<p>Do all pharmacists have boring jobs? Do they do anything else besides mixing chemicals together to disperse pills?</p>
<p>For most, there is very little mixing, mostly counting.
However, some RPh/PharmDs work for pharmaceutical firms and so they get to do some bench type research. Some work in hospitals and get to do some "clinical pharm", kind of a quality control checker to see that doses are appropriate and that Rx conflicts don't exist.
If I were thinking of investing that kind of time and money in a healthcare education that does not lead to an MD/DO degree, I think I'd select Optometry or a BS-RN program with an eye toward ultimately getting CRNA (nurse anesthetist) certification or an NP (nurse practitioner) degree.</p>
<p>Thank you, PSedrishMD, for your helpful and informative response!</p>
<p>RunningWater-
Hi! My mother is a RPh, and let me tell you, she loves it! She's an infusion pharmacist for the most part, and has been working out of Johns Hopkins Hospital for years, as director of home infusion and the out-patient pharmacy as well. I can honestlly tell you that she does little to no mixing or couting as now a days, those are tasks that are primarily fulfilled by the technicians. She has a great deal of doctor and nurse interaction, she checks the orders that go out before they can be dispensed, she even interacts with the patients, and develops close knit relationships with them. She also does a lot of palliative (end of life) care work, which is becomming more and more prevalant as time goes on...All in all, she loves her job, and is anything but bored! I elected to go the nursing route myself because I just don't have the patience for all the chemistry and calculus education!!</p>
<p>Nikki</p>
<p>Pharmacists seem to have a good deal. They live a comfortable lifestyle and still make a decent living. The schooling isn't that bad. Isn't it only two years after undergrad? </p>
<p>Well, anyways, I have an uncle who's a pharmacist in an expensive east coast state. His wife stays at home while he works, but he manages to pay for a large house, two nice cars, and a family of three little ones. He's a good husband and father, too.</p>
<p>pharmD is 4 year professional degree (meaning post-undergad) (sometimes a 1-2 year residency is required after graduation) and there are a huge amount of areas of pharmacy to go into once you are done. Your viewpoint comes from watching community or large chain drugstore pharmacists. These jobs pay the highest, easily 90-110K year starting out, which is why a lot of new grads are going into this, just to pay off debt, but the job is highly repetitious and doesn't allow for much deep interaction with patients.</p>
<p>Just FYI, I will list a most of the areas of practice you can go into...
Chain drug store
Community
Compouding (the mixing part)
Critical Care
Drug Information specialist
Home Care
Hospice
Hospital Staff pharmacist
Industry-based
Infectious Disease
Long Term Care
Managed Care
Military
Nuclear
Nutrition support
Oncology
Operating Room
Pediatric
Grocery Chain
Poison Control
Primary Care
Psychiatric
Public Health Service
Regulatory
and Veterinary Pharmacist.</p>
<p>Many areas. Many different features. You can do something which gives you the ability to focus on the business side of pharmacy (a few schools also have a joint PharmD/MBA), or you can go into something that is more patient focused and you don't have to worry about insurance etc as much.</p>
<p>As far as if its boring to most pharmacists, I doubt it because otherwise they would be doing something else.</p>
<p>Hope that helps clear some stuff up. Hopefully I will remember this thread so I can come back and answer any questions you may have.</p>