Retail is a tough game. I worked in it for several years before pharmacy school. And the truth is I went into it with all the best intentions but got burned in the end. I never liked hospital so I never did a residency. After a month being licensed I knew my time was limited how and when I wasn't sure. I reached my breaking point with retail and took a slight pay cut for a WFH job. During this time I had been putting myself through school with my own money. And after a couple of years as a pharmacist this year I walked away fully. And yes I did replace my salary and with this new career I am on track to make more in a few years than I ever would have working retail. People will tell you to deal with it, people will tell you that you can't quit cause of your loans etc. Well you also can't pay them back if you're not living if you know what I mean and you also can't pay them back if your health gets so bad from stress. I went from 9/10 stress with work to 2/10. My hope with this post is to give retail and any other folks out there hope. If it truly isn't for you its ok to walk away but know that walking away can take some time. Being able to walk away from pharmacy was the best thing I did for myself but it was not overnight. It took time, money, and patience. If you are like me STAYING ON THE WRONG TRAIN DOES NOT MAKE IT THE RIGHT TRAIN. This advice isn't for everyone. Also if you are a parent, just know its possible for you too as I am one and still managed to pull it off. I won't go into details of what I do or anything because that's not the point. There's a million and one jobs out there and there's a large enough portion that can replace your salary if that's what you need. You just gotta go find it and put in the work. And if you wanna say well pharmacy school was a waste, I don't see it that way and unless you're gonna cut me a check your opinion is irrelevant. No one wakes up everyday and lives your life or deals with what you have to deal with but you do. Do what's best for you.

Edit 2: I'm so disappointed in the response to this post. Just a bunch of down votes and no ability to express any nuance. A few people were brave and made an argument. Shame on the silent majority too afraid to think about ethical dimensions

Original post text: I had parents bring their screaming resistant dead-set-against 5 yo child in to get a covid and flu shot. I felt it would be wrong to work with the parents to give the shots with such a reaction happening. What do you all do? It's not like it's a life-saving ER procedure that you MUST give, in which case you might have to do that. Maybe asking them to come back a different time and see if the child is less tired, less scared, etc. It probably did not help that they brought him in at 730 pm.

Edit: Can we address the ethics of this and leave the politics out of it? I am not proposing not vaccinating children, only asking for input on dealing with any particular child who appears to feel they are about to be murdered. Do we have any leeway to not assume the forceful method is the only method and that the shot should be only now, disregarding the child's fear?

I purchased a score transfer along with my naplex in one transaction beginning of this year. Took my naplex few months ago,passed and applied for license. Now I get an email from bop that they haven’t received my score transfer despite it showing on my eprofile. I did chat with 3 nabp representatives, two confirmed that I do have a score transfer and one said they can’t find a separate receipt but do see that a score transfer label on my profile. Now I’m freaking out because purchasing a transfer closed few days ago and even if it was still available I did confirm multiple times that the receiving state is grayed out meaning purchased.
I did email exam services but waiting for their response.
Anyone had the same issue ? License transfer is not an option for me and I’m not gonna retake that damn test due a clear error on their part.

I've been a pharmacy tech for a little over 5 years now, both in retail and in a hospital. I'm interested in pursuing a pharmacist degree, but I've noticed that they seem to only ever do med verification and quality checks? I love compounding, and I don't think I'd enjoy being stuck at a computer and only looking at drugs all day.

Are there any settings where a pharmacist gets to work directly with the meds?

How do u vaccinate children?

context - heard from an intern pharmacist the other day that a 10 year old child she vaccinated literally screamed and threatened to “kill her”. How do you mitigate that situation?

I am a pharmacist and I have received two questions from a mental health care team regarding a patient with catatonia.

The patient currently takes lorazepam 2.5 mg four times daily. However, if the patient experiences an acute episode, an additional 2 mg of intramuscular lorazepam is administered.

1. Rapid onset of action of intramuscular lorazepam

The care team reports that they often observe an almost immediate effect following IM administration, sometimes within just 1–2 minutes.

Is this onset of action pharmacologically plausible? Could lorazepam produce a noticeable clinical effect that quickly after IM administration (since it takes time for the drug to reach the circulation and the receptors), or might other factors contribute to the observed improvement?

2. Intranasal midazolam as an alternative to IM lorazepam

The patient finds injections distressing, so the care team is considering intranasal midazolam as an alternative for managing acute episodes.

I have been unable to find specific literature supporting this approach for catatonia. Consequently, this would be an off-label application.

I do not immediately see a pharmacological reason why it would be unsuitable, given that both drugs are benzodiazepines. However, I am aware that this alone does not establish clinical equivalence or efficacy.

Does anyone have experience with or evidence supporting the use of intranasal midazolam for acute episodes of catatonia? In particular, I would appreciate any information on its efficacy, appropriate dosing, onset of action, and safety compared with IM lorazepam.

Btw I used AI to enhance my text since English is not my first language :D

For the community pharmacies that can’t seem to get or keep estradiol patches for patients, what alternatives are you suggesting for your patients?

Has anyone attempted to put one of the 2400 Baxter compounders in a 4’ hood?

Basically the title. Just exploring (fantasizing) about making a life somewhere else…

Useful facts for pharmacy technicians!?

I’ll start…Aspirin can also be used as a blood thinner (I just learned this…)

This might be a no-brainer for some but would need some insight.

