Why do pharmacists get paid so much?

Calculate the heavy tuition cost (30,000 or whatever per year) for the four years of pharm school and the opportunity cost of not making money those four years. Then calculate the net present value (NPV) to see if the 110,000 or whatever gross they are making is worth it.Calculate the hours worked, the difficult of the job, etc.Incorporate taxes; "rich doctors" and other health care professions get screwed by the tax man.

RunninginCircle wrote:

It's all relative I guess wrote:

Pharmacists don't get paid s**t in my eyes, how much are your local pharmacists making?

Don't they get paid like $90,000 straight out of school? I know that their salary doesn't increase, but getting $90K from the start is not bad for counting pills.

I think everyone figured it out - it's for historical reasons. Pharmacist used to be sophisticated job, mixing medications etc. Also consultation for all the OTC stuff. This is all from before CVS, Walmart pharmacy etc.

It's not a surprise that the US healthcare system is twice as expensive as in the rest of the world, someone's gotta pay for this. And how? Higher medication cost.

Another occupation whose salary are highly inflated in the US is nurse. Avg. nurse in Europe makes around 50k. US is more than twice than that. It is no surprise that you find so many nurses in the US that came over from other countries where they used to work as doctors.

With the aging demographics in the US, it is only a matter of time until this system collapses.

Actually, most pharnacists do six years. Only recently was this increased from a 5 year program that you would enter during your second year of college.

[quote]chinocochino wrote:

Are you being serious? Pharmacists have to do a four year university, get good grades, then get accepted to and complete a four year doctoral degree. Not easy stuff.

stuck with match.com wrote:

the local farm techs at my cvs are all very cute, they can payed as much as they wants

My kids brought home a bad case of pinworms last month and I had to get their medicine from the local Shoppers Drug Mart. Wouldn't you know the pharmacist chick was mega, mega smokin hot and here's me with a scrip for ass-worm pills. Frickin humiliatin, I almost died when I saw her.

chinocochino wrote:

Calculate the heavy tuition cost (30,000 or whatever per year) for the four years of pharm school and the opportunity cost of not making money those four years. Then calculate the net present value (NPV) to see if the 110,000 or whatever gross they are making is worth it.

Calculate the hours worked, the difficult of the job, etc.

Incorporate taxes; "rich doctors" and other health care professions get screwed by the tax man.

RunninginCircle wrote:

Don't they get paid like $90,000 straight out of school? I know that their salary doesn't increase, but getting $90K from the start is not bad for counting pills.

I got my bachelors in engineering in 2007 and started working. I paid off my student loans by 2011. I also bought a new car and paid it off and bought a condo.

My best friend from college went into pharmacy school after getting a biology degree in 2007. 100% of her undergraduate student loans still exist. She's racked up over $100,000 in additional student loans for Pharmacy school while only being able to work tech jobs and internships that barely cover the cost of food for one person. By this summer, 2012, I think she can finally be a pharmacist and perhaps make those six figures. Even with those six figures, she probably would not pay off those student loans by herself before age 40, but alas, she is engaged to a man 10 years older than her. Pharmacy school isn't a rip-off if you find a mate!

So the general consensus is that pharmacists make high salaries because they provide expertise necessary to catch the occassional doctors mistakes? And doctors get high salaries too????

Pharmacists get paid well because the pharmacuetical companies do not want any problems in the transaction between a customer and their retail seller. Pharmacists are sufficiently trained to catch whether a medication has the proper warning label and instructions. They understand medication on a biological level and understand when something just looks wrong. Just think of it like coaching. A coach knows that a 1500m runner would never need to do 2x5 mi at 4:45 pace because that is a workout for a marathoner. Likewise, the pharmacist understands dosing, drug interactions, warnings and so on. Manufacturers want the seller of their products to be very knowledgeable about their product so people will not have any reservations in forking out all the money for their meds. Pharmacies make piles of money and so do drug companies. People trust prescription drugs because they are dispensed by a knowledgeable professional. Any problem with the presciption drug/consumer relationship might cause people to do the unthinkable, ask their doctor for non-pharmaceutical remedies for their ailments.

