Pharmacist salary?

amjon · 03-11-2009 11:40pm

angeldelight wrote: »

(approx 350 items per week)

350 items or scripts? Thats the lowest I've ever heard of. I'm in a match box and we can hit 350 items easy on a good day.

bleg · 04-11-2009 11:13am

A PhD is definitely a bonus for industry but nopt a pre requisite. I'm going to be looking into it anyway.

angeldelight · 04-11-2009 1:12pm

amjon wrote: »

350 items or scripts? Thats the lowest I've ever heard of. I'm in a match box and we can hit 350 items easy on a good day.

Items - it was awful!

nesf · 04-11-2009 1:13pm

tallaght01 wrote: »

Lots of people, in health especially, do pretty dossy PhDs. It's hard to measure "difficulty". I'm pretty sure I'll be able to complete my PhD. But I'm not convinced I'd have been able to complete a pharmacy degree.

But there are bucketloads of cruisy PhDs out there. I've worked with a few people who have PhDs and really are not particularly bright.

And I've met doctors and pharmacists who I'd consider fairly dim, what's your point?

tallaght01 · 04-11-2009 2:30pm

nesf wrote: »

And I've met doctors and pharmacists who I'd consider fairly dim, what's your point?

My point is that not all PhDs are particularly tough. What's YOUR point?

nesf · 04-11-2009 2:37pm

tallaght01 wrote: »

My point is that not all PhDs are particularly tough. What's YOUR point?

That extrapolating from meeting a few dim people isn't a good basis to decide that all courses of a certain type can't be tough.

tallaght01 · 04-11-2009 2:57pm

nesf wrote: »

can't be tough.

didn't say that.

nesf · 04-11-2009 3:07pm

tallaght01 wrote: »

didn't say that.

Well ok, let me rephrase. You consider pharmacy a tough degree, and I'd agree, but it does produce some less than stellar graduates to put it mildly. Ditto with medicine. You made an argument based on anecdotal experiences of dim people with PhDs, that's grand but it's really bad argument to make because there's almost certainly a fair few fairly dim graduates of all courses of a certain type.

Don't get me wrong, I think there are some god awful excuses for PhD courses out there where the standard of work being done is woeful but it's a bit pointless to make any statement about difficulty because a PhD is what you make of it. Put a good able student into one of these courses and they'll do good work, get published in better journals than the other people in the course etc. It's not like a degree with exams where the standard is set by the curriculum but a completely different type of endeavor where the individual sets their own standard.

tallaght01 · 04-11-2009 3:37pm

nesf wrote: »

it's a bit pointless to make any statement about difficulty

I was,in fact, responding to broad generalisations.

nesf wrote: »

a PhD is far more difficult than any undergraduate degree

r3nu4l wrote: »

Exactly.

nesf · 04-11-2009 9:58pm

tallaght01 wrote: »

I was,in fact, responding to broad generalisations.

Yeah, I overgeneralised there. I'd still wouldn't think Pharmacy is harder than than a PhD speaking about the hard sciences/mathematically heavy disciplines from what I've seen. Yeah, the occasional muppet comes out of such disciplines but the level expected them from most PhD candidates would be above that needed in Pharmacy tbh.

That's not to say that Arts/whatever aren't of such a standard, I just don't have personal experience outside of the above.

starbar1 · 29-11-2009 3:01pm

bleg wrote: »

I'm working in industry as a pharmacy intern and having the time of my life. The banter is good, don't have to deal with customers, the work is interesting and I'm learning loads. There are only 94 pharmacists working in industry in the country and there is huge scope for this number to increase. I've made up my mind. Sure the wages might be be a bit less in future (I'm actually getting slightly higher paid than most of my friends this year). The job opportunities and career ladder in industry alone makes it worth it.

Do you mind me asking what kind of job you do in Industry or what area you will be qualified for as Im currently doing my pre-reg in hospital but have a science degree and have worked in industry in a lab and from what you have said its exactly what I want (minus the wages bit but I can live with that

) I really want to get back into industry again but am unsure of where to start or what area Im now qualified for??

gabria · 10-12-2009 1:17pm

Yep I'm also interested in the industry side. Better quality of life it would appear. What are the starting bases here and who do pharmacists initially report to? Is it a good idea in the current to do a Phd? I've after done an industry-based Masters and it hasn't made much of a difference a few months later.

bleg · 10-12-2009 4:30pm

where'd you do the masters gabria?

gabria · 10-12-2009 6:47pm

University of Surrey, Guildford. It was to do with pre-clinical and clinical drug research. It was tough but interesting. Glad I did it

bleg · 11-12-2009 12:38am

ah. Most of the companies have r and d centres in europe but few in ireland. Mostly manufacturing here. Your starting point is to send cvs in i'd say.

scanlant · 11-12-2009 12:56am

bleg wrote: »

ah. Most of the companies have r and d centres in europe but few in ireland. Mostly manufacturing here. Your starting point is to send cvs in i'd say.

GSK have a clinical trial department in their HQ in Rathfarnham. I'm not fully sure if they run dedicated trials or if they are used as a central clinical information hub.

