Opinions, advise, views?

I am torn between the two and I have to know very soon since I either have to accept the 6 year pharmacy program or not.

I researched about this but I either get:

-A pharm/med war... seriously grow up.
-Do what you want...I don't know what i want >_< . I don't know what'll make me happier but I do know that I want my future profession to be in that field.

Someone talk to me.

truck driver

Don't spam please. This is rather serious. This 6-year program is a one time chance. I either want it or I don't.

ooooooohhhhh she came at you lol

Wtf?

Who are you to decide who is "good enough"? Also note that I am not worried about getting into Medical school if I want to. If I set my mind to something I do it<---Fact about me.

The problem is though, is that I don't know if I want to or not...it's a one chance thing to choose a profession.

I want to say Med School because you'll have a lot more options open to you afterward.

Yeah, I did a little bit of research about that:

There are also many types of pharmacists:

Community pharmacy
Hospital pharmacy
Clinical pharmacy
Compounding pharmacy
Consultant pharmacy
Internet pharmacy
Veterinary pharmacy
Nuclear pharmacy
Military pharmacy
Pharmacy informatics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacy#Types_of_pharmacy_practice_areas

Well what you said was very provoking. We are humans, and not robots, after all.

Medicine.. IF u can hack med skl...
getting in is not the problem.. its wat u do there. Med students work 100 hours a week man (in the UK at least)..
hmmmm

Do what you WANT.
Don't think about the money,prestige, etc...
Just think of whatever will make you wake up every morning happy wanting to actually go to work.
If pharmacy is your thing then go for it.
Doctor then go for that.
From what I understand pharmacy is pretty much just handing out medicine and etc... not too much direct contact with people and not as much of a feeling of helping them out (imo).
While being a doctor is more hands-on, helping people, interacting, etc... You'll actually need people skills for this one and actually want to deal with the sick and REALLY feel like helping them out. If your doing it for the money then your just gonna wake up thinking you hate your job and yea..
Just remember bro...your gonna be doing this till your 60. 40 long ass years.

lol hii

(lets name me NH's most wise too =] )

Pink Panther wrote:

Medicine.. IF u can hack med skl...
getting in is not the problem.. its wat u do there. Med students work 100 hours a week man (in the UK at least)..
hmmmm

WHY Medicine is my question. I guess pharmacy wins the less stress due to long hours part.

SmexyGenius wrote:

Do what you WANT.
Don't think about the money,prestige, etc...
Just think of whatever will make you wake up every morning happy wanting to actually go to work.
If pharmacy is your thing then go for it.
Doctor then go for that.
From what I understand pharmacy is pretty much just handing out medicine and etc... not too much direct contact with people and not as much of a feeling of helping them out (imo).
While being a doctor is more hands-on, helping people, interacting, etc... You'll actually need people skills for this one and actually want to deal with the sick and REALLY feel like helping them out. If your doing it for the money then your just gonna wake up thinking you hate your job and yea..
Just remember bro...your gonna be doing this till your 60. 40 long ass years.

I don't know what I want. Im torn between them.

This should be an interesting read for you to clear some things about pharm:

A pharmacist wrote this:

Quote :

Pharmacy (while a bit over-glorified I must admit) Is not just about filling prescriptions everyday. Sure, sure society has perpetuated the idea that pharmacist sit behind a counter laughing at you while you wait 45 minutes for your antibiotics or pain medication while they sit back and chat for hours on end about last nights episode of American Idol, but society has also over-glorified doctors as the saviors of everyone. Right, and then when the pharmaceutical companies give them a bag of medications these medicinal options become the only thing they want to prescribe, whether it's best for the patient or not, but hey, they have to make money, right. And then we pharmacists have to catch it before a patient takes some drug that could potentially kill them (It's happened to me twice which is part of the reason why I chose pharmacy over physicians). My point, is things aren't always what they seem. Physicians are no better than pharmacists and vise versa.

