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Pharmacy in Canada


Beacon

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I would greatly appreciate it if someone could clarify something for me. I constantly hear about the downward trending pharmacy market in the US, dropping salaries, despicable retail work conditions, saturation, etc..

Are these reflected in Canada? Is pharmacy something one should avoid at all costs? Considering tuition isn't as expensive in Canada as it is in the US, does this factor into it? I mean, hearing about all of the US pharmacists who are warning others about pharmacy, and even changing careers themselves, makes one think deeply about pharmacy (even get an aversive reaction to pharmacy).

Finally, is this downward trend worldwide in the pharmacy market? As in, can one find good opportunities in a different country?

Thank you!

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Pharmacy has the worst job situation amongst the big 4 sought after healthcare fields in Canada (Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Pharmacy). I don't think you should avoid it if it's what you want to do, as they still have a better job market than most other jobs. From what my pharmacist friend tells me, the problem with pharmacy is more being under-employed rather than unemployed, for now atleaast. 

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Hello everybody,

I'm a pharmacist and I wanna try immigrating to Canada through express entry. Due to the high money I should pay for getting ECA and then passing the exams of PEBC, I wanted to know if there is a good market in Canada for foreign pharmacists ? 

I mean would there be job security for me as a FOREIGN pharmacist? (cause its one of my reasons for immigration)

I can also apply for a Phd degree in pharmacology or toxicology or related majors (I have a pharmD degree), but I'm not sure about their future. I would appreciate it if you could give me some advice or introduce me somewhere I can get more information about this 2 ways which I'm gonna choose the best one. 

Thank you in advance 

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/16/2019 at 6:54 AM, Beacon said:

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could clarify something for me. I constantly hear about the downward trending pharmacy market in the US, dropping salaries, despicable retail work conditions, saturation, etc..

Are these reflected in Canada? Is pharmacy something one should avoid at all costs? Considering tuition isn't as expensive in Canada as it is in the US, does this factor into it? I mean, hearing about all of the US pharmacists who are warning others about pharmacy, and even changing careers themselves, makes one think deeply about pharmacy (even get an aversive reaction to pharmacy).

Finally, is this downward trend worldwide in the pharmacy market? As in, can one find good opportunities in a different country?

Thank you!

I think that in the U.S they have lots of pharmacy schools compared to Canada. In Canada there are 10 schools and two of them are French. UManitoba only accepts 55 students and another school accepts 40 students. There is not a lot of students graduating each year.

I think that since the practice is changing, it should open up more possibilities. At the end of the day, the question is "who do you know?" The trick for any degree is to become well-rounded and then you get a job.

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  • 1 month later...

Pharmacy job market is good if you're "hire-able". With the glut of pharmacists into the work force, statistically you'll get a large homogeneous pool of pharmacists. In terms of therapeutic knowledge everyone is the same. What differs is the ability of that pharmacist to attract patients. 

Being introverted, quiet, and outright shy will make it much more difficult to be hired than if you are extroverted, social, and opinionated. Pharmacy is a business, if you cannot contribute to the business, why would someone hire you? 

If you have those skills, you will find that getting jobs is easier, you'll progress more, and you'll be paid more. 

The pharmacy market is really hard to get into I guess. It's not like the old days where you could be aloof and still get a full time job, you now have to have the skills of a business person to really nail job interviews. 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 9/6/2019 at 6:14 PM, Princess O said:

I think that in the U.S they have lots of pharmacy schools compared to Canada. In Canada there are 10 schools and two of them are French. UManitoba only accepts 55 students and another school accepts 40 students. There is not a lot of students graduating each year.

I think that since the practice is changing, it should open up more possibilities. At the end of the day, the question is "who do you know?" The trick for any degree is to become well-rounded and then you get a job.

While there are 10 schools, one opened in the past decade, and others increased enrollment.

In 2008, there were approximately 1000 pharmacy graduates.

now, there are approximately 1300 pharmacy graduates per year.

In 2008, there were 31,000 pharmacists in Canada. Now, there are 41,000.

http://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/hwi-2018_data-tables-en-web.xlsx

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  • 5 months later...
On 7/16/2019 at 8:29 AM, anonymouspls said:

Pharmacy has the worst job situation amongst the big 4 sought after healthcare fields in Canada (Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Pharmacy). I don't think you should avoid it if it's what you want to do, as they still have a better job market than most other jobs. From what my pharmacist friend tells me, the problem with pharmacy is more being under-employed rather than unemployed, for now atleaast. 

Is it hard for pharmacists to make over 100k now? Pharmacy used to be a BSc which made the salary justifiable. However now its a pharmd and i feel like a salary under 100k wouldnt cut it since you have to invest so much into the career

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36 minutes ago, confused_student said:

Is it hard for pharmacists to make over 100k now? Pharmacy used to be a BSc which made the salary justifiable. However now its a pharmd and i feel like a salary under 100k wouldnt cut it since you have to invest so much into the career

You can say the same for other fields like physiotherapy(though its cheaper and shorter, but often need 4 yr undergrad) and optometry(4yrs, but requires full undergrad, and often costs way more since most people have to go to the US for their 4  year OD).  

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12 hours ago, confused_student said:

Is it hard for pharmacists to make over 100k now? Pharmacy used to be a BSc which made the salary justifiable. However now its a pharmd and i feel like a salary under 100k wouldnt cut it since you have to invest so much into the career

>100K is not impossible but typically fresh grads working in big centers won't be making anywhere near this amount. For those making 6 digits we're talking low 100's. The job market is also pretty saturated and because of this working conditions at a lot of big chains like shoppers can be poor. The work itself is stressful but boring. Basically I'm listing all the reasons why I went into medicine instead of pharmacy, but I definitely think it's a better field than most fields in Canada so you should pursue it if you enjoy it. 

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  • 9 months later...
On 7/16/2019 at 10:29 AM, anonymouspls said:

Pharmacy has the worst job situation amongst the big 4 sought after healthcare fields in Canada (Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Pharmacy). I don't think you should avoid it if it's what you want to do, as they still have a better job market than most other jobs. From what my pharmacist friend tells me, the problem with pharmacy is more being under-employed rather than unemployed, for now atleaast. 

Hi! Can someone write a comparison between the 4 major healthcare fields (med, dentistry, optometry, and pharmacy) please concerning salary, saturation, etc. It would be really nice to get a comparison between these 4 fields and which one you guys would recommend. Thanks! 

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