10 reasons I’m still proud to be a pharmacist
From the article:
3. We are family. We all know it’s tough out there, so we adhere to an unspoken code and take care of our own.
4. We don’t eat our young. We nurture and encourage our pharmacy students and residents as if they were our own children, challenging them to develop to their fullest potential in order to ensure the success of pharmacy’s next generation.
http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/they-shoot-horses-dont-they
From the article:
Don’t let the door …
The way older pharmacists are viewed is starting to resemble this relationship. Employers and coworkers no longer value experience and the skills it brings. The young stallions don’t think the old nags have anything to teach them.
Why do they think this way? There’s enough blame to go around, but let’s start with expanded educational requirements, residencies, and an increasing number of pharmacists chasing a static number of jobs. You can connect the dots yourself, and you can probably find more. We have many troubling issues in our profession.
A few weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a student in her final rotations prior to graduation. I’ve been serving as her preceptor. Keep in mind that I do this on my own time and get paid nothing by her university, while the school gets paid full tuition. I do this not because I agree with the arrangement but because I think it is important to mentor. It’s what they usually ask the old dudes to do. The kids don’t want to do it.
Anyway, she was concerned about two older pharmacists, both past retirement age, who were still working at a local pharmacy. The reason for her concern? She wants to stay in our town after graduation, and she wants one of their jobs.
“It’s just not fair,” she said. “They have had their careers and now they need to retire and let me have mine.”
The second article is from a pharmacist with 25-30 years more practice than the first..
Maybe we don’t eat our young..but.. with the growing surplus.. It would seem that age and experience is viewed as a liability and the first sign of age or weakness and the “cannibals” start building a fire under the “cooking pot”
Maybe if we were really a “family” we would bind together for the good of the family rather than the narcissistic needs of the individuals within the family ?
3. We are family. We all know it’s tough out there, so we adhere to an unspoken code and take care of our own.
4. We don’t eat our young. We nurture and encourage our pharmacy students and residents as if they were our own children, challenging them to develop to their fullest potential in order to ensure the success of pharmacy’s next generation.
– See more at: http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/10-reasons-i-m-still-proud-be-pharmacist?page=0,0#sthash.TXqek7kL.dpuf
Filed under: General Problems
Thanks LD. I never went back for the pharmd due to family issues and I was the main income for the family and just never felt I could commit to the huge chuncks of time off needed. My now ex husband was zero support. Last 5 yrs or so since I lost my job with cvs I have been looking now realizing the market is flat, my favorite niche is LTC, did it for 15 yrs til the dysfunctional family issues hit, always wanted a BCPS in psych. Been looking at requirements. Wondering if I can do this around without the residencies and PD degree. I need employeement soon. Even thinking looking at talking to local community health clinic see if they are interested in opening a pharmacy. Ideas but tough to find out where to start and who to talk to. University hasnt been alot of help..to many new people who want to advance theit own grads
Ommunity
Ahha. I also worked more than two or three jobs to be able to graduate debt-free in ’88 after a 5-year hiatus when my son was born. I also started non-traditional PharmD the year after residency. …. I could take all the classes in the world, to be up-to-date up-to-the-minute with my facts, but I knew the PharmD would keep the door open to opportunities for more experiences. Now, the PharmD is ten years old, and it seems all that really matters is maintaining health and retaining flexibility for scheduling! I notice BoilerRPh… must be a Purdue grad. If you still live in Indiana, there are plenty of small town hospital jobs up and down the state for part-time work, and experience, even. It seems many of the directors of these small hospitals came from retail, and are willing to work with motivated and flexible pharmacists, whether old-timers or still-wet-behind-the-ears. I encourage all those looking for new opportunities to gain some creds in diabetic teaching, become board certified in psychiatry or another aspect of pharmacy, learn a second popular language, credential in anticoagulation, or learn the informaticist trade, and build your own niche.
I feel its come down to the BS grads vs the PharmD grads. Ive noticed ever since PharmD became the only degree, suddenly my many years of work experience is no longer considered relevant or even equivalent to a PharmD degree. I can honestly say I can run circles around these PharmD grads and their residencies these days. I dont know why we werent grandfathered in or given the opportunity to take an exam. Nowadays I have been locked out of hospital jobs because they refuse to consider my experience. When I was in pharmacy school the degree was new and one was invited based on grades (more or less straight A’s). I was not because I chose to work 2 jobs so I could graduate loan free…that I never regretted