Should You Go to Pharmacy School?

Hey everyone, my name is Sibin, and today I’m here to talk to you about pharmacy school, and if it’s worth it in 2021.
To give you some background,I am a pharmacist by training. I graduated with my PharmD degree in 2016, and currently work in the pharma industry.
What I am going to do is try to highlight some key factors to take into consideration that may not be necessarily be top of mind.
A pharmacist, at the core, is a medication expert that plays a critical role in helping patients get the best results from their medication and improve their health.
Fun fact - Pharmacist are considered the most accessible health care professional, being that most people in the US live within 2 miles of a pharmacy
First things first - What is it about pharmacy that attracts you? Next - what type of pharmacist do you want to be?
With a doctorate of pharmacy, or pharmd, you can pursue quite a few career paths as a pharmacist, and depending on which path you choose plays a major factor in job availability, salary, or quality of life. Some of the different roles include:
Pharmacist in a community setting, such as CVS or Walgreens, or, at a local independent pharmacy. Although they are both in the community setting, they are 2 very different types of experiences, depending on factors like quotas, direction from a corporate office, and even the relationship with patients

Maybe you’d like to work at a Specialty pharmacy?

Mail order pharmacy?

Pharmacy informatics?

If you want to work in the hospital setting, do you want to work as a staff pharmacist verifying orders and making IV’s, or would you want to work as a clinical pharmacist doing patient rounds with a team?

Maybe you’re thinking about working as a pharmacist in managed care, such as an insurance company like Blue Shield or Kaiser?

Or... maybe you want to work in pharma? Medical Affairs? Regulatory Affairs? Commercial?

Or maybe you’d like to work at the FDA?

Or you’d like to be a cannabis pharmacist?

In 2012, the Medical Marijunana state bill passed in Connecticut that requires a pharmacist to be the one to dispense cannabis from medical marijuana dispensaries.

Now in terms of Job outlook, the bureau of labor statistics projected a 3% decline from 2019 to 2029. There reasoning was that pharmacists that work in retail pharmacies and drug stores are likely to decline due to the increase in people filling their prescriptions through mail order and online, but also because of the increased role and responsibilities of pharmacy technicians.
If we go over to linkedin and search pharmacist in jobs, we can clearly see that there are jobs where pharmacists are needed. Now of course, some of these may indeed be old job postings, but Linkedin is pretty good at keeping there job postings up to date.
Also, given the current global health crisis, there actually seems to be an influx in positions available related to vaccine support all over the country
So as you can see, at this moment, there seems to be jobs available. Does it mean that it will be easy to get your dream job in your preferred locations? not necessarily….BUT definitely not impossible.
And finally,pharmacy’s changing! And hopefully, for the better.
In some states, the pharmacist’s role has evolved to include the opportunity to prescribe medications , adjust and monitor drug therapy, perform patient assessments. and in certain states, pharmacists can actually prescribe a small number of medications like birth, control, naloxone, tobacco cessation products, preventative HIV medications, and travel medicine.
For example, in Flordia, House Bill 389 expanded the pharmacy practice to include drug therapy services with collaborative pharamcay practice agreements in place. This means that pharmacists can initiate, modify, or discontinue drug thereapy for conditions such as arthiritis, asthma, COPD, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
As of October 2020, there were 40 pending pieces of legislation pertaining to the provider status and the level of integration pharmacists should experience in the field.
Pharmacy has definitely changed over the past few years, and continues to evolve with our changing healthcare landscape.
If you have a passion for pharmacy and want to be a medication expert in the healthcare setting, then I say pharmacy may be an excellent career path that can bring a sense of fulfillment.

