Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Help Me Love Pharmacy!


qwerty2222

Recommended Posts

I don't think you should be "sold" on pharmacy. It would be better in my opinion if you actually go experience it first hand by doing some volunteering or shadowing in the field. You will end up making a more informed decision this way, rather than people telling you why they want to become a pharmacist. You should formulate your own opinion.

Personally, I have a big interest in how medications act on patients to treat different conditions. While doing my undergraduate degree, I took some advanced courses in physiology and organic chemistry, and I found it fascinating how drugs get metabolized and modified in the body. From there, I decided to get some clinical exposure by working in the hospital as a research assistant. I got to review patients' medication and really see how it affected their medical condition. I found it very surprising that physicians didn't know all the details about how the patients' medication interacted, so they had to consult with the pharmacist, especially when it came to complex chronic diseases. They were the expert in everything that had to do with drugs and their interactions. I got to see first hand how optimizing the dosage and medication variants for patients really improved their health outcomes; this was all thanks to the pharmacist's training on medication management. I don't know exactly how much, but I'm sure this saves the healthcare system a good amount of money each year. While the pharmacist also has a more traditional role to dispense and formulate drugs, they can also conduct research. They can specialize in any relevant research field if they have the training, ranging from drug discovery and development to more clinical research studies on patient populations; you name it. You have a lot of flexibility with the degree, too since you can work in retail or industry.

I think that patient health outcomes can be significantly improved as the healthcare team will include the pharmacist's expertise on medication management in the treatment process, and it looks like the field is going in that direction. From pharmacogenomics/genetics to personalized medicine, the pharmacist will definitely be more involved in the patient's care process as technology will continue to improve.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think you should be "sold" on pharmacy. It would be better in my opinion if you actually go experience it first hand by doing some volunteering or shadowing in the field. You will end up making a more informed decision this way, rather than people telling you why they want to become a pharmacist. You should formulate your own opinion.

 

Personally, I have a big interest in how medications act on patients to treat different conditions. While doing my undergraduate degree, I took some advanced courses in physiology and organic chemistry, and I found it fascinating how drugs get metabolized and modified in the body. From there, I decided to get some clinical exposure by working in the hospital as a research assistant. I got to review patients' medication and really see how it affected their medical condition. I found it very surprising that physicians didn't know all the details about how the patients' medication interacted, so they had to consult with the pharmacist, especially when it came to complex chronic diseases. They were the expert in everything that had to do with drugs and their interactions. I got to see first hand how optimizing the dosage and medication variants for patients really improved their health outcomes; this was all thanks to the pharmacist's training on medication management. I don't know exactly how much, but I'm sure this saves the healthcare system a good amount of money each year. While the pharmacist also has a more traditional role to dispense and formulate drugs, they can also conduct research. They can specialize in any relevant research field if they have the training, ranging from drug discovery and development to more clinical research studies on patient populations; you name it. You have a lot of flexibility with the degree, too since you can work in retail or industry.

 

I think that patient health outcomes can be significantly improved as the healthcare team will include the pharmacist's expertise on medication management in the treatment process, and it looks like the field is going in that direction. From pharmacogenomics/genetics to personalized medicine, the pharmacist will definitely be more involved in the patient's care process as technology will continue to improve.

Thanks so much on the reply! I understand what you are saying by formulating my own opinion through experience, I just feel like i'm being overly critical of some aspects so I want to broaden my perspective, and who better to do it than fellow applicants like yourself with different experiences and interests!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The study of pharmacy is different from being a pharmacist, the knowledge is way underutilize. I think you will love the study but working as a pharmacist might be boring got you, if you accept this, then it is all good. Lots of people go into med from pharmacy, think it is very good background for a GP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...