I&#x27;m a Pharmacist, AMA!

OP

Original post by Daniel100499

Are there certain classes of drugs that you cannot prescribe but a doctor can?

most of them. prettymuch the the prescribe means to write a prescription (the green paper thing, or the white paper thing that is emailed over toa pharmacy which you or your representative have to sign). Generally speaking, for NHS prescriptions, doctors can prescribe anything, but you can have certain individuals (Dentists, Vets, independent and supplementary prescribers) prescribe things within their specialist area of interest. Regarding private prescription, in theory doctors, vets and Pharmacist independent and supplementary prescribers can prescribe anything they want.

What a lot of people tend to do is that they mix up dispensing and prescribing. Prescribing is writing a prescription, whereas dispensing is preparing medication based on instructions on a prescription. This can be a bit time consuming as pharmacists have to check out legality, clinical apporpriateness and if it is allowed on the NHS before finding the items, printing labels and checking to make sure there isnt any discrepancies (as it can be lethal if there is an error).

Earlier I mentioned independent and supplemantry prescribing. what this means is that certain health professionals (pharmacists, nurses, physios, optometrists, podiatrists) can do an additional qualification to prescribe within certain areas (nurses and pharmacists have the most freedom in terms of what can be prescribed, particularly pharmacists, and both of these can become advanced prescribers which is essentially being a GP without studying medicine or doing X years of Foundation training + specialist training). Independent means you can (theoretically) prescribe without needing a counter signature by a GP, whereas supplementary prescribers require counter-signing by a GP / consultant

Reply 4

OP

Original post by Caiyren

how is your work life balance?
what do you prefer community, hospital or industry?
how hard was it to find pre-reg placements?
do you think the job market is saturated?

As I am a locum, Id say an advantage is that you have more freedom to choose shifts that suit you BUT the shifts you do get are a nightmare.

I have no experience of industry (that being said, Id avoid QA roles) and would say hospital or general practice.

Im a bizarre person in the sense that I got pre-reg interviews for the likes of GSTT, Addies, Papworth, Princess Alexandria (Brighton), Lister (Stevenage) but flopped all my interviews due to various reasons. I found it much harder to get a pre-reg interview in community tbh but ended doing pre-reg in community as I flopped my hospital interviews.

The job market around London, Herts, Beds and Bucks is riddiculously saturated, particulalrly if you want to work in good venues (sad reality is that all the good venues, everyone wants to work at so literally it is a lottery if you work there, whereas bad venues always have free shifts but are horrible places to work...even if they pay you £300 for a 12 hours of work).

Reply 5

8472

21

If you had 50k and could train for any other job tomorrow, what would you do? :holmes:

Reply 6

OP

Original post by The RAR

Do you think a pharmacist is like a reserve career for all the Asians that can't get into medicine, engineering and all that ****?

1st im hearing about engineering :lol:

but would agree with medicine and dentistry. truth be told, there are a lot of people who are pharmacists who flopped their a levels but have more brain cells than some of the doctors and dentists Ive encountered. Heck, if I didnt make the stupid decision to defer my imperial GEM application, there is a good chance my AMA would be something along the lines of I'm an Imperial Medical Grad, AMA! Also doesnt help my daadi died when I did my UKCAT a couple of years ago (I still managed an average above 720, including 2 sections above 800)

Reply 7

shadowdweller

Volunteer Section Leader

21

What's the hardest part of your job? What's the most rewarding part?

Reply 8

OP

Original post by 8472

If you had 50k and could train for any other job tomorrow, what would you do? :holmes:

id probably do something along the lines of health informatics (so compsci or medical degrees). Also considering how some peculiar people I know from sixth form and uni(spent most of their time bsing, and had to repeat their A levels / years at uni due to no special reasons) were able to get work in Formula e and motorsport, I probably would have given mecheng or aero a shot.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by shadowdweller

What's the hardest part of your job? What's the most rewarding part?

rewarding: helping people and making positive changes in their lives

hardest:

Spoiler

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 10

Lkathryn08

19

What was it that put you off industry pharmacy?

Just interested as while I’m a Chem enger, I did my placement year at a pharma company manufacture site and worked with a few pharmacists.

Do you feel like you could implement your degree learning on a site?

