The Happy PharmD Blog
We Get Pharmacists Jobs They Love
The Power of Coaching: From Retail Pharmacist to Pharmacy Director
In a recent interview with Saudia Christiani, a pharmacist who successfully transitioned into a new role, we delved into her journey from uncertainty to fulfillment in her career. Saudia candidly shared her initial challenges, admitting she used to "wing it" during...
Is Infusion Pharmacy Right For You?
Did you know that the infusion pharmacy market is projected to reach $20 billion dollars by 2027? Many pharmacists wonder how this growth could impact their careers. In this article, we delve into the world of infusion pharmacy, exploring salary prospects, job...
Is Poison Control Pharmacy Right For You?
Imagine a pharmacy career where every moment could be life and death. Well, that's the reality for poison control pharmacists in toxicology. They handle everything from 12-hour shifts to being on call, all while sometimes not earning as much as their peers in other...
Is Oncology Pharmacy Right For You?
Oncology pharmacy is a field that demands deep consideration before diving in. It's not just about the medicine; it's about the emotional toll and the profound impact on patients' lives. As someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one to cancer, I understand...
Is Anticoagulation Pharmacy Right For You?
I didn't always see a future in anticoagulation pharmacy. It seemed like a dying niche, especially with the advent of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) like Apixaban and Rivaroxaban taking over from Warfarin. These thoughts crossed my mind often during my days...
Is Psychiatric Pharmacy Right For You?
Psychiatric pharmacists play a crucial role in mental health care, offering immense job satisfaction despite challenges like lower pay compared to other clinical professions. It makes you wonder — why is such a vital role undervalued? Perhaps because job...
Retail to Mail Order: How This RPh Got a New Job
In a recent conversation with a pharmacist navigating career challenges, we delved into the profound journey from burnout in retail to finding renewed professional fulfillment. Phebe Luar, reflecting on her experience, shared candidly about the pressures that...
Is Emergency Medicine Pharmacy Right For You?
Are you curious about emergency medicine pharmacy and whether or not it's something that you should consider as a career choice? Well, you're not alone. Lots of other people have thought the same thing, and in this discussion, we'll dive into the nitty-gritty details...
Unpacking Pharmacy Stress: A Deep Dive Into the 2023 Well-Being Report
Everything is fine. Everything's not fine. Okay, let's dig into it — pharmacists are reportedly less stressed now? The Well-Being Index 2023 Report suggests a decrease in overall pharmacist distress since before the pandemic. The report, based on over 2,500 pharmacist...
Is Critical Care Pharmacy Right For You?
Is critical care pharmacy worth it? In this exploration, we delve into the highs and lows of a pharmacist's journey in the intensive care unit (ICU). Imagine yourself navigating through the critical corridors where patients, hanging on the brink of life, rely on your...
Is Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Right For You?
Is becoming an ambulatory care pharmacist a good career choice? And more importantly, is becoming one worth it? We're diving into satisfaction, salary, job demand, and flexibility in this career path for pharmacists. Ambulatory care pharmacy, often referred to as...
Is Compounding Pharmacy Right For You?
Are you considering a career in compounding pharmacy? Let me take you on a journey into the world of compounding pharmacists, where we dive into everything from job satisfaction to salary expectations. Compounding pharmacists are the alchemists of the pharmacy world,...
Is Infectious Disease Pharmacy Right For You?
Infectious disease pharmacy: an intriguing career path that delves deep into the world of infections — fungal, viral, or bacterial. During my time in pharmacy, I had the privilege of working closely with a legendary infectious disease pharmacist named Don Scott. It...
Is Geriatric Pharmacy Right For You?
In today's exploration, we're delving into the world of geriatric pharmacy. As someone deeply rooted in the pharmacy field, I've seen firsthand how this niche area offers unique opportunities and challenges, making it a compelling career path for many pharmacists....
5 Things I Wish I Knew Before My Pharmacy Residency
Pharmacy residency was a pivotal experience for me, filled with lessons that shaped my career path. Looking back, there are five key things I wish I had done differently. Networking stands out as the first. It's not just about making connections but about...
Is Independent Pharmacy Right for You?
Embarking on a career path in independent pharmacy is a significant decision. It's not just about dispensing medications or counseling patients; it's about navigating a unique professional landscape that offers both challenges and rewards. Independent pharmacies,...
