Career Advice MEGA - Courses and Careers related to Drugs

I studied Pharmacy this year and had to drop out due to health problems, but I would not have continued from the years end anyway because it was certainly not what I expected. Heres a few things I would like to say (this is for the course in Australia, may differ from where you are):

1) The course, while not being extremely difficult in concepts has a VERY hectic workload. Most students are international students who are paying huge money to do the course and don't go out and study, study, study. It helps alot if you are like this. If not, expect to cut down alot on your socializing, working etc.

2) You don't get paid as much as you probably think you will. While this probably doesn't concern you a great deal, unless you own the Pharmacy the award rate is approx. $30 an hour for a Pharmacy manager. It is also very tough to get into owning Pharmacy's, I spoke to a friends father who owns 8 (not exactly as you can only legally operate 2 over here, but there are ways around it) and he said about 20% of people own 80% of pharmacies. Sure you want a job you can enjoy, but after so much work and effort it is nice to have financial benefits. Also, your interest in drugs may one day dampen.

3) Think VERY hard as to whether you want to dispense drugs all day as this is what you will be doing most of the time. Putting labels on bottles, dispensing them and giving advice as well as general shop work. The lecturers will tell you that there are many other paths to go down (such as drug company representatives etc.) however by far the most available job is a retail pharmacist, and most other jobs require years of experience in this job first.

4) Most people that did the course and continue to do so either do it because:
a) They don't care what they do as long as they can make decent money with a secure future.
b) Like the idea of being prestigious.
c ) Just like to finish what they began.

Only a minority of people actually liked the idea of being a pharmacist.

This all sounds very negative I know but if you are in that minority, go for it! I'm not sure what its like over there, but as long as you are pretty sure you want to do the course you can probably change courses after the first year all the same.
 
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whenever i'm picking up my oxy script i always seem to fantasise about switching places with one of them!
What i wouldn'nt do for the keys to that precious,precious cabinet!
 
Is there any real distinction between pharmacology and medicinal chemistry? I have to start filling out grad school apps and would like not to look like a moron.
 
^^^
Huge difference. You need barely any bio for medicinal chemistry, which is often essentially just organic synthesis. Just doing lab work and synthetic theory -- my husband is a med chemist. Pharmacology is MUCH more 'medical', much more heavily biological. I as a premed know more about pharmacology than my husband does.
 
Any UK based pharmacists here?

I am thinking of going back to Uni and studying pharmacy. Is it worth it?

Also, is the job itself actually boring?

I mean, do you just sit in the back of the chemist and stick a label on?
 
The job involves a lot of interaction with patients, so you won't end up just sticking labels onto medicine bottles.
 
I am not a Pharmacist, but I know a bit about it :)


The Uni course is actually a 4 year MSc, I believe. And it's a damn hard slog.

If you choose to go into hosiptal pharmacy, then you do have to deal with the patients. The hours are also long and the work intense. Not to mention the continuing study you have to be doing.
You will mostly be working in the actual pharmacy, checking the prescriptions - althought I think the technicians stick the labels on the bottles most of the time.
Other duties will include ward rounds with the doctors and other staff. The doctors are usually pretty clueless about dosages etc. so rely on the pharmacist to pick up their mistakes and check for contraindications, etc.

Pay isn't brilliant for a B or C grade hospital pharmacist considering the amount of work you have to get though, but it does get interesting when you get to the higher grades. ;)
 
Becoming a Pharmacy Technician

Has anybody done or known anybody who has done this? I was thinking about taking classes online to get my PhamTech certification, but there are so many different schools/webpages and some seem kinda shady. Any suggestions?
 
My dads a pharmacist... what do you want to kn0 exactly and ill ask him
 
how hard is it really to get certified? is it really worth it? starting pay? is it a hard job? easy to get hired with certification only and no college or experience?

thanks!
 
From what ive seen at his job.. techs are pretty easy to come by, its not that hard of a job.. they dont do that much to begin with.. make IV bags, help around the pharmacy, answer phones.. basically do the ''other'' work that needs to be done while the pharmacist deals with patients and fills prescribtions

it really depends on your area, bout pay and availability for work.

where you from?
 
any technical school can set you up with what you need to be one.. most pharm techs do that, then start real pharm school down the road

for a tech, the pay isnt all that great compared to the pharmacist itself.. maybe 20K compared to the 95k-120k a certified pharmacist recieves. Also, if you work at a
 
so..
Pharmacy Techician is just basically a helper,
while the licensed pharmacist handles the pills and stuff?

just wanted to claify.
 
No, pharmacy techs sometimes count pills and such. Depends on the pharmacy, and what jobs are assigned to whom. Smaller pharmacies, most likely the pharmacist(s) would do it, but bigger ones, that's what they hire techs for.

P.S. before anyone asks - yes, pharmacy techs can/do handle scheduled substances. And get busted for doing stupid crap... great way to end a career & spend years in prison. Not a job to be taken lightly...
 
fuck becoming a stupid pharmacy technician. stupid job looks boring anyways. i dont know what the fuck i was thinking. i could never even pass the schooling / training anyways. why even bother trying to be something that ill obviously never be able to. just a waste of time.
 
^^^
Um...being a pharmacy tech requires no thinking whatsoever, just very exacting measurements and attention to detail. Anybody can be trained to do it. If you are smart though, you'd probably hate it.
 
^^^ That's not true. Depending on where you work it often requires a fair amount of thinking on your feet under high pressure conditions.

With that said, you don't need a degree to be a pharmacy tech. You will start out at probably $10/hr. or so without experience but pay ramps up pretty quickly once you're certified. I'm not sure, but I think certification is handled on a state level. In the state that I live in you have to take a pretty gigantic test to be certified but it is definitely doable. I think tech's top out around $14-$15 per hour so there is definitely a cap if you're thinking of making a career out of it. Although, if you stay at a big corporate pharmacy I believe they will keep giving your raises for as long as you work there.
 
My gf is a tech. it's not that hard, she just went and applied to CVS. Got a job, worked (as whatever u are before you get certified) for a couple months, then took a 3-6(i forget what she said) hour long weekend class then take a test, and then your certified.

It doesn't pay very well. Think 7.50 to start, my Gf is gettin like lower 8ish an hour after working there for over a year. She's part time too, which might somewhat effect pay.
From what she says, it's a very easy job. The hardest part is dealing with all you assholes who come in and bitch and complain when you can't get your benzos and opiates filled 3 weeks early. Or dealing with people when they complain to the techs about their health insurance. And it can get quite busy, at her store they fill between 300-700 scripts a day. BTW stealing drugs isn't easy to do. Only the pharmacists put away and fill the narcotics. You might be able to get some stuff, but they count everything twice and i think it'd be a felony if you get caught.


edit: it's not a "gigantic" test...at least in NY. The way my GF talked about it, it was stuff almost anyone would know who worked in the store for a few months. And she got like a $ .25 pay raise after getting certified....it probably varies from place to place.... She works at CVS.
The way it works there is the managers delegate how much money to give out for raises from a big chunk of money. Whatever the managers don't give out in raises they get to keep as a "bonus", so at least at CVS there is no incentive for a manager to give a raise.
 
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