Reply 11

OP

Original post by Lkathryn08

What was it that put you off industry pharmacy?

Just interested as while I’m a Chem enger, I did my placement year at a pharma company manufacture site and worked with a few pharmacists.

Do you feel like you could implement your degree learning on a site?

lack of work in industry (not everyone in pharmacy can get into industry - its less than 1% ) but i wouldnt mind working in affairs, pharmacovigilence or as an MSL. Definitely agree that you can implement your degree in industry and clinical pharmacy. Community has very little opportunity for that as you are essentially just checking errors most of the time (which is why QA doesnt appeal to me, likewise Aseptics)

Reply 12

randomsheep11

17

Ok, so I am just some kid who finished his A Levels and has a part time job in a Pharmacy (doing Pharmacy at uni in a few months), but I have an odd question that I can't bring myself to ask my Pharmacist.

Do you have a favourite drug to dispense/pop into blister packs/has your favourite packaging?

I personally find it so satisfying to pop omeprazole capsules into blister packs, I also like the colour of them :3 so I like seeing it on prescriptions
Do you have any feelings like this or am I weird?

Reply 13

MahirUddin

12

hi. i am torn apart between medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. after graduating, what are you most likely to get into and what are actual wages that they offer. also, can you provide some information please

Reply 14

Indyyyy

12

Have you ever dispensed medicine prescribed from an Optometrist? What sort of drugs did they prescribe - cycloplegics? What about podiatrists/physiotherapists ?

Original post by quasa

most of them. prettymuch the the prescribe means to write a prescription (the green paper thing, or the white paper thing that is emailed over toa pharmacy which you or your representative have to sign). Generally speaking, for NHS prescriptions, doctors can prescribe anything, but you can have certain individuals (Dentists, Vets, independent and supplementary prescribers) prescribe things within their specialist area of interest. Regarding private prescription, in theory doctors, vets and Pharmacist independent and supplementary prescribers can prescribe anything they want.

What a lot of people tend to do is that they mix up dispensing and prescribing. Prescribing is writing a prescription, whereas dispensing is preparing medication based on instructions on a prescription. This can be a bit time consuming as pharmacists have to check out legality, clinical apporpriateness and if it is allowed on the NHS before finding the items, printing labels and checking to make sure there isnt any discrepancies (as it can be lethal if there is an error).

Earlier I mentioned independent and supplemantry prescribing. what this means is that certain health professionals (pharmacists, nurses, physios, optometrists, podiatrists) can do an additional qualification to prescribe within certain areas (nurses and pharmacists have the most freedom in terms of what can be prescribed, particularly pharmacists, and both of these can become advanced prescribers which is essentially being a GP without studying medicine or doing X years of Foundation training + specialist training). Independent means you can (theoretically) prescribe without needing a counter signature by a GP, whereas supplementary prescribers require counter-signing by a GP / consultant

Reply 15

OP

Original post by Indyyyy

Have you ever dispensed medicine prescribed from an Optometrist? What sort of drugs did they prescribe - cycloplegics? What about podiatrists/physiotherapists ?

tbh i haven encountered any medication from any of those professions. I have literally seen just 1 veterinary script since 2014 (when I started my pre-reg), with a vast majority of prescriptions being written by doctors and NIPs. I have seen dental and PIP scripts but thats about it.

Reply 16

OP

Original post by MahirUddin

hi. i am torn apart between medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. after graduating, what are you most likely to get into and what are actual wages that they offer. also, can you provide some information please

What's your motivation for doing these degrees? Is it to appease your parents? Earn more? or because you are altruistic and genuinely want to help people?

Truth is, if financials are a reason for going into either of these degrees, then your better off doing something like compsci or banking / accounting.

If your interested in learning about the human body and diseases, medicine is your option, with pharmacy as a backup

If your only interested in mouth / surgical procedures, then dentistry is your topic.

Pharmacy is good for learning about medication, common diseases and minor ailments but is only really worth it if your able to work in industry or in general practice / hospital. As it currently stands, the job market around London (AND herts, beds, bucks, birmingham and leicester) is so bad, you have to relocate to random areas in order to work in those fields, otherwise most people end up in community, which has very little career prospects

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 17

OP