Becoming A Pharmacist Tips

In the old days pharmacy was a very vanilla occupation.  You had the local corner drug store and that was about it.

But, over the last fifty years pharmacy has seen an explosion in different working environments.

I won’t – and can’t – go into depth about all your options because that is beyond the scope of this book.

But I will be able to give you the ’35,000-foot-view’.  As you’ll see, pharmacy can offer you a lot of variety.
Depends on where you want to live

Keep in mind also, that often times the best jobs are not in the most desirable locales.

For instance, I live and work in Montana.  But, even though there is a shortage of pharmacists – I’ve had much better offers out-of-state.

Why?  Because people want to live here.  So you pay for that premium by taking a cut in pay and also being offered less of the desirable clinical positions.

Retail/Community/Chain

When you walk into a Wal-Mart, Osco or your local drug store this is the retail/community/chain environment.

Some pharmacists insist on separating these out.  That’s never made any sense to me.  They essentially all do the same thing.

In the retail environment pharmacists work with pharmacy technicians ‘behind-the-counter’.  Prescriptions are presented by patients at one window.  The prescription is put into the computer.  A label is generated and either the technician or the pharmacist fills the prescription.

The final check is always (and can only be performed) by the pharmacist.  You will check for proper name, drug, dosage form, strength, directions and drug interactions.

Once the prescription is checked off as correct then the patient will be called up and if any counseling (pharmacist answering any questions the patient might have) needs to be performed – the pharmacist will do that also.

Pharmacy Techs Whining

On occasion I’ll get a pharmacy technician whining that they do everything a pharmacist does but get paid significantly less.

They’re wrong.

While it’s true a pharmacy technician does do many of the things a pharmacist does they don’t have the training or the knowledge base to make the final clinical decision on a prescription.

Are they capable of it?  It’s arguable that some extraordinary techs may be.  But, even if they were, they still aren’t licensed to do it.

But the real reason I make more than a tech is because the risk is on ME.

If a tech makes a mistake that you don’t catch you are the one in trouble.  If a drug error is made it’s you who will be sued – not the technician whose error you didn’t catch.

In short, pharmacy technicians take on little to no liability.  Assuring that the right drug in the right dose goes to the right person without severe drug interactions is your responsibility.

Some nights you’ll find it hard to sleep because you’ll think about the Zyrtec 10mg (for allergies) prescription you filled earlier that day and wondering if you accidently used Zyprexa 10 mg – a potent antipsychotic medication.

Just yesterday I had a tech fill an Amitriptyline 10mg with Amitriptyline 100mg.  Only one zero worth of difference but that could have easily harmed or put that patient in the hospital.

Actually, that class of drugs is very easy to overdose on…especially when mixed with alcohol.

Could it have killed the patient?  Potentially.

This section isn’t to demean technicians.  But, when they start claiming that they do everything a pharmacist does…they’re wrong.  They have no idea what they are talking about.

Also, this section is devoted to giving you a real world example or two about the liability and responsibility you take on when you’re a pharmacist.