<p>What exactly is a pharmacist? Is it those people you see at Rite Aid putting pills in containers?</p>
<p>This website should help: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacist%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacist</a></p>
<p>Great site!</p>
<p>Not to be rude or anything..but becoming a pharmacist sounds really boring..or is that just me?</p>
<p>Well since my roommate is in pharmacy school right now, I can add a little bit more.</p>
<p>Yes, some pharmD's (and they are doctors) end up supervising pharmacies at walgreens (though it's usually the techs that go through and actually fill the script). But they are also there to provide consultation, and more importantly recognize problems with drug interactions before the patients receive their meds. This is of particular importance for many elder patients who are taking many meds - a specialist who doesn't know all their drugs may prescribe something entirely wrong, and the PharmD is there to catch that (b/c they will have the entire drug history there). </p>
<p>But they also may serve in a number of different roles. Hospitalist pharmD's do a lot of consultations, and may actually be involved in mixing specific formulations onsite, help anesthesiologists, and just overall take care of any sort of drug related problem in which they know far more than the MD's.</p>
<p>You can also work for the drug companies, get involved in research, and several other sort of specialities.</p>
<p>The biggest thing is that they are an important resource for MD's because while you get pharmacology and dosing and all that sort of stuff in the second year, the pharmD's really know it all (they're like computers about drugs by the time they get through their second year).</p>