What's life like as a pharmacist?

[joecormac]

Eldest is doing science A levels.

She's got a Saturday job at a pharmacy and absolutely loves it. But I'm trying to get her to figure out if she loves the staff (who are lovely to her) and that first feeling of adulthood and wages OR the actual job.

So if you are a pharmacist
A) are you happy you chose it as a career?
B) what degree do you do? Is it Pharmacy or Pharmacology?

Thanks

[Cybercubed]

Just curious, for those who have mentioned pharmacology/toxicology, would a phd be required in order to get the higher paying jobs? And what sort of salary can someone potentially earn in toxicology with a phd?

I think the issue which would potentially put me off is any animal testing, if I could avoid that then it would be career that interests me.

[JMAngel1]

I agree - 20 years ago, I used to locum for £30 an hour. Now the going rate is £20

[shenanigans5]

I think the salary is actually going backwards. Just before leaving my pharmacy role 7 years ago I was paid £50K to manage a small pharmacy (around 5 staff) working 9-6 from Monday to Friday with 30 minute break each day.

Now I hear the pay for these types of roles is closer to 40K.

[BeyondMyWits]

I have worked in a community pharmacy for many years as a counter assistant and have seen many pharmacists come and go. The job is not great looking at it from the counter, my Dd wanted to be a pharmacist, but switched to pharmacology after a month's work experience, saying wayyyyyy too much pressure.

[Tibtab]

Saying that though, pharmacy is a decent course. From what I’ve seen, there is a lot more focus these days on transferable skills rather than endless organic chemistry.

[Tibtab]

I would say the pay is closer to £30-50k and to get to the higher end requires management responsibilities. I used to be a hospital pharmacist but everyone is leaving to work in primary care and prison pharmacy as the hours and pay are better. I wouldn’t work in community pharmacy again, I’m sure the regional managers only exist to try and break you.

[shenanigans5]

[quote JMAngel1]@shenanigans5
Do you mind saying what your current role is? Presumably something with transferable skills from Pharmacy?[/quote]
I’ve PMed you

[JMAngel1]

@shenanigans5
Do you mind saying what your current role is? Presumably something with transferable skills from Pharmacy?

[shenanigans5]

(I didn’t really believe I was on the right course)

[shenanigans5]

@joecormac

Sat at work and am so glad I asked this question.

I'm a uni lecturer and work every single day: marking, designing, pastoral support, covering tutorials for staff who have left. My employer is a private uni so I also teach distance students on line and part time students face to face on weekends.

My biggest fear has been that my kids would end up working all the hours and feeling trapped too.

Arghhhh - I feel like there are no careers that I can point at and say 'that has more pros than cons - try that'. Medicine, Pharmacy, Teaching, Law (I was a solicitor for 6 years). I don't want a fairytale- just something fair.

Maybe encourage them to study something they’re into then rather than steering them towards a vocation that they may not really be feeling.

Most grown up jobs don’t exist in the minds of kids/teenagers so they aren’t making an informed choice when they take a punt on a specific profession.

Throughout my 4 year pharmacy masters I really believe I was on the right course for me and how being out of pharmacy for 7 years I know I wasn’t. I’m much better suited to my current role which I wouldn’t have known existed at school.

[BackAway]

I agree with biomed/pharmacology suggestions

[joecormac]

Sat at work and am so glad I asked this question.

I'm a uni lecturer and work every single day: marking, designing, pastoral support, covering tutorials for staff who have left. My employer is a private uni so I also teach distance students on line and part time students face to face on weekends.

My biggest fear has been that my kids would end up working all the hours and feeling trapped too.

Arghhhh - I feel like there are no careers that I can point at and say 'that has more pros than cons - try that'. Medicine, Pharmacy, Teaching, Law (I was a solicitor for 6 years). I don't want a fairytale- just something fair.

