Health Care Professionals Group

How much time do clinical pharmacists spend helping doctors and patients versus counting out drug?

I am a senior in high school and I am really interested in pharmacy but I'm worried that if all they do most of the time is count pills it would not be a very interesting career to go into. I've only been able to shadow a pharmacist at a Rite Aid so I haven't been able to see what clinical pharmacists do, which is the type of pharmacy I am most interested in.

Public Comments

1. At a commercial pharmacy- that is about it. They do call doctor's offices to clarify prescriptions, and quickly talk to to patients..but just realize this is the retail form of pharmacies. If you want more hands one work in a hospital. They don't really deal directly with patients, but they can mix chemo, in ICUs calculate antibiotic dosages based on drug levels, go to codes in some hospitals. See about shadowing a hospital pharmacist (in-patient) to see the difference. Good luck!