That's one to add to the list anyway. Good luck with the job hunting gabria.

gabria · 14-12-2009 4:52pm

scanlant wrote: »

GSK have a clinical trial department in their HQ in Rathfarnham. I'm not fully sure if they run dedicated trials or if they are used as a central clinical information hub.

That's one to add to the list anyway. Good luck with the job hunting gabria.

The approach I'm taking at the moment is to network to try to identify those that are likely to hire. I did make the mistake a few months ago in flinging generic CVs desperately around I hope I'm still not suffering the consequences!
But thanks for the recommendation

gabria · 14-12-2009 5:02pm

Apologies just in case we've digressed with my contributions I'll get back to salary. In Ireland for an industry post I'd probably be aiming for E35,000-E40,000. In UK, or more specifically south-East England I'd be prepared to settle for the equivalent of a good bit less. I think it would be worth it for the quality of life and I would be able to network much more effectively with the infrastructure thats in place there.

kala85 · 27-10-2011 8:23pm

whats the salary and payscale of pharmists at the moment. Is it hard to get a job.

kdowling · 27-10-2011 9:38pm

kala85 wrote: »

whats the salary and payscale of pharmists at the moment. Is it hard to get a job.

pm sent

drumm23 · 03-11-2011 3:50pm

kala85 wrote: »

whats the salary and payscale of pharmists at the moment. Is it hard to get a job.

Ask Tesco!

Pharmacist salaries will be crushed even further now.

Phoenix Park · 03-11-2011 3:56pm

One must wonder if a lot of the higher-points and more demanding courses are worth the effort any more. Phamacists...dentists...very demanding courses involving years of dedication, without good pay many will not be as motivated. Sadly those chosing these courses at age 17 filling out their CAO are not in a position to be informed enough that they no longer offer the financial rewards many assume they still do. Its tough out there!

Arterialspray · 07-11-2011 2:03am

Phoenix Park wrote: »

One must wonder if a lot of the higher-points and more demanding courses are worth the effort any more. Phamacists...dentists...very demanding courses involving years of dedication, without good pay many will not be as motivated. Sadly those chosing these courses at age 17 filling out their CAO are not in a position to be informed enough that they no longer offer the financial rewards many assume they still do. Its tough out there!

You encapsulate very nicely my own thoughts on the subject. While I did enjoy studying pharmacy I find in the years since I've qualified the profession has deteriorated rapidly and dramatically. Contrary to Joe Public's opinion it is actually a difficult, stressful and liability ridden job with working conditions that really would have to be seen to be believed in some cases. Being at the interface between defensive prescribers and a demanding (often hostile) public is a taxing endeavour. Add to this the relentless assault in the last two years from a combative (patently cash strapped) health executive (heavily reduced remuneration) and the encroachment of garish supermarket pharmacy the result is a grim future indeed. A number of my friends have left/are leaving as a consequence for other careers,academia etc. I'd say to those 17 yr olds to do some soul searching and alot of research before signing on the dotted line.

Throwaway25 · 14-07-2015 8:33pm

Well this has been a depressing read... Any one want to update on the current situation?

palmcut · 14-07-2015 10:02pm

Throwaway25 wrote: »

Well this has been a depressing read... Any one want to update on the current situation?

I've been involved in pharmacy since before the medical card scheme started and I've never seen pharmacy in a worse position than it is now.

16-07-2015 7:15pm

We need to move away from traditional model. starting developing pharmacists as independent prescribers. Get more pharmacist working in intermediate care. Develop PGDs and more services for benefit of patient. Wayfarin and asthma clinics etc.

Taco Chips · 16-07-2015 11:37pm

Deleted User wrote: »

We need to move away from traditional model. starting developing pharmacists as independent prescribers. Get more pharmacist working in intermediate care. Develop PGDs and more services for benefit of patient. Wayfarin and asthma clinics etc.

What extra training do you envision will need to be introduced for pharmacists who want to independently prescribe?

Dingle_berry · 17-07-2015 8:27am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

We need to move away from traditional model. starting developing pharmacists as independent prescribers. Get more pharmacist working in intermediate care. Develop PGDs and more services for benefit of patient. Wayfarin and asthma clinics etc.

As well as competing with nurses for those advanced practise roles you will soon have to compete with the physician associates that the RCSI will start churning out.

17-07-2015 8:34am

Taco Chips wrote: »

What extra training do you envision will need to be introduced for pharmacists who want to independently prescribe?

A years master. Two years part time maybe. I think pharmacists are suitably more qualified than nurses as we are the experts in medicine. I tell the doctors what to prescribe already and write the drug charts. Not much of a leap to put your signature to it.

17-07-2015 8:38am

Dingle_berry wrote: »

As well as competing with nurses for those advanced practise roles you will soon have to compete with the physician associates that the RCSI will start churning out.

To be honest, if pharmacy wants to be relevant in the future. We need to compete. It makes more sense for a pharmacist to prescribe than a nurse.

Also the future of pharmacists in the community should be reviewing patients medication and changing/recommending medication as necessary. Not just dispensing and advising.

Pharmacist salary?

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