What is the purpose of a pharmacist?

[Douglas]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

I worked in a pharmacy in HS and college. I was allowed to count pills on occassion, but it had to be checked by a pharmacist before going out. So counting pills is not what they do. They spent most of their time making prescriptions that had to be custom-made, making sure patients weren't getting conflicting prescriptions (doctors didn't always check), consuling patients who needed to know basic stuff like what's best to treat some symptom, and running the joint. And as someone metioned, they dealt with a lot of ****** people. Sick people can be mean. b
I'm not so sure though that that's a reason they ought to make good bank. Lots of people have to deal with ****** people and they don't get paid well for it (e.g. McDonald's drive-thru operator) - I just don't see that as a reason to make lots of money. I can see how some pharmacists would be formulating things, but at your standard Walgreens or supermarket, are they really mixing anything?

 

[odoreater]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I can see how some pharmacists would be formulating things, but at your standard Walgreens or supermarket, are they really mixing anything?

Probably not.

 

[Teacher]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I can see how some pharmacists would be formulating things, but at your standard Walgreens or supermarket, are they really mixing anything?

I have a friend who's a pharmacist in Arizona, and according to him, these guys aren't getting the coin that others are.

 

[Beta]

Originally Posted by Teacher

I have a friend who's a pharmacist in Arizona, and according to him, these guys aren't getting the coin that others are.

Ive heard the opposite, but it depends on the chain, ive heard that at Publix (southeast regional chain) that they are trying to really grow their pharm dept. and are paying accordingly.

The stories of big signing bonuses and sometimes cars and stuff seem to be true.

 

[rdawson808]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I'm not so sure though that that's a reason they ought to make good bank. Lots of people have to deal with ****** people and they don't get paid well for it (e.g. McDonald's drive-thru operator) - I just don't see that as a reason to make lots of money.

I can see how some pharmacists would be formulating things, but at your standard Walgreens or supermarket, are they really mixing anything?


Not disagreeing with you. But a lot of pharmacists do do more than count pills.

b

 

[crazyquik]

This thread (and we lay folks in general) have a pretty one-sided view of pharmacy, the retail side. Every major hospital has a collection of pharmacists who work 'internally'. They rarely deal with cranky sick people (because they have a nurse or someone coming to pick up the drugs), and the prescriptions are, of course, much more exotic (and more likely to be compounded).

Compounding is sorta like bespoke drugs. Definitely not cheap.

 

[Viktri]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I'm not so sure though that that's a reason they ought to make good bank. Lots of people have to deal with ****** people and they don't get paid well for it (e.g. McDonald's drive-thru operator) - I just don't see that as a reason to make lots of money.

I can see how some pharmacists would be formulating things, but at your standard Walgreens or supermarket, are they really mixing anything?

You don't think it is a good idea to attract intelligent people for positions where there is moderate potential for suffering/death if things are overlooked? I'd say there is huge value to the pharmaceutical companies as it reduces the # of deaths and therefore bad publicity (people are rarely rational).

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I'm not so sure though that that's a reason they ought to make good bank. Lots of people have to deal with ****** people and they don't get paid well for it (e.g. McDonald's drive-thru operator) - I just don't see that as a reason to make lots of money. I can see how some pharmacists would be formulating things, but at your standard Walgreens or supermarket, are they really mixing anything?
Well, not sure what sort of rationale you want. BART operators in San Francisco can make 40-60K a year, and all they do is push a lever back and forth and make sure the trains don't crash - not intellectually rigorous. Should they be paid less? When I was little, an uncle of mine was given medication by a pharmacist. He ended up fainting at his desk, hitting his head on the corner, head gushing blood and having to get stitches. Not sure what ever happened to this. Apparently there was a reaction to another drug he was taking. I imagine an attentive and well-trained pharmacist would have picked up on that. So the consequences can certainly be significant and the training relevant. As has been discussed, they do more than dispense drugs.

 

[apropos]

Originally Posted by hopkins_student

Their purpose is to be smarter and better people than doctors. Or so I have been told, or at least had suggested to me, by every insecure pharmacy student I have ever met.

So true. Add dental students to that list. Who IME are either 1. medicine rejects, or 2. money-minded Asian kids.

 

[feynmix]

Originally Posted by apropos

So true. Add dental students to that list. Who IME are either 1. medicine rejects, or 2. money-minded Asian kids.


+ 1. I would add optometry students to this list as well.

 

[dragon8]

Originally Posted by apropos

So true. Add dental students to that list. Who IME are either 1. medicine rejects, or 2. money-minded Asian kids.

Asian kids would be real Doctors-MD.

 

[bigasahouse]

Originally Posted by kwiteaboy

Given a list of symptoms, a computer could output diagnoses and treatment plans. Computers are better at reading EKGs than cardiologists. Computers are better with many medical imaging diagnoses than radiologists. If you're going to suggest that a computer could do a pharmacist's job (something with which I won't disagree), then you'd better be open to the idea that computers could be better at evidence-based medicine than physicians.

Computers are not better at reading EKG's than a cardiologist. They often read things that are not there. Every single EKG done in our hospital has to be read additionally by a cardiologist. You cannot rely on the computer's reading.

And computers can definitely help a pharmacist's job, but they cannot take their place because of the reason listed directly below.

Originally Posted by odoreater

My wife is a pharmacist. She has to exercise her judgment and use her training a million times a day. She doesn't count the pills, technicians do that. Her job is to check the scripts for drug/drug interactions (comuters catch some and don't catch others, and more importantly, computers often spit out false positives - essentially, the computer will show that there is an interaction but the pharmacist has to use her judgment to determine whether the interaction is acceptable given the need for the medication - a computer would probably not be able to do that)

Every single tiny interaction between medicines comes up as a hard stop on some computer systems- and the practioner has to make the call whether or not is is significant or likely enough that the new medication should not be given.

Originally Posted by crazyquik

This thread (and we lay folks in general) have a pretty one-sided view of pharmacy, the retail side. Every major hospital has a collection of pharmacists who work 'internally'. They rarely deal with cranky sick people (because they have a nurse or someone coming to pick up the drugs), and the prescriptions are, of course, much more exotic (and more likely to be compounded).

Compounding is sorta like bespoke drugs. Definitely not cheap.

This is true- the pharmacists that work in the hospitals I believe had to go to school longer for more specialized training. However, I would guess that they are overwhelmingly the minority of the profession.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by crazyquik

This thread (and we lay folks in general) have a pretty one-sided view of pharmacy, the retail side. Every major hospital has a collection of pharmacists who work 'internally'. They rarely deal with cranky sick people (because they have a nurse or someone coming to pick up the drugs), and the prescriptions are, of course, much more exotic (and more likely to be compounded).

Compounding is sorta like bespoke drugs. Definitely not cheap.

I covered the hospital side last time this thread came up. No one seemed to buy it.

 

[dfagdfsh]

there is sf, the only honorable professions are doctor, banker and BIGLAW

 

[forsbergacct2000]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I know pharmacists are smart people, and they go to school for a long time, and they have an understanding of chemistry and all kinds of stuff.

But seriously, all they do is count pills. Do they ever get called upon to formulate anything? Are the conflicting drug combos they're supposed to spot anything your average computer couldn't do?

It seems to me that your local pharmacy ought to look about like a RedBox vending machine. You scan some bar coded script and your driver's license and insurance card, and in 30 seconds, a bunch of bottles pop out.

I have to be missing something, right?

As a trolling effort, I'll give it a C- for originality; a B- for the level of provocative intensity.