Pharmacy
By J. Douglas Bricker
Pharmacy is recognized as an indispensable—and increasingly important—health care field. There are more than 65,000 prescription and over-the-counter medicines available today; the mission of pharmacists is to ensure that they are dispensed and used properly.
Through their education and training, pharmacists know more about drugs and their use in treating disease than anyone else on the health care team, and they are expected to communicate this knowledge to both health care providers and patients.
Pharmacists are probably the most accessible of all health care professionals, and their role as primary providers will certainly increase significantly in the years ahead. Pharmaceutical care, a new philosophy of pharmacy practice embraced by pharmacy educators as well as increasing numbers of practitioners, assumes a greater level of responsibility for the outcomes of drug therapy in patients.
Pharmacy program curricula have changed to reflect this new philosophy. For example, most schools have implemented a six-year entry-level Doctor of Pharmacy degree program of study: it comprises a two-year pre-professional and a four-year professional curricular format. The new professional curricula will emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, active learning, enhanced communication skills, and integrated studies in pharmaceutical and clinical sciences.
Following graduation from an accredited college or school of pharmacy, students must become licensed to practice pharmacy in a particular state. A license can be transferred to other states through a process known as reciprocity. Pharmacy graduates find employment in a variety of practice settings, some traditional and some new or developing.
The most common practice settings for pharmacists are community pharmacies (either independent or chain operations) and institutional practice (hospitals and extended-care facilities).
Many pharmacists in independent practice own their own businesses. Chain pharmacies provide opportunities for pharmacists to assume management positions at various levels of major retail corporations.
In institutional practice, there are staff pharmacists and an increasing number of clinical pharmacy specialists in such fields as cardiology, critical care, internal medicine, oncology, pediatrics, and psychiatry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary in 2008 for both institutional and community pharmacists was approximately $99,000 per year. In some geographic areas of this country where pharmacist shortages exist, salary levels were $5,000-$10,000 higher—many with additional sign-on bonuses and tuition debt relief. The need for pharmacists is projected to continue well into the next decade or two.
Job opportunities for pharmacists are available in the pharmaceutical industry (including sales, research, and clinical trials for new drugs); the federal government (Public Health Service, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Drug Enforcement Agency); military services; long-term care facilities; outpatient clinics; home health care pharmacies; mail service pharmacies; nuclear pharmacies; consultant pharmacies; managed care settings; and at colleges and universities.
Either a Ph.D. or Pharm.D. degree is required for teaching positions in pharmacy schools or research positions with major pharmaceutical companies.
J. Douglas Bricker is associate dean at Duquesne University’s School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information on career opportunities in pharmacy, contact the American Pharmacists Association, 1100 15th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005-1707, or visit their website at www.aphanet.org.
2009
