What is Pharmacy?

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About Pharmacy

Contrary to popular belief, pharmacy is not limited to counting and dispensing pills. Pharmacy is a rewarding profession in the health care system that involves working closely with doctors and patients. No matter what health field you step into, there will always be a need for pharmacists. They provide their expertise on the composition, use, and manufacturing of a drug, as well as its physiological and chemical interactions. Pharmacy offers flexible work schedules, a broad spectrum of opportunities, direct patient contact, and top salaries right out of college!

Pharmacists not only educate consumers on medication use, but also monitor their patient's health to ensure that the patient is getting the full benefits of the drug. Pharmacists also advise doctors and other health care professionals on making wise medication decisions. In fact, pharmacists are consistently ranked as one of the most trusted professions for the services they render.

Due to the rapid growth of the health care system, the increasing elderly population, and the burgeoning pharmaceutical and biotech industry, there is unprecedented demand for pharmacists today.

Although most of us are familiar with our neighborhood retail pharmacy chains such as Walgreens, Long's, or RiteAid, many are unaware of the other exciting opportunities in the pharmacy field such as:

Hospital Pharmacy - Staff Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacist, Pharmacy Adminstrator
Pharmacy Consultant - Home Health Care, Long-Term Care Facilities, Internet Consultant
Pharmaceutical Industry - Research and Development, Manufacturing, Pharmacogenomics
Government Agencies - Hospice and Home Care, Public Health Services, FDA inspector
College and Universities - Professor/Lecturer
Medical and Scientific Publishing - Editor-in-Chief, Science Writer
Nuclear Pharmacy - Chemotherapy pharmacist
Law - Retail Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Company Attorney

As you can see, the pharmacy profession is not as dull or limited as most think. It is this latitude that makes pharmacy so appealing; when you're bored with one field, you can enter a different aspect of pharmacy with ease! In fact, most pharmacy students go on to earn an MBA degree, a RPH degree, and even a JD to become a pharmacy attorney! For more information on what you can do with a Pharm.D. degree, check out this site at Pfizer.

The degree you receive from pharmacy school is a doctors degree (Pharm.D.), which requires four years of schooling like other professional schools. However, the pharmacy program can be a 2+4 year program! You can apply to pharmacy school as soon as you finish all the prerequisities, meaning that you do not need a college degree to enter.

In addition to wide variety of pharmacy professions you can choose from, there are some other perks in pharmacy. Due to the high demand for pharmacists, the starting salary for a retail pharmacist is $86,000 a year, with benefits! For those of you who are concerned about raising a family, the pharmacy profession is quite flexible with time. Most pharmacy professions allow the pharmacist to set their own schedules and vacation dates, giving them time to spend with their family and friends.

Thus, pharmacy is more than just counting pills. Its an important and trustworthy occupation that reaches into almost all aspects of medicine and healthcare. From direct patient care and guidance to the forefront of pharmaceutical research, pharmacy caters to many fields. Most importantly, the pharmacist's role in society is to promote the well-being of their patients.