Graduating Pharmacy School 6 Months…hospital Staff Pharmacist Or Retail?
i graduate pharmacy school in may 2010, and do not want to do a residency. nowadays, residencies are required to become critical care pharmacists, ambulatory care pharmacists, etc. in hospital settings. But to become a staff pharmacist, some hospitals do not require a residency. So my question is, is working as a staff pharmacist ever boring, since you are in a basement with no patient interaction? because i have done some rotations with staff pharmacists, and it seems that way. but on the flip side, i've worked in retail for 3 years and patient interaction is not always a good thing, lol! So, which one should i pursue, hospital staff pharmacist or retail pharmacist?
Please only current pharmacists answer
Tags: Graduating, Months...hospital, Pharmacist, Pharmacy, Retail, School, Staff
October 27th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Suck it up and do a PGY1 residency. That way you’ll be able to specialize in a setting (i.e. ambulatory care). That way if you want to be a staff pharmacist you can do that and if you don’t like it you can try doing more clinical work.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Did you do an internship? That may help you decide. I just started a pharmacy tech program, and we do two before we graduate, in both the hospital and retail settings.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I am not a pharmacist but I do feel qualified to answer your question in one respect.
Have you ever worked in a retail store? If you work for a Walgreens or a CVS then face it, you are no different than someone who sells men’s suits at Nordstroms or women’s shoes at JCPenney. You deal with the public and you sell medications vs. suits or shoes.
The public can be horrible to work with. They can be awful. One angry customer can ruin your day if you let it get to you. The amount of stupidity some people have will show itself very quickly.
I think the decision boils down to two things: Do you like working with the public and can you stomach it?
I am college educated with a professional degree like you and I work with the general public. On some days I want to strangle every one of them. On other days I am glad I work with the public.