I'm a relatively new pharmacist and it's hard seeing so much negative feedback about this career path. Does anyone here have sage words of wisdom or actually genuinely enjoy what they do anymore?

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Hello - I have been in infusion and specialty pharmacy for over 25 years. I am now a VP, I have held progressive roles from clinical to managerial, regional, corporate/national, start up. I have had an amazing career and have loved my profession. I feel so fortunate and blessed. I may not have been completely satisfied at all points in time, overall I have always been presented with challenging and fulfilling work. Quit reading posts and forge your path that fulfill you professionally and make changes where you can!

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You hate the negativity because you work in LTC. If you don’t work for a big box retail chain, you won’t understand why so many of us hate our careers. It has become demoralizing and demeaning at this point. I’ve worked so hard and spent many years dedicating myself to my patients just to get mistreated by corporate apathy. I’ve shed many tears over this and work in conditions that risk patient harm. After taxes many of us, especially younger grads like myself with no mortgage or children yet, make less than $90K a year after taxes. It’s not even 6 figures anymore which is tough because our loans are six figures and I come from a first generation family that couldn’t afford to support me through school so I had other debts that I just finished paying for. Starting salaries are declining and working conditions are atrocious. I can’t recommend this profession until a revolution happens. Reforms aren’t going to cut it anymore.

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I'm sorry for your experience. And my ignorance of said experience. That is terrible.

I do think people are starting to wake up. Hopefully that leads to a revolution of the industry.

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The reason why you see such negative posts is that there are maybe 5-10% of all pharmacy jobs that are actually enjoyable. Most of the people in those jobs are folks who enjoyed the glory days in pharmacy in the early 2000s. Most of them now work in cushy jobs. All the pharmacy associations have destroyed the pharmacy field.

Which career do you see people spend 8-10 years of their lives, take on 150-200k in school debt to earn a hair over 100k? Nurses, engineers, techs, science, finance, accounting, etc all can go to school for 4 years and start out earning 75% of what pharmacist make with little to no debt. Eventually in another 4-5 years, they'll be making what pharmacist make or even more with little to no debt.

Be real with yourself. The profession has been on a downward spiral for over 10 years. Pharmacist have to work twice as hard as they need to invest or learn other skills to build an outside hussle.

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I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of settings as a pharmacist (Retail, Independent, Hospital, Industry) and you have to find the joy in any job and not let the job take over your life. If you have good management and/or a good team to work with the bad days won’t feel as bad and that is in all the settings I’ve worked in. However the working conditions for pharmacist (primary retail) is not good and there needs to be a push for better working conditions for pharmacist. Get yourself some malpractice insurance for ease of mind. I really hope pharmacy is going to get better especially for newer graduates. Keep your head held as high as you can and make the most of whatever position you’re in. And set hard boundaries and if you’re in retail give everyone the corporate number to complain and let them complain. Getting a good therapist who specializes in work trauma might also be helpful (joking not joking). I’ve enjoyed some aspect of all of my jobs but I will say working in retail took a toll and I’m starting to slowly find my joy in pharmacy again.

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I hate all the negativity amongst our field.
Honestly I don't want to do ANY job really...but pharmacy allows me to support my lifestyle with a relatively good work-life balance since I don't take work home with me, I just work odd hours.

It really depends what you want out of a career. If you need growth then you'll have to get into a speciality or industry. You won't really find growth in retail.

I work in LTC and I look at work as a means to support my lifestyle and that does it for me. So it's fine. I don't hate it, I don't love it.

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I worked 20 years in retail pharmacy and began to feel really burned out. Covid about did me in between vaccines and drive-through Covid tests. I was able to make a career change and switch over to hospital pharmacy. I took a $20,000 pay cut but I love what I’m doing. It caters to my natural introvert and there is plenty of time to read and learn and take a breath when I want to. We can make a big difference in Pharmacy and it takes dedicated people to look out for the needs of their patients. If you work for big box Pharma don’t fall in the trap of giving more than you should, just to pad the CEOs pocket. Look for the good and you’ll enjoy it.

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