Exploring Pharmacist Sign-On Bonuses: Insights For Informed Career Decisions
In today's discussion, we're diving into the world of pharmacist sign-on bonuses—those enticing offers that promise a substantial sum upfront to lure pharmacists into high-demand positions, especially in retail settings. Over the years, sign-on bonuses have made a...
Top 4 Sectors Hiring Remote Pharmacists in 2024
Do you dream of landing a remote pharmacist job? You’re not alone. It’s a hot topic in our field, and I’ve put together some insights to guide you on this journey. Let's dive into the sectors where remote pharmacist opportunities are thriving. Firstly, telehealth and...
Pharmacists’ Guide to Lucrative Side Hustles
I want to share three ways pharmacists can start earning extra income without needing more education or certifications. These are paths I've explored myself, motivated by my desire for lifestyle freedom — paying off debts and exploring new places with my family....
Is Pharma Right For You?
Pharmacists today are increasingly eyeing opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, seeking to leverage their clinical knowledge in new and rewarding ways. Many are drawn to pharma as a pathway away from the traditional demands of patient care, intrigued by the...
Building a Rewarding Career in Pharmacy Associations
Are you interested in becoming an association pharmacist? If so, let me guide you through what this journey entails and how you can excel in this fulfilling career path. Working within an association offers a unique opportunity to impact the pharmacy profession...
Discovering the Power of Networking: Vincent Notareschi’s Career Transformation
Like many pharmacists, Vincent Notareschi found it challenging to ask for help. As pharmacists, we're used to being the ones offering assistance, so it feels unnatural to be on the other side, especially with people we don't know well. Vincent shared that in...
Pharmacy School Mistakes: What They Don’t Teach You But You Need to Know
Pharmacy school gave me the foundational knowledge I needed to pass the Naplex and get my license. But what it didn't teach me was how to navigate my career as a pharmacist. It's a gap that affects thousands in our profession. You see, traditional pharmacy education...
The Rise of Advanced Pharmacy Technicians and What It Means for Pharmacists
In the not-so-distant past, a peculiar incident shook the pharmacy world — a technician, with over a decade of experience at a retail chain, had been masquerading as a pharmacist. This technician successfully fooled colleagues, managers, and even corporate oversight,...
Breaking the Cycle of Burnout in Pharmacy
How do you fix burnout in pharmacy without changing the environment you're in? There's nothing. You can't meditate burnout away. You can't do yoga to make burnout go away. You can't go to therapy enough. You can't take enough Prozac or Xanax to make burnout go away....
From Retail to Home Infusion: Brittany’s Journey to Career Fulfillment
In a recent conversation with Brittany, a pharmacist who made a significant career transition, we delved into her journey from retail management at CVS to a fulfilling role in home infusion as a clinical pharmacist. Her story is not just about changing jobs; it's...
Pharmacist Job Search Strategies: How to Stand Out and Get Noticed
In the competitive world of pharmacy job applications, it’s all too common to feel like your resume disappears into a void, never to be noticed. Many pharmacists face this frustration, often due to three common mistakes that hinder their chances: lack of experience,...
Pharmacy Burnout: Shifting Focus from Self-Blame to Environmental Change
Burnout among pharmacists is a pervasive issue, one that often gets wrongly attributed to personal shortcomings rather than systemic failures. If you're feeling burnt out in your pharmacy career, let me tell you something important: it's not your fault. In the...
Pharmacist Coaching Success: Pharmaceuticals Job Achieved!
Weronika Taraszka began her career in retail pharmacy, the only field she knew. But as life changed with the arrival of her son, she faced the challenges of maintaining a work-life balance. The rotating schedule of her retail position made it difficult to spend time...
Embracing the Next Generation of Pharmacists: A Bright Future Ahead
In a year where pharmacy school applications are plummeting and class sizes are shrinking, there's a prevailing message online discouraging newcomers from joining our ranks. It's easy to get disheartened amidst all the negativity, but I remain steadfast in my belief...
Remote Pharmacist Role: How This Pharmacist Got Her Work-From-Home Job
In a recent conversation with one of our clients, Katie Lozano, she shared a story that resonates deeply with the experiences of many pharmacists navigating their careers today. Katie had been with her company for seven years when it was acquired by a larger...
