Overview
Career guidance is an essential phenomenon. It helps the students to select their academic field by acknowledging them with each & every aspect of a particular field, its scope, its future & so on.
The selection of the academic field is a key to having a successful career life. Young ones that seem confusing to select in between the field of interest & field of the scope need counseling & guidance towards the right track that will prove as a milestone for their future and career as well.
In this article, we remain specific to the field of pharmacy, the scope of pharmacy, its future & doubts in the mind of students for selecting it as an academic & career field. If you face the same questions then you are welcome to the right place.
Welcome to the field of pharmacy
Pharmacy in the field of medicine. It is an art and science of manufacturing, synthesizing, packaging, prescribing, compounding & dispensing medicines. In short, we can say that the pharmacy is all about medicines.
Pharmacy is well known for its worldwide scope & career opportunities. It shows diversity among different departments that are being covered by this field.
The worth of pharmacists can be highlighted by saying that
“Doctor is the one who gives life to patients whereas pharmacist is the one who gives life to medicines with his skills & authenticity”
Why prefer pharmacy over other medical fields?
We are starting to clear this point by firstly mentioning that “All the medical fields like M.B.B.S., BDS and so on are undoubtedly equally respectful and noble. All health care professionals are equally needed and essential”, but when it comes to medicines love, pharmacy beat all the fields.
Passion with the profession enhances innovative leadership qualities and skills. So the first thing that makes your step successful in the field of pharmacy is your own interest in medicines.
What should you ask before choosing any field?
Here we are giving you some simple tips to make a decision with confidence for steeping in any medical field. Here are some questions that you need to ask yourself before selecting any field. It will help in self-assessment & give a glance at your own field of interest.
- Am I interested in studying this field?
- What is my place of interest in this field
- Am I eligible for this field or not?
The above-mentioned questions give you a clear idea about the field of interest & your eligibility for it. But wait, don’t make permanent decisions on this base. Here are some more questions you need to answer before finalizing your decision:
- What is the duration of becoming a degree holder in this field?
- What is the scope of this field in your respective country?
- What are the career opportunities in this field?
Pharmacy fulfills all of the above-mentioned questions with answers that favor it to choose a career field with the exception of your interest.
The first priority for career decision should be your own interest and if it is yes then here we introduce you to the worldwide scope of pharmacy.
6 Reasons That Favor Pharmacy As An Ideal Field
1. Tittle of Dr.
Pharmacy rewards pharmacists with the tile of Dr. This is the best prefix one can dream to use before his or her name. Being a doctor of a pharmacist is a very noble & honored profession. It is a life-saving profession with an opportunity to have new learnings on a daily basis, patient exposure, patient counseling & medicine dealing.
The title of dr with a name is an honored & remarkable addition. This title also marks your specifications in the field of medicine. Pharmacists deserve this title after such a long-term study and struggle.
All the hardships of this field seem to pay back by the prefix of the term “ Dr.’. So if you are enough passionate to earn this title then the field of pharmacy always welcomes you with open hands.
2. Worldwide scope
The scope of pharmacy is worldwide & this field is honored and respected in all the developed countries of the world. Job & career opportunities are also very diverse & not confined to one type of job.
Jobs for pharmacists are available in hospitals, community pharmacy, retail pharmacy, clinical pharmacy, research area, pharmaceutical industry & academics. Job profiles or job opportunities for pharmacists are described as follows
- Clinical pharmacist
- Senior clinical pharmacist
- Hospital pharmacist
- Community pharmacist
- Drug inspector
- Quality control officer
- Quality assurance officer
- Pharmacy assistant
- Pharmacy technician
- Marketing manager
Each job has several other branches associated with it according to different departments in the field of pharmacy. Pharma Industry is a large source of employment for pharmacists so mostly pharmacists choose it as their career.
Another positive point related to industrial pharmacists is the provision of numerous types of facilities to the pharmacists. Whereas in clinical & hospital pharmacies, pharmacists are being honored & respected as drug experts & medication experts.
3. Well paid Jobs
The pharmacy field gives you a well-paid job. It is not necessary that you earn a 6 digit figure salary from the beginning but gradually your experience & hard work make you worthy, chances of promotions & growth is more as well as raise in salary too.