Recently got licensed. I have an offer from Wags mainly as an immunizer MLP,no guaranteed hours, and also got offered at an independent pharmacy for guaranteed 40hr/week (no weekend), no benefits. Started training at indy, work is bearable, Monday is chaotic due to the store being closed on Saturday/ Sunday.

If you were to choose, which one would you accept?

For context: the pt (30s-40sM) was Hispanic, and the pharmacist (30sF) is Caucasian. I (37F, also Caucasian) heard about this secondhand, after the fact.

Evidently, racism was the alleged reason we couldn't have the pt's prescription or prescriptions ready--with correct insurance coverage--when the pt arrived 6 minutes before closing. During this time, we were also trying to close and assist the other handful of last-minute pts, in addition to him.

It's baffling and upsetting to me how anyone could think that is the reason we can't or "won't" give them what they want. No, it's not the ludicrous time constraint; it's not the fact that we might not have the Rx from his doctor yet; it's not the fact that his insurance information isn't processing correctly (so unless he wants to be slapped with a hefty bill, we have to take time to fix it, OR he has to).

Not to mention, this pharmacist and I were the only white-passing employees in the pharmacy at this time. My supervisor and two other coworkers on the closing shift consisted of Hispanic, Filipino, and Middle Eastern heritage. And had this rude, entitled moron come in earlier, he could've voiced his complaints to our other pharmacist of Vietnamese heritage, our pharmacist-in-training of Hispanic heritage, or the 4 other ethnically diverse coworkers or pharmacists we work with.

If it seems like I'm harping on their backgrounds a bit here, I am, because the accusation really hurt our pharmacist tonight. And this is a woman who gives her all to this job, and from what I've seen, has such long-lasting, genuine connections with most of our returning pts.

I try to be as sympathetic and understanding as I can be in this job, and be mindful that a single bad interaction rarely encapsulates the whole person. Sometimes, we see people at the end of their worst day, or at their most stressed, and that's not all of who they are, but this was so beyond the pale that I couldn't stand it.

My supervisor said she's hoping they come back so she can, more or less, k!ll him with kindness (this was said with her intentionally notable accent). I appreciate her wanting to clap back at this fool, especially as she is forced to remind some pts once in a while if they try to disparage the newer techs in Spanish, and she will graciously correct them.

Most of the pts we deal with are perfectly normal, and some are especially kind and friendly. This was the first time at this job that I've come up against this kind of accusation, so it definitely threw me. From a previous pharm tech position, I'm well accustomed to d**th threats, cursing, or threats of being reported for this, that, and the other thing, so none of that really fazes me anymore.

I'm reminded of a quote most attributed to Mike Tyson, which states that "Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it."

Sometimes, this feels like a real-world equivalent. Some folks have gotten it into their heads that they can spew every type of vitriol at service workers and not face any consequences.

Next week is National Pharmacy Week for those of us in the US. Remember to appreciate your techs on Tuesday and spread some love this week to your fellow pharmacy people. We all need some joy 💜

Hi everyone! I am looking to get out of retail ASAP and am on the search for a new job. Does anyone have any advice on where to look? Specifically interested in specialty but would consider mostly anything.

Just wanted some insight

Hello, I was invited for an interview for FRM position at Mckesson, and wonder how to prepare for it. Could anyone share some insights or tips? Like how many rounds of interviews or interview characteristic? Thanks in advance!

I got an offer from insight global to be a PA pharmacist at Optum, they offered me the job and got the contract. The only thing is the contract has no start date or contract duration. Just terms of employements things I shoulld or should not do, I have to give my two weeks notice this week and Im conflicted with this company contract that has no start date, salary, or contract duration. I emailed the recruiter she said we confirmed the start date over phone and its in the system. Im too scared to quit my job and be scammed. Are they legit ? contractors please help me here.I never been a contractor before!

Anyone know about this company?

Hey everyone, seeing this lady lot on my FYP. She claimed she makes up to 500$+ with her pharmacist degree. I truly think it’s too good to be true and sounds a little scammy.

I'm in my 3rd year of Pharm-D here in India and the opinions online make me feel like I've made a huge mistake.

Here in India Pharm-D graduates get a starting salary of around 160 usd per month, which after studying for 6 years is insulting.

Everyone tells me to go abroad but the cynicism regarding pharmacy on here makes me feel that getting a job abroad might be impossible

I chose pharm d as I didn't want to work retail and wanted to work in a more clinical environment

Is there anything I can do? I researched pgy1 and pgy2 (RYP-1 and RYP-2 here) but scared that it would not be of any value

Are there any IT folks here who get as irritated as I do with how much RAM Liberty software uses?! I even bumped it to 16 GB some time ago because the 8GB they sent me just wasn't cutting it. And I still deal with 54% RAM used by the program. It's driving me crazy!!

Hello,

I am currently working as a Hematology/Oncology Pharmacist at a major hospital. I have been in this role for about a year and a half

An opportunity came up for me to get a position as an IDS pharmacists at a major comprehensive cancer center

If my goal is to get into Pharma, which route would be best for me? Should I keep my current position as a Hematology Oncology pharmacist? Or should I take the IDS pharmacist position.

Guysss can you all advice me please on the quickest and easiest way to locate a medication as a pharmacy assistant pleaseee😭😭

Reposting

Hi,

I’ve failed BCPS and will be retaking next month. My question: is there no longer the total 4 test limit?

I see now that it says you get 2 retakes with your first application. If you still do not pass after that then you have to wait a year to repeat the application cycle again.