I work in a small rural hospital (almost 3 years with them and 4 as a pharmacist). I have noticed that ED and OR/OPS nurses are very bossy towards us pharmacists (not to mention disrespectful towards me, as in you are wrong and I am right type of situation). If we tell them NO on something, they immediately place an RL against us. In my hospital we pharmacist are treated like we are only there to give them the medications and nothing else. If something goes wrong its always the pharmacists or pharmacy’s fault. For example, surgeons don’t want to put in orders by themselves (even though they have order sets made especially for them they refuse to use these), they send us a fax with more than 10 medications on it, and somehow it is my fault as a pharmacist for not noticing or missing something (putting in the order is the doctors main responsibility, not mine!) I feel like I am treated like the providers secretary, and not to mention that some nurses think they are my boss. Is this common practice because I am sick of this profession and the disrespect I get from both nursing and providers (mainly doctors, and PAs). If I had known being a pharmacist was going to be so miserable I would have never pursued a doctoral degree in this profession.

Apparently not.

Hey everyone! I’m 29F, a UK pharmacist living in London with around 4 years of community pharmacy experience and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to build a career in North America.

The US has always been somewhere I’ve felt drawn to. I’ve travelled there quite a bit, have friends and family there and love the opportunities and earning potential. Obviously I’m not blind to the political situation, healthcare issues and everything else going on over there so I do have my reservations. But it’s still somewhere I’d really love to give a shot.

I’ve already explored a couple of routes:

1. US pharmacist licensing: Looked into the whole FPGEC/NAPLEX process but the amount of exams, time and money involved is pretty overwhelming. Then there’s the H-1B sponsorship issue. From speaking to quite a few people, finding an employer willing to sponsor seems incredibly difficult with opportunities often being in less desirable or remote locations. As a woman moving alone that’s not particularly appealing.

2. MBA route: I actually started preparing for the GMAT and researching/applying to business schools. But realistically, I’d need a VERY generous scholarship to make it work. Between the financial commitment, visa uncertainty, restrictions on working as an international student and no guarantee of being able to stay after graduating it just felt like a massive gamble.

So here’s my latest idea:
Someone recommended Nova Scotia’s Streamlined Pathway for internationally educated pharmacists which avoids the usual PEBC exams. I’m seriously considering going down this route, getting licensed in Canada and working in community pharmacy initially.
My longer term plan would be to eventually move to Toronto, network like crazy and try to break into the pharmaceutical industry, ideally with a multinational company. If things go well, I’d be more than happy to build a career and settle in Canada. But ideally I’d love to eventually explore an internal transfer to a US office assuming I meet the immigration requirements.
I know breaking into pharma from community isn’t exactly easy and I’m definitely not assuming a company transfer automatically means a US visa!

To be completely transparent, Canada wasn’t originally my first choice mainly because the salaries don’t seem massively different from the UK especially compared with the US. But I’m starting to think it might be a more sensible and stable way to build a future in North America rather than spending years chasing an uncertain US visa.
I’m also just genuinely tired of community pharmacy. The workload, constant pressure, lack of respect and limited progression have really put me off doing this forever. At this point I want a career with great earning potential, proper progression, decent benefits and a good quality of life. I don’t mind working hard to get there, I just want to make sure I’m putting that effort into something worthwhile.

So I guess my questions are:
Am I being realistic with this Canada → pharma industry → potentially US plan, or is it much harder than I’m imagining?

Has anyone actually managed to transition from community pharmacy into pharma in Canada, particularly Toronto?
Would you personally pursue this route, or reconsider US licensing/MBA instead?

Are there any other routes or opportunities I might have completely overlooked?

I’d genuinely LOVE to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar position, especially international pharmacists who’ve successfully made the move or people already working in the industry. Even if you know someone who’s done something similar or could point me towards the right people to speak to, that would mean a lot!
I’m just trying to make a smart decision for my future rather than waste years going down the wrong path. Any advice, reality checks or success stories would be massively appreciated! :)

looking for all of the most important things you think your PIC should be doing - what's your favorite things they do? I just recently accepted a position and want to make sure work is as good as it can be lol

Looking for a side hustle I can do from home when my baby’s gone to sleep now that I’m a mom and working full time in a clinic. Bonus if it’s Canadian or able to pay Canadians. Are surveys legitimate? TIA :)

Im from canada, specifically New Brunswick, and i see a lot of discourse about controlled/narcotic meds being “out of stock” for patients, what does that mean? Am i just understanding the term wrong? That could totally be me😅 in my brain, when i think “out of stock” i think the pharmacy isnt suppling the item and they have to order it specifically, but on the other hand if im misunderstand does out of stock mean like short from the manufacturer and youre unable to order it in? Is there a difference? I just want to make sure im understanding correctly.