Unveiling the Truth Behind the Pharmacist Shortage Debate
Oh, my gosh! The pharmacist shortage — is it really happening? Numerous articles have been surfacing recently highlighting the challenges within the pharmacy workforce. However, are we truly addressing the root cause of the issue or merely scratching the surface?...
The Happy PharmD’s Pharmacy Salary Guide 2023
Navigating the Pharmacy Job Landscape: The HPD Pharmacy Salary Guide 2023 Welcome back to The Happy PharmD's Pharmacy Salary Guide 2023. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into key observations, salary trends, job satisfaction, and the evolving landscape for...
How My Meetings Became More Effective – Due To Other People’s Poor Practices
I participated in many meetings as a hospital pharmacy manager. Every month, my pharmacy department held a staff meeting. At these meetings, both my pharmacists and pharmacy technicians expressed what was right and wrong about the department and the hospital....
Part Two Of Getting My Girlfriend’s Prescription With Hopes That Part Three Never Occurs
I recently saw the new Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie. It’s called Mission Impossible— Dead Reckoning Part One. It’s a lot of fun. Throughout the movie, Tom Cruise is chasing after the bad guy. About halfway through the movie, I realized that Tom Cruise would...
Decision Making Has Always Been In My DNA — Regardless If I Have The Right To Make The Call
I was in management for over thirty years in my hospital’s pharmacy department. I made a lot of key decisions. 99% of the time; they were good decisions. However, I’d be the first to admit that I had a few bad ones. When I left my last hospital, I got a job in a...
Client Success Story: Invest In The Future You Want
Imagine being a pharmacist who feels trapped and unfulfilled in their career. That's exactly how Anais Lee* felt before she found a way to break free and create a brighter future for herself. Anais was working in a hospital pharmacy, but the repetitive tasks and...
Why The Pharmacy Profession Wasn’t What I Expected — And How I Adapted Whenever It Got Boring
I like the profession of pharmacy. I’m very happy being a pharmacist. I’m retired. So I’m no longer working as a pharmacist in a pharmacy. Or anywhere else, for that matter. A colleague of mine is also a pharmacist. He, too, is retired. My friend saw no reason to...
Good Cover Letters, Thank You Notes, and Reference Lists Are Crucial – It’s Not Just About The Resume and The Interview
My son was looking for a new job. I helped him with his resume. I once taught a class to my pharmacy tech students who were looking for a job. I helped them with their resumes and other job-acquiring tasks. Resumes are easy to craft. Aside from the many books on...
Using My Medical Advocate Skills To Detect And Eliminate Errors With My Girlfriend’s Prescription
I was a staff pharmacist working in my first hospital. This was before I went back to school to get my advanced degree. This was even before I became a pharmacy manager. I liked working as a staff pharmacist in a hospital. From what I had heard, it was better than...
How A Possessive and Overstocking Atmosphere Resulted In Hoarding Between Departments
I think I first realized it when I was working at my first hospital. My hospital had a unique financial blueprint. They paid their bills went they wanted to. It didn’t matter what the amount was or when the bill was due, or what the terms were. It seemed that they...
How My Own Health Scare Made Me Appreciate Those Who Jump Into Crisis Mode
I had a stroke. I remember it like it was yesterday. I’m retired. I was volunteering at one of my former hospitals. I worked at the information desk. Visitors arrived at the hospital, got a pass, and went up to see the patient. I did the COVID screening. COVID...
Examining Different Decision-Making Methods To Determine The Best Practice Available
I was talking to my friend the other night. He recently became the Director of a long-term care facility. He was discussing his decision-making capabilities. My friend told me that he wanted to be “fair and consistent”. When my friend had to make a decision or put...
How To Create and Complete 2023 Career Goals
In this webinar to get you started for the year, I will be sharing wisdom and lessons from our research in career development and positive psychology. Read to the end to find out what people have done repeatedly to develop their careers and how you can do the same in...
The Happy PharmD 2022 Q4 Investor Update
2022 is OVER! *sigh* Thank you. This update will be shorter than usual. Let’s jump into what happened in Quarter 4. Highlights A new vision & mission “Helping pharmacists create jobs they love” once inspired me when I started HPD in 2017. Q4 was spent dreaming a...