The mean salary of the pharmacist is Rs. 201,945 per year. Pharmacists that own and run their pharmacy stores earn more. In terms of USD, the salary becomes $40,000 – $120,000 annually after the experience of one year.
A field of interest with a good salary makes an attractive combination, as it is mentioned earlier. In this regard pharmacy is a very good field for interested candidates with a chance of self-growth and development. Salary of pharmacist raised with respect to his skills, promotions, and experience.
4. Increasing demand for pharmacist
The pharmacist is the need of an hour at every place where medicines are being manufactured, stored, dispensed, or compounded. Not only this pharmacist is the part of the pharmaceutical analysis to perform assays and testing of the raw material and finished products to check and maintain the quality of medicines.
Pharmacists are essential in all those places where medicine is present. They are the drug experts and able to deal with the problems or hurdles regards medicines. Either it is any manufacturing defect or any difficulty in prescription.
On the other hand, the increased demand for pharmacists also increases the years of their academic life.
Now pharm D is extended to 6 years. Increased demand also increases the responsibility of pharmacists, less chance of blunder is there that is why it is mostly said that:
“Do it right for the first time”
5. Research opportunities
Pharmacy is a gateway to research. The reason is that medicines always need to be updated with new clinical trials after some specific time period. Moreover, the discovery of new medicinal drug molecules or modification of pre-existing medicines always needs research work.
It’s a long-term struggle that needs a duration of 7 – 10 years for launching a new drug molecule and making it available for production & marketing. So people interested in the field of research and development and exploring some new drug molecules are always welcome warmly by the field of pharmacy.
Research opportunity in any field clearly means that field demands more new work, observation, experiments, thesis, research papers & finally the result. The result of research in the medicinal field is of different types.
You may work on any new drug molecule or work on its modification or generate any alternate method for its production. In short research work on medicine is too much that can never be going to end.
6. Art & Science
The main nucleus of pharmacy is medicine. But the thing that makes it attractive is that unlike other medical fields it has so many theoretical aspects & technical points that need clear concepts & understanding.
Pharmacy is a science with creativity inside it. By using your knowledge & checking compatibilities you can produce medicines of different shapes, colors, and flavors.
The pharmacy doesn’t limit you to some conventional methods but allows you to show creativity. The same creativity can be utilized during designing a unit box for the packaging of the dosage form.
This art is clearly visible in the form of colors of tablets and pallets, coating color with combinations, the shape of tablets to attract the consumer to enhance patient’s compliance, to encourage the children for taking syrups by introducing new flavors and so many art and creative ideas on unit curtains & packaging material of the product.
The pharmaceutical field is well known for being too dry. This point is valid and applicable to a few departments but pharmacy surprisingly becomes so interesting when it comes to the coating of tablets with colors.
Troubleshooting Questions
Is pharmacy is a harder field?
Pharmacy is a technical field that needs more conceptional understandings of basic principles, mechanisms, defects, ways to overcome defects, and practical work. It may be hard and burdened for students who are studying without interest in pharmacy, but for medicine lovers, it is a dream field.
Why we should choose Pharm D over MBBS?
Pharm D has its own specialization that is a doctor of medicines, but in the case of MBBS, you need to do specialization after completing MBBS. Another positive point that makes PharmD dominate over MBBS is the scope of pharmacy.
A pharmacy has job opportunities in industry, clinics, hospitals, research institute, community pharmacies, sales & marketing, analysis & inspection department but while in the case of MBBS the only choice of job is in the clinic or hospital.
What is the role of the pharmacist in the pharma industry?
There are multiple roles & responsibilities of pharmacists in the pharma industry, depending upon his department of designation. He maintains and assures the product quality as well as an active body in production & formulation. Moreover, he has specific tasks in the warehouse & packaging area.
Before you leave!
This article is designed to promote the positive side of pharmacy and provide updated knowledge about the scope of pharmacy in the world.
Well, it never means to deny the significance of MBBS & general physicians but for those who want to involve in multiple fields, pharmacy is a much better option than MBBS.
We are ending up with the conclusion that every field is respected and important but your interest matters a lot, therefore, choose wisely and live smartly!