My pharmacy just started using etransfers in Pioneer but we have no idea how to see what med was attached for the denied request for transfer ins. Does anyone know how to navigate by chance? Once it gets denied, the med disappears in the queue.

Might be a dumb question, but I haven’t worked in retail pharmacy since before electronic prescribing became a thing.

Im studying for the UMPJE (license transfer), and for initial fills of controls, I understand you can only transfer to another pharmacy if it is an electronic Rx, and it must be transferred electronically. How exactly is this done? Is there an option in your pharmacy software that essentially “emails” the E-Rx to another pharmacy?

Thanks in advance!

I interviewed yesterday for a pharmacy tech job in another city that I’m trying to relocate to. I feel it went well, everyone seemed great and down to earth, and I really hope I get offered this job because I A)miss working in pharmacy and B)feel this one would be a fantastic fit. Of course relocating to be with my gf in said city is huge on my mind but I’m being careful not to take the first thing that comes to me, and I want a job that I’m truly going to be happy at and that puts patients first. And I very much feel like I would have that at this job based upon the vibes I got and the conversations I had.

My question now is, just for fun last night I looked on the health systems website and I saw another pharmacy tech job open, and I of course am interested in it, it would be something slightly different than normal but that I’m also very qualified for. It comes down to I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket here. There is no reason I would not take the job I interviewed for aside from if the pay was too low. But I fear if I apply for the other job I’ll be sending the message that I wasn’t that impressed with the first one when to the contrary, I really liked them, I simply don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket and miss out on one I could’ve gotten should I get passed over for the first one in the health system. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated as I really don’t know how to proceed here as I don’t want to jeopardize the first job.

Hello all!

I am a pharmacy student in my PY4 year. I am set to graduate this May, and have been working for a big chain pharmacy as a tech/intern for 5 years now. I don't want to actually name the company but it is 3 letters and starts with a C.

Their offer letter was absolute trash so I approached a competitor with the ultimate goal of presenting a competitor letter and leveraging it for better pay.

Well the plan worked too well. The offer letter is significantly better from the competitor. My prospective DL cannot match it, but has generously offered me essentially what would be an immediate raise to try and get my base pay closer.

I would take the better offer, but the problem is that I have heard some bad things about this company; they are a terrible employer, that I won't get raises and I will be on my own in lower volume stores if that is where I end up. The competitor is another big chain pharmacy beginning with W and features a color.

In addition to just not hearing great things, leaving my current employer would mean giving up an automatic 3 annual weeks of PTO. I also am not the most tech-savvy and I fear that the learning curve to get used to a new system will make me hate my life for at least a few weeks.

The difference in pay will be about $4 hourly. I guess I am trying to see if any of you have advice on the general information I am providing. In addition if any of you have worked for both of the big chains that I am alluding to then maybe some more personal advice on which employer you preferred.

Has anyone received their PSI TCQR holistic assessment outcome recently? How many weeks were you in Stage 2 after paying the €1,000 assessment fee?
Bonus if you’re an American pharmacist!

Have a regular patient who gets Percocet 5/325 fairly regularly for chronic pain. She broke something and was hospitalized and discharged over the weekend with a script from the hospital for a 3 day supply of 5mgs oxycodone. Originally told her we wouldn’t fill it as she should still have Percocet left at home, but she swore up and down that she couldn’t find it anywhere. Never had an issue with her before trying to get meds early. Couldn’t get ahold of anyone since it was the weekend. I ended up filling the 5mgs for her with documentation to follow up with her primary ASAP, did I do the right thing? I felt I couldn’t in good conscience leave her in pain over the weekend if she was telling the truth but I’m still feeling very iffy about it

How would u rate a starting pharmacist working in retail hospital or industry ? How are the job opportunities and is the pay good ? Bad decent ? Im starting to stress out cuz genuinely the hate around this profession is absurd and idk why eventhough its a good job i sometimes feel like mc donalds have more respect than us

There are so many companies and routes to choose from. What's your dream company and/or area of pharmacy to work in? Why?

