Pharmacy student Anna Morris writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of preparing for a career as a pharmacist
Oh… um, interesting…’ is the typical tentative reply I receive when I tell people I study Pharmacy. It usually confuses older generations, who make such an enquiry. Brows furrow as I’m asked, ‘What does that mean?’ or ‘Do you want to, like, work in a pharmacy?’ ‘Yes’, I tell people, we graduate with a five-year Masters as pharmacists. It’s generally best to avoid getting bogged down in the long list of possible careers I could think of in the industry, lest further confusion ensues and brows furrow more deeply. Most interest is lost when they figure out that I won’t be a doctor, anyway — why bother with all those Leaving Cert points if not for Medicine, right?
The doors into Pharmacy first opened to me by sheer coincidence, stumbling into an introductory lecture on an open day I was dragged to. Bored of the constant droning talk of trade apprenticeships and business degrees in my countryside community school, here was something that piqued my interest, finally. Studying science for the sake of helping other people, making a better drug or an easier-to-swallow pill and teaching patients how to use it… it just seemed perfect. It played on my mind constantly until ultimately, I decided to move to Dublin to study this apparently dreamy degree.
Intimidating
I always find it difficult to concisely describe what I do in college — a simultaneous focus on human physiology, pharmaceutical science, pharmacology, not to mention drug chemistry, and patient care… half of those words don’t sound real. And the deeper into the degree I am, the more ambiguous the qualification seems. Exciting placements in R&D taxation, regulatory bodies, new technology-based healthcare enterprises, etc, have most definitely broadened my understanding of careers for pharmacists. It’s both exciting and intimidating to see how far beyond the hospital or the pharmacy this degree can stretch.
It’s both exciting and intimidating to see how far beyond the hospital or the pharmacy this degree can stretch
Not every student feels my ‘child- on-Christmas-morning’ wonder. Some peers were once smug that they were becoming ‘overpaid shopkeepers’ as they told me, smiling lazily, heads cocked to one side. Perhaps it is some type of divine justice that they are the same students I see panicking in the library the first morning of every semester, or hyperventilating and hysterical before an exam… They did, however, prompt me to finally start working in a pharmacy. Maybe it was a shopkeeper job after all, and I was just naïve?
But working in ‘the shop’ didn’t sour my opinion of Pharmacy, not even slightly. My mentor told me it was important who you worked for in this job, that no profession was completely full of happy workers. He is a great pharmacist, the same person who told me to put patients first, second, third and fourth and my professional judgement wouldn’t ever be too wrong. Pharmacy students and others have told me they wouldn’t be able to cope with addiction, dispensing methadone or carrying out needle exchange in the pharmacy.
Isn’t it strange to be faced with both criticisms, that a pharmacist is a ‘glorified shopkeeper’, while the serious and worthwhile work they do is deemed unseemly in the eyes of good and proper Irish folk?
Horror stories
But there is no point trying to convince myself, or you, that the job is all sun- shine and rainbows. The work-life balance, so often praised when we were choosing careers in secondary school, is now frequently the focus of many horror stories. From 12-hour shifts with no lunch break, to aggression from patients, community pharmacists have it hard. Locums and pharmacy owners alike are desperately trying to stay afloat. Even remuneration is under threat, with some locum pharmacists from abroad forced to return to their home country after a handful of well- paid days working. Think about how motivated you would feel to finish your degree upon hearing this!
As exciting an opportunity as it may be for me, it’s difficult to ignore the negativity we hear as students about Pharmacy. And I have no doubt that some of the concerns overheard are valid. Consider the total non-existence of centralised funding for medicine disposal and consultations, the cutbacks on phased dispensing — does this paint a pretty picture for the pharmacists of the future? That doesn’t even touch on the closures due to staffing and other running cost issues. The PSI calculated that 81 pharmacies closed between 2019 and 2023 — not something that would instil confidence in hopeful pharmacy owners.
Industry roles
Many peers of mine now plan to go into industry roles or continue their studies with a PhD. Tired of working in a pharmacy (already), I often hear a wistful ‘anything but community’ from 20-year-olds already beaten down by the slog to get the points and then pass the degree too. But community pharmacy still has my heart, hook, line and sinker — the patients are what make it for me. Yet, it’s obvious from the published statistics and the anecdotal evidence we hear on the grapevine that pharmacists need more support. Pharmacy students should be encouraged, excited even, to begin their career, not despondent.
I chose this degree for many reasons — a deep love of science, a desire to help others, a dependable job, to name a few. Friends of mine in the arts often express relief they know someone in a ‘real’ degree with a job and future at the end. If we choose to see it logically, I still study (a sometimes-unreasonable amount of) science, I can still be of service to others. We regularly see listings for full-time jobs for pharmacists, quoting six figures at times. It’s difficult for me to understand the extent of people’s dissatisfaction with an industry that offers the opportunity to work in a wide range of environments for considerable earnings.
It is not a job without its faults, but then again, no job is. I can’t and I won’t pretend I’m anything but grateful for my future career.
Anna Morris is a 3rd year Pharmacy student and scholar of Trinity College Dublin. She has served as President and Chairperson of Dublin University Pharmaceutical Students Association, Pharmacy class representative and student mentor at TCD. She has been awarded scholarships by the Health Research Board and Laidlaw Foundation. Her passions and interests include student welfare and the sustainability and usability of Pharmacy services.
