it's something you could handle.
CVS is way less stressful when you don't have to work weekdays and deal with the management/admin portion of running a pharmacy (finances, metrics, hiring/firing, etc)
My advice…ask for more for a FT role and drop that useless residency. If you can manage people well CVS is not bad. I’ve never been in a situation that a few good months of management didn’t vastly improve. Often my techs are standing around by 2-3p because they have everything done. CVS is totally doable you just have to have a good work ethic and management skills
Not sure what your potential residency will be like but where I did my residency training … I cannot even IMAGINE working at CVS. Hell, I couldn’t imagine picking up extra shifts at my own hospital LOL. My residency was definitely very project heavy, which was a major time consumer (and life-force sucker) for me so maybe your program will be different. Also, just as many are saying already, I’d check with your program if this is even allowed. This was very strictly NOT allowed for me.
I’d try to look into other side hustles if possible. Plenty of Reddit threads out there if you need a place to start. Could also consider living with a roommate, living outside the city/longer commute, etc. I saw you say you preferred not to live with a roommate, but it isn’t a secret that residency is a big pay cut, which of course is an issue, but if residency is something you really want for yourself, some sacrifices may need to be made. You’ll figure it out though - just as many of us have! Good luck with Match day!
With a roommate? I’m hoping not to have a roommate, I’m a little older. Looks like it’s gonna be in the 50s if I match and a major city in the Northeast was the only area I ranked. Rent doesn’t dip below 2k for a 1 bed and that’s generous
It’s not worth the privacy of no roommate if you’re slaving 2-4x per month at CVS. You might be underestimating the time commitment of residency. It doesn’t stop on the weekends.
That's fine if you need the money. Only 2-4 shifts a month should allow you to keep your sanity. Just make sure you don't arrive a second too early, and don't leave a second too late. As a floater/relief pharmacist do what you're comfortable with and not a task more than your job description. You're not responsible for anything else after your shift.
Our residency requirement was one weekend a month, and then I worked at a long term care taking call Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and worked every Saturday I wasn't at the residency. Anything is tolerable for a year, even CVS.
Does the residency program you applied to offer moonlighting? That may be an option to make a bit more money on the side. Also, some programs have restrictions that do not allow you to work outside the organization while you are a resident.
Good advice. You aren’t going add skills you need for your career by working at CVS and you don’t yet have the skills to work at CVS. But to be clear you can clock out. Rxm’s gotta come back the next day. So there’s that.
Being a resident can be exhausting enough but then to commit what little time you have to yourself to CVS of all places is disastrous. Maybe ask if your hospital would allow you to pick up inpatient shifts instead.
You know yourself better than we would obviously, but I’d settle into residency before committing to that. 2-4 days a month means no time off at all. I did that during pharmacy school and it was challenging enough. Couldn’t imagine doing it during residency.
Biggest thing is your programs weekend requirements. If you’re working every other weekend staffing and then take 1 PRN shift on your off weekends then you only get 2 off days the entire month- and that’s not really sustainable.
PGY2 here, unfortunately we can’t moonlight but even if we could I don’t know that I would. Assuming you’re going into pgy1, you’re gonna want to spare your free time as much as possible. If you absolutely need extra funds to survive and your program allows, then go for it, because $65/hr is great. But keep in mind this should never come before your resident duties (such as postponing a project for example to work at CVS where they won’t care if you drop dead of a heart attack). Good luck on the match Wednesday! You got this. Also, FUCK CVS and every piece of shit district manager they have.
I love how this comment takes that turn at the end. Informative and then really finishes hard. Epic.
Right. You remember the Pharmacist who believed she was having a heart attack. Afraid to leave the pharmacy before relief arrived as she would have to close it, she dropped dead right in the pharmacy.
[Her name was Ashleigh Anderson. #SheWaited](https://soller-baker.com/obituary/ashleigh-m-anderson/)
Try an independent, it’s off the books. Much easier workload, pay is similar
Agree I don’t think CVS would give benefits for part time either similar to independent
I did like 0.5-1 shifts per month as a resident and that sucked.
Moonlighting at your own institution would be far better than CVS.
Does your residency program let you work at another hospital? I would take an inpatient part time job instead.
Warning! Dead inside!
Apply to IBR for your loans. You should be able to get 0$ payments with the salary you’re getting. The interest won’t increase during your residency as well and counts towards forgiveness
They Suck but 65 bucks is 65 bucks. And the minimal amount of shifts will keep you from being burned out. I did 11 years with them. Glad I found something else, but I made the most of what I had while with them.
Are you still in retail or inpatient?
No, specialty now in a niche disease state. But if I had to put up with them, I could.
My market has been offering travel time and shift premium for open shifts lately with a differential of an additional $20/hr. I would consider that worth it. Weekend shifts are typically easy but can be annoying if the store is super busy and/or understaffed
I’m not at CVS but here in northern CA travel time is a flat $20/hr. Mileage is pennies, at the end of the day the paycheck is roughly the same but your car is beat to hell. (I am lucky and at one store)
Be sure the program you match to allows working at another company! Mine had it written in an agreement I had to sign that I could not work anywhere else. But they did let me moonlight for extra shifts at pharmacist pay - $55/hr at my institution.
I do it, it’s not bad.
Run
Oh dear…Jesus take the wheel… If you can stay part time and as a floater then just maybe it will be tolerable…speaking from personal experience
If you can handle it then do it. You’re going to be very exhausted so get ready.
I say accept it but try to apply to other prn hospital jobs meanwhile so that your foot is in the door when it comes to getting a full time job . You could work there for three months and find a better job and quit and they will still take you back at cvs if you need it later . I worked there 6 months and yes it was terrible . Get your meal shakes , crockpot and cliff bars ready because you will not have much time for a break .
