|
CAREERS INFORMATION
WHY CHOOSE A CAREER IN PHARMaCY?
Satisfaction
Great satisfaction can be achieved by taking care of patients’ drug therapy needs and helping patients to understand their medicines.
Credibility
The Pharmacy Profession has a high level of credibility, and importance to our communities, resulting in being one of the "Most Trusted Professionals”.
Rewarding
The care Pharmacists give is in great demand. Pharmacists in all practices are in demand all over the world. Personal and professional rewards are huge.
Flexibility
A pharmacy degree can lead to a wide range of careers in practice, industry, education, government, managed care, consulting, and many other areas. It can include ownership, entrepreneurial opportunities or part-time work as your needs and goals change.
Career Options
Traditionally, the most popular career choices for pharmacists have been in either the community practice setting, both independent and chain pharmacy, or in the hospital setting. As health care has advanced, so have career opportunities for pharmacists. Listed below are some of the many careers for doctor of pharmacy graduates of today. Many more career options are still out there, waiting for you to define them.
 COMMUNITY PHARMACY
The primary role of a community pharmacist is to provide medication and medication related services to patients. In most settings, pharmacists provide prescription drug services to their community of patients, working with the patients and a broad spectrum of health care providers to achieve the best possible health care outcomes of medications. Pharmacists may also provide specialty services to patients such as individualized disease management assistance, health screenings and assistance with medical equipment and devices. Pharmacists may work in and own small, independent pharmacy businesses or be a part of a pharmacy team of a large community pharmacy corporation. Directly helping patients is one of the most appealing parts of this practice setting. Good communications skills and an outgoing personality are valuable traits for pharmacists in this area. This is the most common type of pharmacist practice.
HOSPITAL PHARMACY
The primary role of a hospital pharmacist is to provide medication and medication management services to patients who are hospitalized or are visiting hospital-based clinics, and to provide medication services to the health professionals who care for patients in hospital settings. The hospital role varies greatly, depending on the size of the hospital and the services that are provided. A pharmacist in a small rural hospital usually has a wide array of responsibilities. In larger hospitals, pharmacists may specialize in general medication distribution, medication distribution services directed to patients in disease-related hospital wards or clinics, or work as a part of a health care team participating in clinical-decision making regarding medication therapy. Hospital pharmacists have exposure to many complicated and unique therapy needs including intravenous medication therapy, nutrition, and the specific needs of newborns and the elderly. Pharmacists in the practice find working with other health professionals, work variety and focused clinical care opportunity rewarding. This is the second most common practice area.
PUBLIC SERVICE
Many pharmacists are choosing to become involved in the public sector of health care. They join the uniformed services of the country and perform traditional pharmacist roles or work in public health and regulatory arenas. Public health sector pharmacists are involved in organizations like the Department of Public Health watching out for the health care of citizens and the Food and Drug Administration working on the monitoring and approval of pharmaceuticals.
CONSULTING & LONG-TERM CARE
Pharmacists who work as consultants, usually to long-term health care facilities, focus on the provision and management of medication systems or on clinical decisions related to patient medication regimens. This field commonly calls on a pharmacist’s knowledge of drugs dosage requirements for unique populations, drug interactions and the routine monitoring of medication regimens. Good problem solving skills are a must for pharmacists in this field. The rewards of this practice include direct, long standing relationships with patients, participation in clinical decision making on a health care team and the ability to manage a defined medication delivery system.
TEACHING & RESEARCH IN ACADEMIA
Many pharmacists find rewards as faculty in colleges of pharmacy. These pharmacists enjoy influencing the future of pharmacy by educating future pharmacists and may participate in direct patient care and/or scientific research as well. Academic pharmacist practice has its rewards in disseminating and discovering new ideas that change medication use, pharmacist practices and health care policy. Pharmacist faculty find their careers to be pleasant in their interaction with people, especially students, and provide them with the flexibility to pursue their own ideas about pharmacy.
MANAGED CARE
Over the last generation of pharmacists a new arena of practice has emerged generally referred to as managed care. Managed care pharmacists work in business environments where the goal is to balance the best quality care with the costs of care. This practice involves the delivery of health care benefits to patients through insurance companies and / or their employers. Pharmacists provide clinical programs, medication usage review services and monitor patients for safety, efficacy and economic efficiency of medication usage. Pharmacists in these practices enjoy working with people and monitoring patient care for populations as well as for individuals.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
In addition to the many opportunities for graduates in the many areas of pharmacy practice there are increasing numbers of opportunities within the Pharmaceutical Industry in advanced and specialized areas as the depth and breadth of education in pharmacy increases opportunities in industry include the promotion of pharmaceuticals to health professionals, marketing, development of new drugs and dosage forms, clinical studies in patients, monitoring pharmaceutical use on a population scale, and managing regulatory and legal issues. While there are many positions in the pharmaceutical industry for Doctor of Pharmacy graduates, the path to a unique career depends on the pharmacist’s education. Residencies, fellowships, and advanced graduate education at the M.S. or Ph.D. level open new avenues to pharmacists.
RESEARCH CAREERS IN PHARMACY
New and expanding knowledge in health care and biomedical sciences provides tremendous opportunities for the pursuit of research careers for pharmacists. Graduates with the Pharm.D. degree can pursue a research career directly or following additional education either in the form of residency and fellowship training or in formal graduate programs leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. With a clinical focus one can be involved in the conduct and analysis of large-scale human drug studies in academic, industrial, and governmental settings. Pharmacists are also highly qualified to pursue additional training in business, public health, or pharmaceutical socioeconomics in order to become involved in research in drug utilization, health care outcomes, and the provision of pharmacy services. Research careers in the basic pharmaceutical sciences: medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics or pharmacology, frequently require advanced education at the M.S. or Ph.D. level, and usually involve biomedical research activities focused on the molecular-level understanding of drug action, the identification and synthesis of new drug molecules, or the development of safe pharmaceutical products for human or animal use. The employment outlook for these, and other, research careers is excellent.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
American Pharmacist Association – www.pharmacist.com
U.S. Dept. of Labor – http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos079.htm
Berlex – www.berlex.com/html/career/pharma/index.html
Pharmacy Career Options - American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
National Association of Chain Drug Stores - www.nacds.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=2055
Health Systems Pharmacists' Employment Resource – The Pharmacy Week Journal
|
