Any pharmacist-turned-physician out there?

[Guest bibibab]

Hi all,

 

I'm just curious to see if there are people who were in pharmacy before applying to medical school. How did you justify your change of career?

[Guest satsumargirl]

Hey,

 

I'm not a pharmacist but an S-LP.

It is tough to decide to leave a career for the uncertainty of another. Especially when your current career is stable, pays decently with benefits, and has regular hours.

 

For me I just felt unstimulated at work and found myself gaining little satisfaction from it. I am happy when I see the work I have done has helped people, but I needed more intellectual stimulation. I think in school I had clinical work and research and the 2 balanced each other out. But now I don't have much research to keep me going.

 

So I simply justified it (to myself) as an investment of time and money to hopefully be happier in the end. I just can't see myself starting each work day, counting down 'til the end. I want to enjoy my work a little more than I do. (ok alot more than I do!).

[Guest druggist]

Whats up,

 

I am currently a pharmacist (graduated recently from Dal) and have been accepted to MedS and will be starting end of August.

 

I was never asked to justify my career change. Had I been, though, I had multiple answers (you should have unique answers to this question, if not, reconsider your change). My reasons were that I wanted to be more proximal to direct patient care. Even as a clinical pharmacist you cannot lay hands on the patient and perform procedures. I also wanted to use the knowledge that I had learned in pharm school to my greatest potential; incorporate relevant pharmaceutical care into medical practice. Frequently you must butt heads with the attending physician in order to get an order changed that is incorrect or therapeutically inappropriate. I also wanted to be directly involved in diagnosis and other, non-pharmacotherapeutic, aspects involved with the care of patients.

 

There are many more answers that I came up with for my personal reasons. I'm sure you have these. Send me a direct message if you want to discuss this further.

 

Cheers, and best of luck,

 

Druggist

[Guest bibibab]

Hi satsumargirl and Druggist,

 

Thanks for your replies. Yes druggist... I would like to discuss this matter further with you. The reasons for my career change are very clear to me, except that I have to find a "politically correct" way to put them, in case I get asked by the admission people. My undergrad GPA is not competitive for med school, so I'll probably need to do a course-intensive masters and apply to the only few med schools that consider the most recent credits heavily. There is still a long way to go...

 

Druggist: I'll send you a private message.

 

-Bib

[Guest druggist]

Sounds good bib,

 

Just drop one in my ezbox.

[Guest leviathan]

Sounds good bib,

 

Just drop one in my ezbox.

 

That's what she said. :lol