Nope. Eight years post HS. Four years of college nad four years of pharmacy school. If you have a very good CV, you can cut off a year off college and apply early for pharmacy school but I personally only know one (maybe two) person that has done that. Eight years post HS is standard.Next time you see your boy Kobe drop 10 million on a house for throwing a ball thorough a hoop, think about how you begrudge "rich" health care professionals for getting 100-200,000 GROSS a year.Or go through the professional school, lose some of your best years of your life and tell us how easy it was.

burgh boy wrote:

Actually, most pharnacists do six years. Only recently was this increased from a 5 year program that you would enter during your second year of college.

[quote]chinocochino wrote:

Are you being serious? Pharmacists have to do a four year university, get good grades, then get accepted to and complete a four year doctoral degree. Not easy stuff.

dumb wrote:

Retail pharmacists are grossly overpaid for the value they add to the healthcare system, but clinical pharmacists in the inpatient setting are worth very penny. My perspective as a physician.

Actually, both are. You can get the same information online these days yourself.

So what's the difficult part of this job, the memorization? Why isn't this all done by computer? I would think a program would pretty easily and reliably tell you when a dangerous interaction was possible. It would also eliminate mistakes caused by doctors having poor handwriting (which is fvcking retarded in itself - who the hell can't just write clearly?).

Rutgers is a 6 year program

Albany College of Pharmacy

Duquesne University

Florida A & M University

Hampton University

Massachusetts - Boston

Northeastern University

Ohio Northern University

Philadelphia

Rutgers University

St. John's University

St. Louis College of Pharmacy

University of Connecticut

University of Findlay

University of Missouri at Kansas City

University of Rhode Island

University of Texas at Austin (see additional details)

University of the Pacific offers a 5-year, or "2+3," Pharm.D. program to qualified first-time freshmen. They also offer a 6-year, or "3+3," Pharm.D. program to freshmen who do not meet the requirements for the "2+3" program.

The University of Pittsburgh offers a conditional admission to a limited number of high school seniors, and if the student proceeds to meet set criteria for the first two years of the pre-pharmacy program, he or she will advance directly into the professional program.

Here's another question: why do pharmacists (or doctors, lawyers, MBAs, etc.) have to go to four years of undergraduate education?

Canajun eh wrote:

stuck with match.com wrote:

the local farm techs at my cvs are all very cute, they can payed as much as they wants

My kids brought home a bad case of pinworms last month and I had to get their medicine from the local Shoppers Drug Mart. Wouldn't you know the pharmacist chick was mega, mega smokin hot and here's me with a scrip for ass-worm pills. Frickin humiliatin, I almost died when I saw her.

I wouldn't worry about it. She's probably taking the medication herself.

Yea, what you're saying shows why pharmacists get paid a lot b/c it causes shortage with unnecessary amount of school for retail pharmacists.

I never said pharmacy school is easy. I just don't think it's necessary for what retail pharmacists do.

I hate when people try to justify how well they should get paid based on amount of schooling they do.

The MonBRO Doctrine wrote:

Here's another question: why do pharmacists (or doctors, lawyers, MBAs, etc.) have to go to four years of undergraduate education?

People get MBAs in order to add business knowledge to some other area of expertise. I completed an undergrad degree in civil engineering to learn how to handle the engineering side of land development. I then went on to get an MBA in real estate development to learn how to handle the business side (project financing, long-term business strategy, portfolio management, etc).

Knowledge of business is a necessary, but not sufficient skill for running a business. You have to have something to sell. If you don't know your product, no amount of business training will enable you to create a successful business.

chinocochino wrote:

Are you being serious? Pharmacists have to do a four year university, get good grades, then get accepted to and complete a four year doctoral degree. Not easy stuff.

Pay should be based on the value of the product, not the expense/difficulty of the training.

Yes but the product is valued higher because of the expense/difficulty of the training. Think about it this way: would anyone go to pharmacy school (and incur thousands of dollars of debt, and spend most of their 20s studying) if the payoff for being a pharmacist was lower? The cost of the training is reflected in the higher cost of the product (the pharmacist).

Why do physicians get paid so much when I can just go one WebMD and figure out the diagnosis?

Why do accountants get paid so much when I can do my own taxes?

Why do lawyers get paid so much when I can represent myself?

The addition of pharmacist intervention improves hypertension management:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12495164

And diabetes:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22202497

And hyperlipidemia:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19583673

Bottom line - pharmacists know more about drugs than physicians. Doctors are great at getting a diagnosis but for chronic disease state management I'd much rather have my care directed by a pharmacist.