Since becoming a pharmacist, I’ve been told that I do too much (helping with first dispense and stat doses.. in retail it was picking up the phone too much) by other pharmacists, and that I’m going to “spoil the techs” and make them lazy.

As a former technician myself, and I hate being told that. We’re all adults, not children to be spoiled. But I would like to hear what other pharmacists think about this. I will note that the pharmacists telling me this are ones that spend 60% of the shift on their phones while complaining about not being able to get work elsewhere..

Edit: Just for context, we aren’t understaffed at my hospital, just busy and there are multiple pharmacists on my team. I’ve been looked at like I had three heads for practicing the way I do/remembering how it felt to work with pharmacist that didn’t believe in doing “tech only work” as a technician. Thanks you for the feedback!

Edit II: Used poor/incorrect wording, I understand that there is no such thing as a “non-pharmacist task”. I’m on the side of the RPhs that feel the same!

I like to help people but I can't do it anymore, for context i used to work in a pharmacy in the capital city of my country, i used to actually sell life saving med, mostly. I used to have 5k euros a day on average and there were 4 counters. I used to work 12h shifts sometimes 14h, i was miserable but i felt like i was actually a pharmacist. Now i work in a tourist town pharmacy and i mostly sell food supplements and cosmetics. I dont feel like q pharmacist my job is basically responding to emails, sending back expired meds, changing prices and receiving even more emails, that ask me to do things that nobody showed me how to do, and there is nobody that can help since my boss is evil af and has chased out 3 people. Not because she has any power but because she is just such, and I'm sorry to say this , a bitch that people can't stand working with her and they leave, we are all new people in this company and have a lot to learn. The 2 of us, me and my other colleague who is also a freshly graduated bachelors in pharmacy do our best but we cant do things we weren't taught how to do. I can't take it. I hate my company, my 72yo boss, everything about my current job is hell. I dont want to deal with tourists because i know 3 languages and that doesn't seem to be enough... I cant do this anymore.

Hi I’m wondering if there are any other Irish pharmacists in the US. I completed pre university exams in Ireland and did my degree in the UK and wondering if anyone has experience on whether the ECE/NABP will accept the Irish leaving certificate with a 4 year UK mpharm degree for equivalency. Thanks in advance!

This is a clinical Question, I am not asking about pharmacy school or anything like that, but it does have something do to with what we are taught in different classes, and something seems contradictory to me. I would like clarification please.

I am taking renal, and we were taught that SGLT2 drugs are nephrotoxic, but in foundations, endocrine, and cardio we are taught that they protect the kidneys, so how can something that protect the kidney be nephrotoxic,

Also this includes ACE and ARBS as well.

can anybody please explain to me.

Thank you

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We compound like 2 or 3 Rxs per day.

Ointments, liquids, veterinary stuff, some suppositories, etc.

The problem is that this PIC does not keep any compounding record sheets, has no BUDs specified on our records or for the patient, and does not use or extrapolate from any known formulas.

When approached about this, it is clear that she just expects to use the patient's ignorance about asking about these things to her advantage.

We also do mass liquid antibiotic compounding for an animal shelter. Same deal. No BUD specification, no storage specification, and no formula from official literature to support the compounding formula.

I am hesitant to bring this up to her because she is known for running her foul mouth at employees. I just work here to cover an injured friend but the idea of stamping my initials on Rxs that I know should not be handled in this way just irks me.

Am I overreacting here? Is she not making herself or the pharmacist vulnerable to state inspectors and the like?

Are we not supposed to be careful and specific about these things?

So as far as I know, Simethicone is not absorbed and has a virtually non-existent side effect profile. So what is the determining factor for its MDD? is it just one of those "That's just how it was tested" cases, or is there something else?

I have a job offer, and need to negotiate? Thank you.

i am a B pharma graduate, who is struggling with quarter age crisis ,looking for a job can anyone help me to find one even apprenticeship are encouraged or someone can give me tips to get hired