With that said, I'd like to point out the fact that NOT ALL PHARMACISTS WORK AT WALGREENS, since no one is here to back up pharmacy as a profession. Have you ever heard of a Nuclear Pharmacist... or how about a Coumpounding Pharmacist.... or my favortie, the clinical pharmacist... ya know, the 1 who your Physician will probably run to when he's deciding on drug therapy options for a sick patient but can't figure out what to do because of the multiple issues with say your heart and/or liver. Why else would you need an expert in drug thereapy? We provide more services than just standing behind a counter and shuffling out prescriptions like a card dealer at a Las Vegas casino. Clinical and Compounding pharmacist have an exciting day everyday... (ok maybe not everyday but close to it), and they don't "stare at pills all day", so could you all stop for one itsy-bitsy second and just do a little research on the profession before you start knocking it. I know society doesn't paint the prettiest pictures, but if you would just step away from walgreens and alberstsons for just a minute and dive into the different branches of pharmacy (much like medicine, residencies and all), you'd see what I am talking about.

EDIT: nvm bad post

Ok so lemme put it this way..tell me why you want to be a doctor. Every single reason. And then tell me why you wanna be a pharmacist.

IRezev wrote:

Hello NH's most handsome, long time no see

ummm i been on here for a while

SmexyGenius wrote:

lol hii

(lets name me NH's most wise too =] )

Absolutely

And this is what pharmacy is all about, by a different pharmacist:

Quote :

I’ll illustrate a couple examples that will hopefully help to clear up some misconceptions about the pharmacy profession.

In the US, the pharmacy curriculum has become clinically-oriented, hence the degree is now a clinical degree and those who successfully complete the program are called PharmD, or Doctor of Pharmacy. The RPh designation means that the inidividual, whether BS or PharmD, has passed the Pharmacy Board Examination in their state and is thus licensed to practice pharmacy in that state. Yes, we have the board exam to pass, and also a separate exam on state and federal pharmacy law. RPh=Registered Pharmacist, and it is not a degree!

Ph.D.’s are also called Doctor, but everyone knows this is not referring to a medical doctor…it is a research degree, as opposed to a clinical degree like MD, DO or PharmD.

Pharmacists do prescribe in certain capacities, e.g., in VA hospitals; in coumadin clinics, where they may be limited to prescribing coumadin and lovenox, and in hospital settings there is often a collaborative agreement made between a pharmacist and a specific doctor(s) to enable the pharmacist to discontinue certain medication orders written by the doc when necessary, or to initiate certain drug therapies.

As far as pharmacists making diagnoses? We are trained to be the drug experts; medical docs are the diagnosis experts. We are trained to recognize and suggest drug therapy for over the counter issues, and we are trained to recognize when the patient should be referred to a doc, urgent care or emergency treatment facility.

One way in which community (retail) pharmacy is unique is that the pharmacist is the most accessible health professional.

A few more facts:

Pharmacists study pharmaceutics…the science and engineering behind all the various dosage forms out there, and how different dosage forms are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated in the body. This latter is called pharmacokinetics.

In our training we learn about the same disease states that the docs do, the symptoms, the diagnoses, the labs, the procedures…but our focus is on the judicious selection of the appropriate and rational drug therapy, derived from evidence-based medicine guidelines.

Whether people agree with the PharmD pharmacist being called doctor or not, is irrelevant…fact of the matter is, just as the surgeons of old performed surgery without the benefit of anesthesia, used blood letting, etc., the pharmacy profession has similarly evolved along its trajectory into patient care…pharmacists can immunize in most states, for example…in the end, the advancement of pharmacy and the pharmacist becoming an integral member of the healthcare team is all in the benefit of the patient.

I thought it was very helpful. Media tend to bend the truths at times.

Pharmacy:

-Less studying (6-8 years; doctors are longer)
-More time for yourself/family
-Decent amount of money
-Less stressful life

Doctor:

-Title of "Doctor"*
-Media painted this job as more "prestigious"
-Makes more money than a pharmacist
-An adventure everyday?


*In my previous post, it was an example of how some people are claiming that pharmacists are also doctors in teh US, since they get clinical training (Doctor of Pharmacy)

That's not your problem, nor is it my question. Answer my question.