[isabelramos]

I just want to say thank you for being so optimistic in your video pharmacy is the only career I see myself doing and it can be overwhelming hearing others tell me that I’m making the wrong decision

[kamand__.k]

Thank you so much for your explanation 🙏💫

[annykamray]

I enjoyed this video a lot! Lowkey motivated me

[johnathang]

Thank you for this I am a tech trainee as of right now. I sit in the same shoes as your friend there where the pharmacist played the biggest role in my life. I am wanting to go to school for it but I am been told by many that I shouldn’t go into the field and now I am hunting for pros and cons

[TheSlenderschannel]

Right now I'm a pharmacy technician at a private hospital and honestly everyday I think of how to automate processes to make things easier. I'm thinking pharmacy informatics might be my gig! Thank you for this video

[idothings]

My uncle was a pharmacist but he killed himself in 2018. In his note he said he felt like a glorified Amazon worker. He had tons of other issues too though, so not trying to scare people away sorry. It's just not for some people. He hated being in doors everyday and probably would have been a lot happier being a park ranger or a wilderness guide or something. There's certainly people who find the field incredibly stimulating and there is a lot more to the job than just filling bottles, but like anything you have to be passionate about it for me to recommend something to someone. I certainly wouldn't go to pharm school just because it pays pretty well, money is the last thing you should look at when deciding what field to go into. My uncle had kids young and sort of felt trapped in his job to support his family as switching fields with 4 kids to feed and going back to making $40K was just not feasible. I'm 31 by the way, his kids were all grown and out of the house when this happened, so don't think he left behind his wife with a bunch of babies. I really felt for him when I read his note, RIP Teddy.

[Alclevy]

Thank you for all the explanations in your video. You explained very well and shortly the careers paths after pharmacy school. I study in France and being an african immigrant (from Cameroon 🙂) I understand what other immigrants in the world go trough. I also think it's important to help our comunities.
Obviously in France our education system is very different from the american one. Here in university, there is no real cost because they are so low that every student can afford it. We could say that university and public schools are free in France. So there is no debt after the 6 years of pharmacy school in France . And the field is not as saturated as it is in the US or in UK.
I think it's the way you use your degree that will determine the outcomes so if you really want to do pharm school don't be discouraged guys. 😁

[anindyamajumdar]

Very infor!national by a young man who is truely interested in pharmacy

[girlgirly]

We need a vlogs of a pharmacist day in life

[PotatoThatGotAway]

What, a real life pharmacist with a brand new yt channel how did i get this lucky. Here from the Jasmines video. Kinda sad that i cant discuss much other than what classes are like since im a student. Anyways good to you on this yt journey i bet many people will join

[delyana]

hey thank u for this !😊😊 i wanna ask how was pharmacy school for you ? was it hard ? i’m planning on becoming a pharmacist too! just need some advice ! Also, could i just get my prerequisites for 2 years and head straight to pharmacy school or do i HAVE to go to a 6 year pharmacy school ?

[ardeshirirani]

Hey man, I am in the same exact position as you are my parents are also immigrants from India and I was also good in math in science in high school. I also didn't know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and I am going for pre pharm. I am currently a sophomore in college and I am doing a biological sciences major to get enough pre requisite science courses. I think I will stick with the pharmacy route.

[InfallibleGrace]

As a pharmacy technician I work very closely with all kinds of pharmacists
Im in the field every day I’ve been questioning My self if I can do this for the rest of my life as a pharmacist

[iluvsuperjunior]

Can you please go into detail about pharmacy informatics? It is not a career path I've heard of for a pharmD

[khadigaamgad]

I ended my first year in pharmacy school, , I found it difficult but interesting .
I want to be a clinical pharmacist specially surgical pharmacist so is it a right choice ?or does it have disadvantages ?

[christopherdavis]

What are your recommendations to teach, tenure track and non-tenure track, as a professor?

[westrice]

iv allways wanted to go into pharmacy school and currently I'm in the 11th grade going to be taking core next year and personally I'm good at chemistry but not to great at math it isn't one of my stong suits and that's got me wondering if i could make it through and into pharmacy school

[beingsakib]

I am doing Bechelor in pharmacy!Currently um in my 4th semister! Can you suggest me which subject should i choose for masters? I am planning to move to Germany or canada!

[nakachi]

I’m a nursing bsn graduate with a year experience under my belt but I want to switch to pharmacy. Do I need the six year program or 4 year program

[TheDIABETESandHEALTHYAGINGhub]

Hey guys, I’m a Clinical Pharmacist..also worked in retail and interviewed students wanting to get into PHARMACY SCHOOL. Would love to answer any questions…and by the way, awesome vid Sibin 🙏🤙