PILLS 4th General MeetingCareers in Pharmacy

Tuesday November 18th, 2008

Icebreaker

Each person has a comic strip panel that has a number on the back

Find people with the same number and try to assemble your panels into a complete comic

Each comic has only 3 panels to it When finished, share comics with other

people in your group Talk to each other!

Retail Pharmacy

Pharmacists in community pharmacies dispense medications, counsel patients on the use of prescription and over-the-counter medications, and advise physicians about patients’ medication therapy. They also advise patients about general health topics such as diet, exercise, and stress management, and provide information on products such as medical equipment or home health care supplies. In addition, they may complete third-party insurance forms and other paperwork.

Median annual wage/salary retail pharmacists in May 2006 was $94,520

Job examples: Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid, Walmart Qualifications:

Must enjoy talking to patients Must be able to handle stressful working conditions Must be able to pay attention to detail, and work quickly

Why retail pharmacy? Working in retail pharmacy allows you to really help and be

involved with your community.

Clinical Pharmacy

Description: Branch of pharmacy where

pharmacists provide patient care to optimize medication therapy

Work as part of medical team or as the care provider in clinic settings

Monitor patients and recommend medication therapies to the team

Can adjust and monitor the efficacy of medication therapy

Advantages: Direct patient care New, evolving challenges Do not directly deal with insurance

companies

Environment:Can be found in all healthcare settings

Salary: $112,072 in the Bay Area

Ambulatory Care Pharmacy

Description: Specialized branch of clinical

pharmacy Provide care in pharmacist-

managed clinic Manage specific disease states:

diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, anticoagulation, psychiatry, oncology, infectious disease and smoking cessation

Performs testing for parameters like blood glucose, lipid panel, liver function, etc.

Environment: Pharmacist-Run clinics in various

healthcare settings

Advantages:

•One-on-on patient care

•Development of long-term relationships with patients

•No medication dispensing

•Set and stable hours

Compounding Pharmacy

Setting: Mainly specialty pharmacy dedicated to compounding

Central belief: Every patient is different and has unique needs

Examples: Veterinary Compounding, Pediatrics, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Pain Relief

Skills needed: patience, curiosity, problem solving, communication, good understanding of the chemistry behind medications

Job expectations: collaboration with health care professionals, consultations and teaching patients, compounding

Pharmaceutical Industry

Job Description: The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets medicinal drugs.

Qualifications: Many pharmacists go on to obtain postgraduate degrees in order to meet the technical demands and scientific duties required in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Working Environment: Research universities, hospitals, biotech companies.

Salary: ~$100,000 Job examples: Clinical research,

Drug Safety, Regulatory Affairs, Marketing and Sales

Managed Care

Managed care – an integration and delivery of health care to manage accessibility, cost, and quality; anything involving health insurance program

Areas of practice – HMO, PBM, health plans, physician group practice

Issues that managed care pharmacists deal with include:

medication therapy management (MTM), mail service, drug utilization review (DUR), research, publications, teaching, promotion of guidelines and standards of practice Working hours are usually 9am-5pm Average salary is $109,000 Great career option for those that like the mix of

clinical and business aspects of pharmacy

Nuclear Pharmacy

Compound and dispense radiopharmaceuticals to hospitals and medical centers

The meds are used for Diagnostic Nuclear Imaging as a safe, reliable and cost-effective alternative to invasive diagnostic procedures and surgery

Need PharmD as well as specific nuclear training (200 hours classroom and 500 hours of handling)

M-F 8am-4pm or 12am-8am Small team. No dealing with 3rd party or customers

except via telephone. $99,024 avg starting salary throughout the US

Academia

Work in dynamic social and cultural environment with other pharmacy faculty members and pharmacy students

Opportunity to obtain tenure – job security AACP has sponsored a 2-hour program at the

Midyear Clinical Meeting of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) every year since 2000. This symposium is designed to provide useful information to professional students, post-PharmD residents, and practicing pharmacists about careers in academia in order to battle faculty shortages.

Pharmacy Benefit Manager

PBMs help administer and manage prescription drug benefit programs

Consult employers, managed care administrators, third party administrators to make decisions on patient deductibles, prescription discounts, setting maximum coverage of a plan

Access to patient files of all your clients – find efficiencies in drug coverage Working hours usually 8 am – 5pm Requires strong business management skills Practice in corporate office settings (PBM

companies) Salary: around $115,000 - $120,000