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- Mar 21, 2007
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I am going to take a shot here as it disgusts me at how many ignorant people there are in this forum.
Lets start with the earning income. You guys say that you can max out; so can we. Someone owning an independent pharmacy or niching in say parental can rake in millions. You guys probably cant even estimate the amount of independent pharmacies out there and how much they are making. Do you have any idea how easy it is for us to make a buck compare to you guys? We but 1000 capsules of amoxicillin fo 5 dollars and sell it for 500. About salary, we are guarantee an increase. When i started pharmacy school, the average salary was about 60k. Now it is 100k. The wages are still going up with an expected 5 to 6 percent salary increase for most pharmacists this year. In addition to a pharmacists's salary, they also recieve bonuses, 401k matching (thats another 10k right there for me), FSA, employee stock purchases, etc.
Saying that we are only pill counters is the most ignorant statement I have ever heard. Besides nuclear pharamcy and retail (the two that someone apparaently thinks we do), there are a lot more career paths out there. http://hsc.unm.edu/pharmacy/docs/Pfizerpharmacyguide.pdf this guide alone shows that although there are about 40-50 career paths out there that are COMMON. Take a look at it and you will be surprised at what we do daily. Most doctors that I work with respect us and come to us for advice. I had two recommendations that was asked of me and did a couple of interventions today. By saving the hospital millions of dollars from lawsuits (one of my intervention was a heparin overdose), I am already making myself worth my salary plus a lot more.
To the poster who said that you guys should get paid more because you guys diagnosis and do exams, give me a break. If that was the point, pharmacists do that often. We do it in health management, PBMs (we talk it over with doctors on what is cover or not and what is the most appropriate route based on clinical medicine), diabetic clinics (we prescribe and manage insulin therapy, run tests, give advice), smoking cessation, hypertension and CAD, weight loss,etc. What do you think we do when patients come in asking for advice on a cold to a first aid problem? Take a look at the NHS and VA system. On the other hand, our job isn't to diagnosis but to treat. With that (to treat, we need to understand pathology, anatomy, and medicine), I can honestly say we know more about medicine than you guys. You guys probably cant even differentiate between a flu and a cold must less the disease states that we were trained on. Concerning liability, look up any state board of pharmacy disiplinary action and you will see that we get disciplined more than any other profession (only second to nurses). Heck, (http://www.op.nysed.gov/jul07.htm) a pharmacist got disciplined because he failed to counsel on a new medication.
I respect ODs, but respect is only given when it is recieved. . .
Calm down..........take a deep breath......everything is going to be all right...