Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

working at a pharmacy


Recommended Posts

Hello

I'm completing my 1st year of medschool in few weeks and I was thinking of working in a pharmacy during summer, mainly to improve my knowledge of medications. I was wondering if some of you guys are working or have worked in pharmacies and if it helped your medical knowledge of meds. I plan on working no more than 10-15 hours and also do some studying on the side. I was wondering if it would actually be a useful experience. any advice would be appreciated! 

Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, no-name said:

Hello

I'm completing my 1st year of medschool in few weeks and I was thinking of working in a pharmacy during summer, mainly to improve my knowledge of medications. I was wondering if some of you guys are working or have worked in pharmacies and if it helped your medical knowledge of meds. I plan on working no more than 10-15 hours and also do some studying on the side. I was wondering if it would actually be a useful experience. any advice would be appreciated! 

Thank you!

You're probably just doing clerical/assistant work anyways, don't think there is all that much to get out of it since you won't be that involved with the aspects that would be more beneficial(unless you're already a pharmacist or a pharm tech?). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I worked as a pharmacy assistant before med school, doing refills, inputting prescriptions, restocking, etc. basically everything in the day to day operation of the pharmacy aside from checking that meds are inputted/filled properly and counseling.

I learned names of the most common meds and what they're for, different payment assistance options (ODB vs Trillium etc.). During down time I got to chat with the pharmacist about the medications if I wanted to learn more about(or just looked at the online database). And you overhear them counsel patients about certain things to watch for with certain meds which I guess would be helpful for a med student. It was a steep learning curve though because there were lots of things to remember, even though I came into the job with tons of fast-paced customer service experience. I was sweaty and got yelled at by someone on many days- so I guess in that sense it was good prep for clerkship.

Because of how long it'll take to train you and for you to be good and quick, I don't know if they'll necessarily want to hire someone who'll be there for the summer only? Try it out if you want to, but I don't think it'll make or break you as a med student. I do appreciate what I've gained from the experience though.

p.s. expect to be paid near minimum wage.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...