[EnrouteNOTonroute]

What about doing pharmacology / toxicology at degree then working for a pharmaceutical company? Or biomedical science?
I know a couple of people who did these degrees and they’ve done very very well in their careers

[BackAway]

@Mylifefeelslikeanightmare Well to be fair it’s there to protect the public, not us, so no I don’t feel supported particularly. What are your thoughts?

[Mylifefeelslikeanightmare]

Other pharmacists do you consider the GPhC unsupportive to pharmacists?

[Mylifefeelslikeanightmare]

I agree Backaway, it's sometimes rewarding when you solve a problem-realising the sore mouth a patient has had for months is due to a rare side effect from a med-but most of the time it's a slog. Unfortunately the unpleasant customers are more memorable than the nice.

[BackAway]

Sadly, I would say: please don’t it.

We are dreadfully misunderstood by not only the public but other healthcare professionals, we routinely have to work under EXTREME pressure, we take a fair amount of abuse, we take massive amounts of responsibility, we can kill/harm someone with one mistake, I’ve never met a pharmacist who liked their job, you are constantly contending with many factors outside of your control and then take the flack for it, the pay is stagnant, the profession and the government can’t decide what our role is…I could go on. Actually I will.

Just today, I was sworn at for an item not being in stock (completely outside of my control, due to a manufacturing issue), had someone ask me for advice then tell me she doesn’t trust me, had to placate someone furious with me because I can’t give out antibiotics without a prescription, etc etc etc.

You are on your feet all day which is hard as you get older or have health issues. If you have a break for lunch, the pharmacy has to close (legal requirement) therefore we don’t tend to have ANY breaks as the grief from customers (and sometimes managers) just isn’t worth it. We don’t get to go to the toilet when we need (this has made me ill before now) or have any flexibility in our working day. We are bound by a code of ethics even as students which makes our private life subject to scrutiny in case we damage the reputation of the profession.



The rewarding bits happen from time to time but it’s mostly just one hard slog.

[Mylifefeelslikeanightmare]

Dd2 just heard me talking to dh about commenting on this thread-her comment"oh God". She knows how I feel about the job

[LiJo2015]

@joecormac

I would not recommend medicine either. I left my medical career in 2016 and I am now retraining to become a psychotherapist.

[Mylifefeelslikeanightmare]

I have some advice for her: Do Not Do Community Pharmacy.
Under staffed
Increasing workload
Expected to do more and more service-yes
they're paid but unless you own your own shop it just goes to the company.
I've seen many enthusiastic young pharmacists come in, after 5 years most are seriously disillusioned.

Want to get out myself and try to make te realities of the job plain to any work experience or young people thinking about going into pharmacy.

Thankfully neither of my 2 showed any interest into going into anything medical

[joecormac]

Thanks for the info and the openness about conditions.

When I googled it I thought I had misread the salary (I just thought it should be in the £60-70k bracket - based on no actual knowledge, just because it's an important job).

Will give her the info and leave it up to her.

Thanks again

[SaintDrogo]

I would encourage it, but only hospital pharmacy, not community! Never worked in Primary Care, so can’t offer an opinion on that. When I was in community we used to put some of the more able school kids through their dispensing qualification, so I would suggest she asks about that. Even if she decided not to go for pharmacy at uni, it would open new opportunities for a part time job. I’ve seen locum dispensers offered £15-£20 an hour.

[toomuchfaster]

I'm a pharmacist, NHS now community. Don't do it. It's awful. Woefully under staffed and under paid. I'm trying to get out, as are most of my colleagues but am too old to start again. DD will NOT be following in my footsteps.

[JMAngel1]

I'm a hospital pharmacist - I love my clinical role but the ever changing management decisions can grind me down. The pay is also not great for the level of responsibility.
I'm not sure I would recommend it if they want a nice lifestyle - my car is 10 years old and I'm classed as Senior level!

[shenanigans5]

I practiced as a community pharmacist for around 8 years but left the profession- as have a number of my former colleagues since.
It’s not very flexible (childcare, general life planning) and I didn’t like “selling” nhs services patients didn’t need to meet the requirements of my performance contract.
I now do a middle management office job and I’m much happier.