Drug Topics - May 12, 2008 - (Page 38)

38 DRUG TOPICS MAY 12, 2008 www.drugtopics.com JP AT LARGE Jim Plagakis The changing face of pharmacy he face of American pharmacy is no longer male,” I said. “Creating in your mind the picture of a typical pharmacist as a middleaged man is not accurate today. In the past, he was commonly portrayed as a cherubic and welcoming older man. He made himself available to anyone with a health issue. Filling prescriptions was the only professional task that this quintessential druggist of an earlier era had to do. He had plenty of time on his hands to pat the fanny of anyone who wanted attention.” I have been “My pharmacist was like that,” told that it is this young woman said. “Mister Duncan’s harder to get Duncan at always tookDrug toStore. My mother me him into pharmacy for minor things like a scraped knee or a runny nose.” She chuckled, “I school than secretly loved it because I knew that medical school I would get an ice cream cone.” The speaker was a fourth-year these days. medical student. I trust my medical care to The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The medical student who had been interviewing me before my neurologist showed up had asked me what kind of work I did. I took that as an invitation to teach her something. She was a medical student after all and there were some things that she needed to know. I told her that the face of American pharmacy is young and female in the 21st century. “When you start dealing with pharmacists,” I said, “you are going to see that the majority of the young pharmacists are women.” She gave me a look. “I thought that pharmacy was a male-dominated profession.” “The Mister Duncan effect,” I said. “When I started, pharmacy was a Mister Duncan profession. My pharmacy graduating class had 24 students and only two were women. It is not that way anymore.” “Medicine too,” she said. “Don’t teenage boys want to be pharmacists anymore?” I threw up my hands. “Of course there are boys who want to be pharmacists. I know a son of a pharmacy owner who is going to inherit the store that he has worked in since he was a little boy. He can’t get into a pharmacy school. He has tried and tried, but “T cannot get accepted.” She shook her head. “My dad is a doctor and he really wanted my brother to follow in his footsteps.” She looked up. “He’ll have to settle for me. My brother decided that he wanted to be a teacher.” She shrugged her shoulders and I felt sorry for her. “That young man who is going to own a pharmacy did not have the foresight to get the grades he needed in high school. Too many teenage boys screw around, looking for kicks, while teenage girls keep their eyes on the prize and get admitted to pharmacy school.” “Is it that hard to get in?” She gave me a quizzical grin. She was skeptical. “It is that hard,” I said. I had a small package of butterscotch drops. I popped one into my mouth and offered the bag to her. She accepted. I continued, “I have been told that it is harder to get into pharmacy school than medical school these days.” This attractive young woman leaned forward on her chair and made a face, “Are you sure? I thought that medical school was the hardest.” I did not want to burst her elitist bubble, but she needed to understand that the medical pyramid is flattening every day. Doctors are no longer at the tippy top with the pharmacist way down below, almost out of the picture. “You have an entire career ahead of you,” I said. “Working hand in hand with the pharmacist is going to make your job so much easier.” “Why do so many people want to go into pharmacy?” She asked. “Only six total years for a Doctor of Pharmacy degree that is highly clinical. Entry level is $100,000 plus to work a 40-hour week. Getting $20 grand plus a sign-on bonus is common. Some drugstore chains offer luxury cars as additional bait.” Her eyes widened. “A 40-hour week,” she said and shook her head. “And you don’t have a flamboyant image to maintain as a pharmacist. You can be yourself! The pharmacist image is casual, friendly, and we are not intimidating to the average patient. All the Pharm. D.s I know are very approachable.” THE AUTHOR is a community pharmacist who lives in Galveston, Texas. You can e-mail him at jpgakis@hotmail.com and cc us at drugtopics@advanstar.com. You can also check out his Web site at jimplagakis.com. http://www.drugtopics.com http://jimplagakis.com

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Drug Topics - May 12, 2008 Contents Latebreakers Letters R.Ph.s Say More Needs to be Done to Prevent Pediatric Drug Errors There's a New School of Thought on Use of Beta-Blockers for Hypertension Cover Story Guest Spot Letters Clinical Practice Special Report Professional Practice Broad Label for New Leukemia Therapy Looks Promising Treating Asthma During Pregnancy Safer than Not, Says New Guide In the Pipeline Clinical Q&A APhA Leader's Plan to Leave Office Takes Center Stage at its Conference Policies Passed at a Glance Giving a Talk to the Community? Check Out These Materials This Foundation has Funds to Spare JP at Large Cover Story: Employers and R.Ph.S: A Win-Win Combo FDA's Ilisa Bernstein Discusses Pharmacy Affairs Legal Q&A Manufacturers Unleash a Rash of Poison Ivy Treatments Are OTC Cold Remedies Safe for Kids? Probiotics are All the Rage: How You Can Capitalize on It CMS' Prices for Round One of DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Raising Concerns CVS Caremark's Mentoring Program Recruits and Retains R.Ph.s Antibiotic Resistance Among Community Pathogens Technology Update New Products Advertisers Index Classified Viewpoint

Drug Topics - May 12, 2008

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