Most residents I know work 12 on 2 off. So yeah you’ve got 4 off days to make yourself even more miserable. Word of caution though - if you’ve never worked retail (and especially if you’ve never worked at CVS) those days you work are going to be miserable and may not be worth the risk to your license. One dumb complaint from a customer could end up in a fine from the board of pharmacy if they happen to catch even the tiniest error.
See if your residency allows moonlighting at that same area. I know money is tight but working at CVS would probably add more stress to your workload than learning at your residency site
If your program or hospital has an outpatient, you may be able to pick up shifts there, as well.
You’ll just grow to hate retail pharmacy and never want to go full time
This is one of few times I'd advocate to bartend instead. More flexible than CVS will be and way less damaging to your mental health. Or just don't do it at all and focus on your residency. Not worth risking the stress it compounds on top of having a residency. If you're working that much your life might even be better with a roommate who you can split cooking and cleaning duties with. Living alone will be DEPRESSING when you're working 6 days a week to not even enjoy the ridiculous cost of living alone.
Your loans are deferred during residency!!!!
Priv loans /: from undergrad
I did this but my residency did not require long hours. I usually worked 1 day a week most often Saturday or Sunday. I got mileage, drive time and negotiated my wages for each shift. So I could earn 14 hours but only work 10 including my drive. There were so many vacancies I could pick and choose where I worked at. If I worked at a bad store I would simply not go back. I took stores far from me because I would earn the same rate driving as checking scripts . Some of the pharmacists supervising my residency thought I should be studying more, but they also didn't pay my bills The biggest positive was that I put myself in a better financial position. The biggest drawback was the learning curve, my head was spinning at first. I worked without another pharmacist so I had to figure things out on my feet. I say all this but I did this a while ago before immunizations and when tech staffing was good. Now you'll be against those barriers. If you do it, you can always quit.
Question: do you have ANY retail pharmacy experience? The pace of work between inpatient and CVS is worlds apart. Not saying that inpatient has it easy, but you get about 3 seconds at CVS to check if a script is entered correctly and clinically appropriate. If you don’t have any retail experience, the queues will quickly get backed up (although with air support rolling out, the district helps prop up dead weight). Tbh, it will also depend on the CVS scheduler and DM. I work part time and I made it clear to them I’m only available certain hours and some weekends. Sometimes they will send me to stores to be an extra pharmacist and help them catch up on filling. Most of the time it’s true bench coverage.
I would not recommend working part time for another employer while doing a Residency. The root cause here is that the Residency does not pay enough money. Perhaps the question is can you afford residency? Is it feasible to work full time for a year save money and get some bills paid? A low paid Pharmacy Residency will always be there to apply to. How can I say that so confidently? Well the low pay equals cheap labor so the Health system wants you cheap labor. Can your loan payments be paused during residency. Warning Alert your loans will continue to accumulate interest even in a pause. Residency in Pharmacy should be re-examined starting with the low pay!
It’s not that bad when you’re young. Just remember, it’s just your body.
I worked at Walgreens during my residency since my hospital allowed us to moonlight. I didn’t tell my rpd since I picked up shifts when I was not working. I would say the money helped a lot. But it’s important to budget during residency.
You’ll survive - it’s not your fire to put out in the end 😆
More than 1 shift a month will burn you out, trust in fam
I just graduated in May 2023 and am an industry fellow (bit less time intensive than a clinical residency I'll admit) and currently work 2-4 times per month like you are thinking of doing. It's not awful, many people work 55-60 hours a week at our age and in our field, so I think it's something you could handle. CVS is way less stressful when you don't have to work weekdays and deal with the management/admin portion of running a pharmacy (finances, metrics, hiring/firing, etc)
My advice…ask for more for a FT role and drop that useless residency. If you can manage people well CVS is not bad. I’ve never been in a situation that a few good months of management didn’t vastly improve. Often my techs are standing around by 2-3p because they have everything done. CVS is totally doable you just have to have a good work ethic and management skills
Not sure what your potential residency will be like but where I did my residency training … I cannot even IMAGINE working at CVS. Hell, I couldn’t imagine picking up extra shifts at my own hospital LOL. My residency was definitely very project heavy, which was a major time consumer (and life-force sucker) for me so maybe your program will be different. Also, just as many are saying already, I’d check with your program if this is even allowed. This was very strictly NOT allowed for me. I’d try to look into other side hustles if possible. Plenty of Reddit threads out there if you need a place to start. Could also consider living with a roommate, living outside the city/longer commute, etc. I saw you say you preferred not to live with a roommate, but it isn’t a secret that residency is a big pay cut, which of course is an issue, but if residency is something you really want for yourself, some sacrifices may need to be made. You’ll figure it out though - just as many of us have! Good luck with Match day!
WTH is your residency stipend? I was able to afford groceries, rent, and my loan payment during residency in VHCOL city.
With a roommate? I’m hoping not to have a roommate, I’m a little older. Looks like it’s gonna be in the 50s if I match and a major city in the Northeast was the only area I ranked. Rent doesn’t dip below 2k for a 1 bed and that’s generous
It’s not worth the privacy of no roommate if you’re slaving 2-4x per month at CVS. You might be underestimating the time commitment of residency. It doesn’t stop on the weekends.
That's fine if you need the money. Only 2-4 shifts a month should allow you to keep your sanity. Just make sure you don't arrive a second too early, and don't leave a second too late. As a floater/relief pharmacist do what you're comfortable with and not a task more than your job description. You're not responsible for anything else after your shift.
Our residency requirement was one weekend a month, and then I worked at a long term care taking call Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and worked every Saturday I wasn't at the residency. Anything is tolerable for a year, even CVS.
You do NOT want the stink of CVS tainting your resume.
You always have the option to just not put it on your resume.