Hospital versus Retail Pharmacist Personalities

[rxgremlin]

Can anyone comment on the differences in personalities between hospital and retail pharmacists?

I have worked in retail for several years and graduated last year with my PharmD. I was pro-retail up until the time I graduated but now I am really coming to hate it. The reason that I am starting to hate it is not the usual insurance and angry customer thing but my fellow pharmacists.

It amazes me how anal and obsessive they are. Every day I walk into work I have to worry about what trivial thing I may have or have not done. "Rxgremlin didn't sign the daily narcotic log" or "Rxgremlin filled a lisinopril prescription that didn't have a date on it." Things like that.

I have been around enough retail pharmacists to realize that many of them are like that but what about hospital pharmacists? On average are they more laid back?

Unfortunately, I had only one rotation in a hospital and it since it was clinical I really have no idea what a "normal" hospital pharmacist does. I'm really considering making a move to something besides retail but hospital is honestly a big unknown.

All I know is that I can't go into work everyday and deal with such trivial crap.

If anyone could give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

You really can't lump either broad category into a personality type.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Do you work with a lot of new grads? Those are the only "anal" pharmacists that I know. They have to do everything "by the book", because they don't really know what's trivial or not yet.

 

[Tessalon]

I have been around enough retail pharmacists to realize that many of them are like that but what about hospital pharmacists? On average are they more laid back?

Unfortunately, I had only one rotation in a hospital and it since it was clinical I really have no idea what a "normal" hospital pharmacist does. I'm really considering making a move to something besides retail but hospital is honestly a big unknown.

Unfortunately when you are a newbie on the job, you are gonna get called out on little errors all the time. They are probably not trying to be picky, but they do want to make sure you realize what the errors are. I don't like to have mistakes pointed out to me excessively, but if they didn't say anything I would never know if it was wrong.

As far as a hospital pharmacists responsibilities, it varies with the type of hospital you are at. A community hospital may have a much different workflow than an academic hospital. If you are considering a switch, be sure to try and get a feel for how progressive the pharmacy management is. Are the doctors at that hospital receptive to pharmacist input, or do they prefer you just to sit in the basement and type orders? I work at a large teaching hospital, and we have computerized physician order entry. So a typical day involves taking the new orders off the printer, checking them for appropriateness against the patients profile (renal dosing, allergies, etc), and then filling the order. Some of our pharmacists go on rounds with the doctors every morning, then return to the pharmacy to staff and fill orders the rest of the day.

If you are considering a switch, don't let your lack of hospital experience scare you off. As a hospital employee they will train you to do the job, and you will not just be thrown into doing things you don't feel ready to do. I actually got much more time training than my retail buddies. Plus there is always another pharmacist there who I can talk to if I need help. Compared to retail, it can be a whole different world with quite a bit less pay, but I really do enjoy it!

 

[tussionex]

you are probably getting a large dose of nit-picking for any of all of the following:
- you work with other newbies who don't know any better and want to make themselves feel good by calling you out
- you work with old codgers who are bitter and want to haze the newbie
- you work with people who have nothing better to do with their time than nit-pick

i work in a fairly busy hospital. worked retail all through high school and college, then made the switch. i have worked with pleasant, laid-back people in both settings and with anal-retentive, postively eye-rolling nit-pickers.
i can't say it's one practice setting or another that governs personality.

i do feel, however, that in a hospital you get a lot more lee-way. you are protected by and can act within the guidelines and protocols of the institution.

if you only have lidex cream on your shelf, and the order says "ointment" chances are you won't get into any trouble to make a "formulary substitution" without calling the doc. lots of orders are written as "dose per pharmacy" and you take it from there. you can also make substitutions based on official formulary and IV/PO and antibiotic conversion policies. these are things you would spend much time on the phone over in retail.

when it comes to narcotics, most places will not be laid back, regardless!

when it comes to the nasty people with whom you work and they are on your back about something silly, calmly explain that each person is licensed individually, that your actions are not their actions and that they can please go pound salt in their a$$.

 

[KARM12]

In hospital I feel there is less sense of urgency...granted you do have nurses hasseling you sometimes...but it is way different than the patient standing right there.

I have also worked both and prefer hospital much more.

 

[MeHungryRx]

When you guys refer to hospital, do you mean outpatient or inpatient... or does it matter?

