Pharmacy future job prospects

[vea]

Is that in Bendigo or something? Are you boarding there? Is it expensive?

Sorry for so many questions, I;m interested in dentistry LOL

[slothpomba]

They also do make a good point in that thread, especially with big name pharmacy companies like chemist warehouse you're just basically a dispensing machine to fill scripts.

This comedy video makes light of things like that.

I'm sure you'd apply what you learnt somewhat but probably not as often as before, especially now with IT where they have computerised databases of drug interactions and things like that.

Someone above made a very good point, they're opening another additional pharmacy school, won't help things at all.

The only real solution is to reduce the supply of pharmacy graduates by reducing the places for a couple of years, at least 3+ i reckon but i doubt the uni's would take up that idea since less places = less money. Although, they might have to do something like that sooner or later if it gets worse and people realise they cant get a job out of it.

(Off on a wild tangent here for a second...why dont we have a pharmacy/physio/nursing forums or things similar to that)

[TrueLight]

lol na its not just that
the pharmacists interacts with the patient, advises the best possible treatment based on what they say, past history, allergies, medication interactions, also advise if they need to see doctor for script or advice. they're doing stuff on the computers...checking patient records, getting medicare info and stuff for pbs, safety net, sorting out the paperwork etc. If your a compounding pharmacy you can make some medications specially tailored to what your customer needs, eg, progesterone and other simple medicines, your also on the phone advising patients etc if they call with any problems, your calling doctors to see if the patient has any past medications or if suspected of abuse, your hiring out crutches if that service is available but i guess the pharmacy assistant will do that, also do webster packs where you put pills in individualised packets for patients, checking patients blood pressure, blood glucose testing.. yeah and other stuff...if your in a hospital pharmacy its more important to know the interactions between the different medications the patient is on and getting the correct dosing correct and to plan exactly what that patient is going to take, you can also custom make some medications as well (you might need an extra qualifications i dunno)...

yeah thats all i can think of atm

[mystikal]

They also do make a good point in that thread, especially with big name pharmacy companies like chemist warehouse you're just basically a dispensing machine to fill scripts.

This comedy video makes light of things like that.

I'm sure you'd apply what you learnt somewhat but probably not as often as before, especially now with IT where they have computerised databases of drug interactions and things like that.

Someone above made a very good point, they're opening another additional pharmacy school, won't help things at all.

The only real solution is to reduce the supply of pharmacy graduates by reducing the places for a couple of years, at least 3+ i reckon but i doubt the uni's would take up that idea since less places = less money. Although, they might have to do something like that sooner or later if it gets worse and people realise they cant get a job out of it.

(Off on a wild tangent here for a second...why dont we have a pharmacy/physio/nursing forums or things similar to that)

u mean like a union? to complain about stuff hahah? another way... to reduce numbers which i know is abit of a controversy is to make stricter laws on international students working in australia... which has worked to an extent for hospitals.. since they cant practice there... or... open more roles for pharmacists like incorporate lab/industrial type material taught in university.. so that they can have more pathways.. or make it so its like science(major pharmcology or somethign)/pharmacy (provisional entry) still the same amount of years of (4years +1 year intern) which i think is doable. like how they do it with optometry in sydney/queensland/adelaide where it is 3 years science/2 years masters optom... (provisional entry C avg) at least that way.. they can have another degree to fall back on to an extent... and it wud be more of a deterrent to those who wanna study it coz masters cost abit (especially international students) plus it wud produce at least a bit better students since u need a credit instead of just pass to become a professional...  plus that way they can still have a science degree and apply for other courses (sounds like melbourne model i know) but yea.. i dont know pharmacy is like f***ed up atm.. i actually tried to write an article about it but they didnt let me post it as a comment on the pharmacynews website for sum reason.... as in the whole pharmacy situation... haha ALSO i forgot to suggest they shud make a law where only one person can only own one pharmacy at a time (which would definately change the situation)

[iffets12345]

The only real solution is to reduce the supply of pharmacy graduates by reducing the places for a couple of years, at least 3+ i reckon but i doubt the uni's would take up that idea since less places = less money.

What pisses me off is that Melbourne Uni did the exact opposite with optometry, and there are NO other undergraduate optometry courses. I really think this is wrong... and that government intervention is required. For Dent/Med I don't have as much of a problem, but this optometry situation is kind of disturbing.

[slothpomba]

I can't comment on Dentistry but for medicine i know there still is a shortage of sorts, i know they're still willing to pay huge bonuses for doctors to go rural so thats not a problem. According to whirlpool the situation is so bad for pharmacy its even hard to find a rural spot.

I think in the case of optometry, melbournes intentions weren't to reduce the supply of optometrists so the market wasn't flooded and so people could actually get jobs, i think they did it because of the melbourne model. They'll also make more money that way by getting aussies to pay full fee and it does happen, i was reading the paper and this aussie chick paid full fee for her JD.

