What is the typical day for a pharmacist?

Question

I'm interested in the pharmacy program offered in UCSD, what does the program offer? what are some pharmacist perks and downfalls (ie, pay, level of interest, stability)

Answer 1

Right now, there's a severe shortage of pharmacists. So, stability is great. Pay is around $50-60/hr in CA. Depends on what you do, which employer you work for, etc.

I'd break it down into two main camps: outpatient or inpatient.

Outpatient is about the same as retail. You work in a pharmacy where people walk up or call in with their prescription. You go to the back, find the drug, then counsel the patient on how to take the drug. You're on the phone a lot with the patient's doctor/nurse or the insurance company. Pharm techs actually put the pills and bottles together for you so pharmacists don't spend all their time counting pills. You also check the patient's medical history to make sure the drugs won't kill them (doctors are real morons when it comes to drugs and drug interactions). You stand pretty much all day. It can be a mind numbingly boring job.

Inpatient is more desk jobs. You rarely count pills. You rarely deal with making the IV bags. The pharm techs do that for you. You just initial. You also don't deal with insurance companies as much. You spend the majority of your time dealing with doctors/nurses and going through the medical charts to make sure the drugs are appropriate. You don't counsel patients as much because the patients are usually bedridden and have the drugs administered to them by nurses. Sometimes, you have to run out with the code team (if someone starts crashing, you go out to dispense the drugs at that moment; there's no time to request a drug the normal way). Tends to be more interesting because you're more involved in the patient's care.

Those are the main jobs. There are others, but there aren't enough of them to be worth the time to properly describe them.

Answer 2

Some pharmacists work in neighborhood drugstores. There is a good description of that job in one of the other answers.

But, these days, when you graduate from Pharmacy school you get a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. They didnt need to do that for the community pharmacists - they needed to do it because many pharmacists work in hospitals as clinical pharmacists, actively working with MDs and severely ill patients to design complicated drug plans for people with multiple diseases. That takes someone who really knows what they are doing!
Also, many pharmacists work in research laboratories, or in industry settings where they review laboratory results to evaluate whether the experiments succeeded or not.
There are many different jobs for pharmacists. They all pay very well. That's why pharmacy school is getting extremely competitive for admission - according to a recent article in the paper, our local school had 1000 applicants for 90 places this year. That's more competitive than most Ivy League universities.

The courses you need to take to get into Pharm school, and the courses you take there, are tough - you really need to know your chemistry and math. Good luck with your plans!

Answer 3

As a pharmacy technician at Target, I can tell you exactly what a pharmacist does on the average weekday. On a busy day, you normally dispense 100+ prescriptions, consisting of refills and new scripts (brought in by guests, faxed in, and called in). You may also counsel guests on the appropriate drug to use for the common cold, flu, as well as small illnesses such as pink eye, ear infections, etc.. You will dispense tablets, capsules, syrups, suspensions, suppositories, powders, creams, lotions, ointments, nasal sprays, inhalers, insulin, contraceptives, etc... There is a major need for pharmacists nation wide so your position is pretty stable, whether hospital or retail. Do expect long hours, standing on your feet for lenghty periods of time, but gooood money!!

Answer 4

i grow to be set to respond to this question, till I examine Raven's reaction above... she exceptionally a lot nails it... As a retail pharmacist of 20 years, i will also say, be prepared for 8-12 hour days, status on your ft, all day. you usually get a lunch smash on the chain shops, yet not continuously is it certain. The pay is tremendous, usually round $50 an hour. a good number of time remote out of your relatives also. Weekends, and dealing vacation journeys also the norm.

Answer 5

UCSD has the Pharmacology B.S. and they hae a pharmacy school. Now adays, pharmacist with PH.D.s are hired. So you have to go to graduate school.

Pharmacist have the choice of either working at a hospital or either a drug store. Hospitals require you to work with IV bags, but you don't have to deal with customers. If you like to deal with people, you might want to work at a drug store.

the pay is pretty good for someone. I heard that some places give about $70 an hour.

Answer 6

Put some pills in a jar, crush some tablets, argue with the minimun wage help at the pharmacy counter, put some more pill in a jar, drink a coke, type a label, tell a 90 year old man that can't hear how to take his meds, talk to a nurse in a doctors office, put some more pills in a jar, etc ...

Answer 7

Stand behide a counter and count pills and talk to the customers. That is about it.

Answer 8

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