 

[browneyes021]

I've only been working at a hospital for 3 days, but so far, I LOVE IT! I worked retail for a month and after the 1st week, I knew that working there any longer than I had to would be too much for me. My problem with retail is the pharmacists and techs who are older, but not attending pharmacy school. For some strange reason, one tech I worked with felt the need to put down pre-pharmacy students and it got so bad, that one day in the middle of a transaction I had tears coming down my face and the customers knew automatically that something was wrong and that the pharmacist and tech had gotten to me.

Anyway, from what I've seen in hospital rx (doing inpatient) so far, there's more than one pharmacist working. We usually have an IV pharmacist, one or two filling Pyxis (it keeps medication for nurses to get out for patients), and a clinical pharmacist. Hospital pharmacists (the ones who aren't directors and such or maybe it's just the males) but they seem a lot more calmer. They seem to be bothered by nurses who call and annoy us about prescriptions. But also, I noticed in retail that the pharmacist would look at me crazy if I didn't answer the phone in like 1 sec. In the hospital, they seem more helpful when I give them requests from doctors and nurses. They seem less annoyed than retail pharmacists.

So to me, I don't really like retail pharmacists who seem to have an attitude that they don't about their techs and that the company is number one and the whole drive-thru should only be one hour, never two...

 

[rxliteguy]

i think you will see anal-retentive pharmacists in both settings. I can't really blame them, anytime you have your license on the line you will do whatever it takes to keep that license. On the other hand, I believe you can be anal-retentive and still show respect and professionalism to your co-workers.

 

[Epic]

Hospital pharmacists are cool, hip, and good looking.
Retail pharmacists are nerdy, dorky, and wear pocket protector.

 

[rxliteguy]

When you guys refer to hospital, do you mean outpatient or inpatient... or does it matter?

hospital=inpatient

 

[BidingMyTime]

I've worked both, and different personalities types will find different things about each area to like. In my experience, hospital pharmacies tend to be much more cliqueish and gossipy than retail. Unfortunately, there will always be a certain amount of cliques and gossip in any workplace. One the actual work, I enjoyed hospital pharmacy more--there was not as much pressure as in retail, plus I didn't have to deal with drug addicts & hateful people. I did not like all the politics & cliques in the hospital. I enjoyed the pay and work schedule much better in retail. Retail gives much more satisfaction, for all the negative feedback, there is also a lot of positive feedback from customers. That kind of feed-back is rare in a hospital environment. As someone mentioned, hospitals have their own protocols which physicians who admit to the hospital have to agree to abide by--the end result is the hospital pharmacist has a lot more leeway to change orders than a retail pharmacist has.

 

[browneyes021]

hospital=inpatient

It's not always inpatient because there's a hospital here with inpatient and outpatient.

 

[tussionex]

Hospital pharmacists are cool, hip, and good looking.
Retail pharmacists are nerdy, dorky, and wear pocket protector.

i second that!!

 

[SpirivaSunrise]

Hospital pharmacists are cool, hip, and good looking.
Retail pharmacists are nerdy, dorky, and wear pocket protector.

Pocket protector??? Did you grow up using a slide rule too??

 

[imperial frog]

It amazes me how anal and obsessive they are. Every day I walk into work I have to worry about what trivial thing I may have or have not done. "Rxgremlin didn't sign the daily narcotic log" or "Rxgremlin filled a lisinopril prescription that didn't have a date on it." Things like that.

Maybe rxgremlin should stop doing **** like that. Don't you know how annoying it is when you don't sign the narcotic log or fill scripts with no dates???

 

[PharmDstudent]

Maybe rxgremlin should stop doing **** like that. Don't you know how annoying it is when you don't sign the narcotic log or fill scripts with no dates???

Are you serious?

One of the pharmacists that I know, that actually checks for the original date, worries mostly about the ones written for controls. S/he won't fill unless they have a date on them. S/he'll call the office, answering service, etc. to get in contact with the doctor.

Just about everything else flies without a date (not Accutane, but that's obvious).

 

[Allure]

I think the best thing about hospital is that you don't have to deal with insurance companies. Hospital is not as fast-paced as retail, but that's a tech perspective. I think retail pharmacists have it easier than hospital pharmacists. Then again, it really depends on where you work. Where I worked, the hospital pharmacists had to enter so many prescriptions and I remember one night, we were 8 hours behind. When you're behind, crazy nurses keep calling and that takes away even more time that you have to do work and that is just so annoying.

 

[imperial frog]

Are you serious?

All of my posts are dead serious.