[mystikal]

The only real solution is to reduce the supply of pharmacy graduates by reducing the places for a couple of years, at least 3+ i reckon but i doubt the uni's would take up that idea since less places = less money.

What pisses me off is that Melbourne Uni did the exact opposite with optometry, and there are NO other undergraduate optometry courses. I really think this is wrong... and that government intervention is required. For Dent/Med I don't have as much of a problem, but this optometry situation is kind of disturbing.

dont forget... deakin is opening an optometry school soon postgrad as well and considering orthoptist are basically like optometrists just cant prescribe (however they are pushing for it) and there are also opthamologists plus opticians are also doing what optometrists are doing in retail sometimes. so i wudnt say that a reduce in supply is a bad thing.. coz its already balanced out... haha but yea optometrists are just more retail based... and their situation is also worsening in terms of saturation howver big chains such as big w will open up more employments...

[Souljette_93]

Oh wow, reading through this I didn't know pharmacy was like that. I think becoming a clinical pharmacist where you work in hospitals are better although I heard it's a hard placement. Chemist Pharmacists *seems* very routine and  some-what boring, I just don't know why, but that's most probably where I'll end up working ( hope's not)

[TrueLight]

yeah i know 2 people who were on placement at the pharmacy i work at who have moved to working at a hospital which they said they liked better. my cousin is also a pharmacist working at a hospital. but i dunno you'll see both sides and see which one you like better.

[_henwee]

Here's a publication by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia regarding the future of pharmacists.
However, I can't seem to decide whether it's good news or bad. =/

www.psa.org.au/site.php?id=5855

[mystikal]

Here's a publication by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia regarding the future of pharmacists.
However, I can't seem to decide whether it's good news or bad. =/

www.psa.org.au/site.php?id=5855

it depends how things play out... if pharmacists get prescribing rights then that is a good thing for them, you could expect a rise in salary if that happens since u have more responsibility and more vacancies will open up since people will go to a doctor for a prescription just pharmacists since teh service is free... but by saying that... bad news is the ever growing discount chemist stores are slowly starving out the small businesses and chains... its only a matter of time.. before most of it is taken over by it.

[Linked]

Do you really think it's a bad idea to go for pharmacy? It's been my goal for so long that I don't know what else I'd want to do.. Since you obviously wanted pharmacy, are there any other courses you'd recommend instead? I don't know whether I'd want pharmacology or pharmaceutical science, since I mostly want pharmacy for the customer service. And the money you supposedly earn helps too

I'm completely lost with career options after reading these threads!

[mystikal]

Do you really think it's a bad idea to go for pharmacy? It's been my goal for so long that I don't know what else I'd want to do.. Since you obviously wanted pharmacy, are there any other courses you'd recommend instead? I don't know whether I'd want pharmacology or pharmaceutical science, since I mostly want pharmacy for the customer service. And the money you supposedly earn helps too

I'm completely lost with career options after reading these threads!

a couple of things.... im concerned with....
-have you worked at a pharmacy before? if not, you shud find some work experience (first hand look into retail probably will give u alot of answers)
-dont do it for the money, simply not worth it... and its not as a high as you think
-70% of the time you are dispensing/packing/checking meds. the other 30% is counselling patients when your pharmacy assistants can not.
- pharmaceutical science is pretty cool more about making stuff not just meds like paint, coftdrinks, food etc...
-pharmacology is ok....
- why not become a pharmacy sale rep thats pretty good

[slothpomba]

Do you really think it's a bad idea to go for pharmacy? It's been my goal for so long that I don't know what else I'd want to do.. Since you obviously wanted pharmacy, are there any other courses you'd recommend instead? I don't know whether I'd want pharmacology or pharmaceutical science, since I mostly want pharmacy for the customer service.

If you're looking on for hands on contact with the patients you will be very disappointed with pharmacology or pharmaceutical science. You could possibly get into clinical pharmacology but you need to be a doctor first and thats more analysing information other doctors collect for you anyway and writing reports.

24lover is probably correct. I hardly ever see anyone ask the pharmacist for advice... it'd happen maybe 5% of the time. Most of the time people already know all they need to know from their doctor and just really want their script filled. It seems very undynamic and mundane really.

It's also worth considering, why do you want to do pharmacy in the first place (hopefully not just because of parents/good job with good money kind of thinking)?

If it is contact with patients maybe consider another job?

Don't hold onto your false ideas and jump into it because it could be a bad move. All worth thinking about...

-kingpomba

[mystikal]

the best thing you can do is get a pharmacy assistant job straight after nov exams. do it before the end of december when you can for the last time, change your uni preferences.

a job will REALLY help you understand what pharmacy is like. so if you are serious about it, you should really look into finding a job - even doing it for 2 weeks you'll realise what the job is like for pharmacists!

agreed