Why do pharmacists get paid so much?

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

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

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.

If they have a bad day, you die. or another way to think of it, they are drug dealers...

Really though they Make sure you medication is right for you. Doctors make mistakes. I don't want some kid in high school doing that job. And with all the money these drug companies make spread the wealth. I'm sure MLB guys who mow the lawn get paid more than the high school kid down the street too.

this is a profession that could and should go away tomorrow

can be completely computerized. just like RedBox.. slip in your prescription and ID and let the machines do the rest

very very very simple

mistakes eliminated and costs saved

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.

Like the person above me said, it depends on the setting.

However, if that CVS pharmacist prevents even one lethal drug interaction a year, isn't that worth it?

Probably have to pay them well so they aren't tempted to deal OxyContin on the side for some extra coin.

Say Tann wrote:

this is a profession that could and should go away tomorrow

can be completely computerized. just like RedBox.. slip in your prescription and ID and let the machines do the rest

very very very simple

mistakes eliminated and costs saved

I believe this is not far from the truth. We have kids coming out of school at $110K starting salary in Central Pa. That salary might be deserving in the clinical pharmacy field, but as a dispensor of the medications, the bubble is about to burst. Within 4 years, we will have reduced the shortage of dispensing pharmacist and these big chains like CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens etc, will slash salaries. It is big business and the corner pharmacy no longer exists.

No Way wrote:

Like the person above me said, it depends on the setting.

However, if that CVS pharmacist prevents even one lethal drug interaction a year, isn't that worth it?

Probably not.

Unless it's me.

I'm a physician.

People posting here don't realize a lot of what pharmacists do, even retail ones.

Believe it or not, physicians make mistakes, sometimes very dangerous ones. A key role of the pharmacist is as a safety check. And not just drug interactions. Wrong drug doses. Wrong drugs. There's a huge list of look alike, sound alike drugs out there.

Do you really want a clueless high school grad dispensing a cardiac med for your premature infant with no clue about dose or even whether it's the right med? Sure, anyone can count out a blood pressure pill - but what if the dose is suddenly dramatically different for that patient? Will cute high school kid catch the error? Or will cute high school kid call MD after he's prescribed Augmentin and forgotten to ask about the life threatening reaction parient had to a different penicillin class drug?

A good pharmacist is worth every penny they're paid. They've saved me and my patients countless problems over the years.

And hospital pharmacists? Really want a tech mixing your mom's chemotherapy at 3 a.m. or your newborns prostaglandins in the NICU?

OC is a bitch. Got a C.

stuck with match.com wrote:

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

paid

My brother-in-law is a pharmacist for Kaiser Permanente, he works 36 hours a week (they actually cut the hours down to that for the whole staff), and he still makes over $100,000 a year...very nice gig if you can get it. He does have a MA in neurobiology though in addition to his pharmacy degree, but I'm not sure that gets him much more money. He is horribly bored at work though.

The better question is, why is there so much demand for and dispensing of drugs in this country? If people simply changed their pro-inflammatory diets, exercised more, and generally lived a lifestyle that promoted wellness, demand would be cut in half. Of course, pharmaceutical manufacturers, doctors, and pharmacists would see a pay cut.

It's all relative I guess wrote:

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

I've never seen below $80k. I have 2 friends (husband and wife) that make $115k each 3 years out of school. If that's shit you must be pulling down at least 7 figures baller.

The supply of pharmacists with BAs is carefully controlled the pharmacists running the schools of pharmacy.

I would think if you're paying some high school grad 12 bucks an hour to fill prescriptions, you'd have to deal with said high school grad selling Vicodin and the like on the side.

Sagarin's got a point about American diets, though. I was reading the other day about JFK challenging Americans to see if they could hike 50 miles and trying to tie physical fitness in with patriotism. It'd be cool if more Americans saw a high level of general fitness as something desirable, as opposed to exercising at the gym to "earn their mac n' cheese" (as a billboard advertising a gym near BU encourages).

Well, can't you just have a computer system to double check the dosage and how it reacts? Will the pharmacist really remember every drug with how it reacts?

My initial comment about pharmacists getting too much is referred to retail pharmacists and not to clinical pharmacists.