Unwrapping the Job You Want – Special Holiday Session
In this special Q&A holiday session, I am joined by Eric Wilson, one of our Growth Advisors in The Happy PharmD and we talked about searching for a job during the holiday season. Read to the end to find out why it is important to have this frank...
How to Become an Informatics Pharmacist | Informatics
If you want to download this guide + 48 other pharmacy career paths for you to access later, you can download it here. This article is a part of a series of The Many Paths of Pharmacy, which has 48 other pharmacy career paths. Summary - Pharmacists in Informatics As...
Four Times When My Pharmacy Had To Say “No” — And We Weren’t Just Being Difficult
"Oh, you’re just being difficult!” As a pharmacy manager, I got that a lot. I always felt my pharmacy department was treated like second-class citizens. We were the ones that always had to compromise. We had to change the way we did things to make others happy. The...
Pharmacist Transition Series – Getting Into Remote Jobs
On this episode of the Pharmacist Transition Series – Remote Jobs, I am joined by Nupoor Kalke and Sam An. Both of them made amazing transitions to working remotely. Read on to find out the juicy details about their individual stories. Suppose you are currently...
How To Escape Burnout
In this special webinar session, I am joined by two pharmacists, Drs. Tulsi Shah and Melissa Turner as they share their burnout stories and how they overcame it. Read to the end to find out how Tulsi and Melissa, success stories from the Happy PharmD, discovered they...
Developing A Concierge Team — Escorting Visitors To The Right Place
I needed nails. Actually, I needed 3-inch nails with a flat head. So I went to a big hardware store one night. When I walked in, there was an old-fashioned popcorn cart filled with popcorn. Three store workers stood by the cart selling the popcorn. One of the...
Learn How To Easily Network – A Question & Answer Session with Alex Barker
In this special Question & Answer session, I take us on a journey where I break down the why, how, who, and what of networking. Many people miss out on opportunities because they do not know how to network. If you want to learn more about how the Happy PharmD...
The Happy PharmD 2022 Quarter3 – Investor Update
This is The Happy PharmD Quarter 3 2022 update for our investors, stakeholders, partners, and affiliates. The Happy PharmD (HPD) continues to shift pharmacists into inspiring careers and lives. Another 60 pharmacists decided to work with us in Quarter 3, which is...
Sentinel Events Should Result In A Blameless Society — Not Make The Employee The Scapegoat
Previously I wrote about medication errors in my hospital. I wrote about “just cultures”. This is an atmosphere in a hospital that blames the system rather than the person. Should a medication error occur, and the employee act properly, nothing would happen to the...
Transitioning to Specialty — Here’s How to Do It Right!
In this session, Laurie Linton and Laura Licari (a Happy PharmD coach), joined me live to share their experiences transitioning into specialty. Read till the end to find out how Laurie, one of our success stories from the Happy PharmD, made a smooth career transition...
Encountering Unique Mantras That Enhance Style While Leading To A Successful Career
It rarely happens. In fact, it almost never happens. My pharmacy was embarking on a new service. The hospital was going to become more accurate in their patient drug charges. The way our hospital charged for medication was simple. Each day my pharmacy sent a...
Transition Into Pharma and Pharma-Related Fields
In this webinar, I was joined by three pharmacists, Anna Schemel, David Steinberg, and Lori Huang, to discuss their journey into Pharma and Pharma-related fields. They share some decisions that helped lead them to their specific career path. They also highlight how...
Sometimes Involving My Vice-President Made Him Look Like A Fool
I’ve been very lucky in my hospital career. For the most part, I always had good bosses. Usually, they left me alone to run the pharmacy department. This was because they knew I could do the job. They knew I would do what was right. They knew that I was...
A Short Guide into Peer Review
An academic journal uses peer reviewers to ensure that an article’s content is scientifically and professionally appropriate based on what was studied and what was concluded from the study. Often, an article will have two reviewers. Several sources, including the...
Getting Started as a Medical Writer for Pharmacists in the United States and Canada
Getting Started as a Medical Writer for Pharmacists in the United States and Canada In this special webinar session, I had the pleasure of teaming up with one of the coaches at the Happy PharmD, Janan Sawar, to host our guests Milena Murray, June Stevens, and Warda...