<p>Do you think technology will be able to replace most Pharm D's in the near future, if not so already? Also, is there glut of Pharmacists or in the near future?</p>
<p>Finding a job in popular urban/suburban areas is getting harder and harder, but there are still jobs available, esp if you’re willing to work in a rural or inner city area. But the days of commanding $100K fresh out of pharm school are over.</p>
<p>The OOH projects that there will be an increase in the demand for pharmacists thru 2018.</p>
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<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos079.htm]Pharmacists[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos079.htm]Pharmacists[/url</a>]</p>
<p>my father is a pharmacist at wake forest baptist medical center. i asked him if he could be replaced by computers and he got really mad. No, pharmacists will never be replaced by computers. And patients will always want a human to give them their medications and not some stupid machine. A lot of pharmacists in hospitals make rounds with the doctors today, and they specialize in different ailments. My father even mentioned to me today that he knows a pharmacist with a pharmD and some other credentials that can prescribe medication.</p>
<p>PharmDs can not only work in Pharmacies but can also apply to research oriented jobs in Clinical Development in Pharma industry or work in hospitals. So, I don’t anticipate a glut of pharmacists. The only negative about being a PharmD is that PharmDs end up reporting to MDs no matter where you are; industry or hospitals. So, if you envisage being a Leader with a team, get an MD.</p>
<p>There is an article printed in the New York Times on May 28, 2011 titled “Why Medical School Should Be Free” that states, “the American Academy of Family Physicians has estimated a shortfall of 40,000 primary care doctors by 2020.” My point is that you have to be somewhat crazy to be a medical doctor. More physicians assistants and nurse practitioners are being utilized to fill the MD shortage. However, pharmacists will also be used. PharmD’s who are Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialists can become Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners (CPP). CPP can prescribe medicine and order labs for patients under the care of a supervising physician. Practice settings for CPP’s include community health clinics and physicians’ private practices (in North Carolina). I got this information from North Carolina Pharmacist Vol. 91 Number 4 Fall 2011.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the information :)</p>
<p>Pharmacists can also do direct patient care, where they provide inhalation and/or IV and/or other therapy directly to patients. SOME of it is being outsourced and some of it is being done by larger places instead of the small local pharmacies.</p>
<p>Some pharmacists are also doing patient education, e.g. for diabetes and other chronic health conditions. As was said, highly paid pharmacy positions are getting more difficult to get as well.</p>
<p>No telling what will happend decades from now, but the education and skill of PharmDs will be in demand for years to come. The American population is, on average, getting older fast, and while there will always be a cookie-cutter aspect to pharmacy practice, the breakthrough drugs of the past 10-15 years have shown a need for experts-in this case pharmacists-who can integrate these medicines into effective treatment.</p>
<p>The opportunities will be there, but the chances that you’ll earn that $100,000 salary that people’s mouths water over will get slim. But that’s what I feel.</p>