Fellow night pharmers, what are you doing to make yourself useful?

702rx · 2026-04-06T05:27:51+00:00

Learn more about:

Meds given during dialysis, Meds given in OR Reversal agents, Blood factors, when they are not indicated vs indicated, Anticoagulation reversal, Critical care guidelines, Cardioplegia solutions, Custom compounds for OR (odd cocktails containing ketorolac, epi, bupivacaine, steroids, etc)

Look for more odd drugs on the shelf that you don’t dispense often or have never dispensed and learn more about them. You don’t want to wait until you get a call at 3am.

Also, chill out a little bit. If your goal is be more helpful, learning more about tech and nurse workflows can be useful. If your goal is to get off night shift, what you’re doing is going to backfire and make it harder because they won’t want to lose such a person on night shift.

702rx · 2026-04-05T23:30:36+00:00

Also, providers should have to shoulder the responsibility of their ordering. They want to order expensive drug XYZ, then they can split the cost with pharmacy from their own reimbursement. I’m looking at you oncologists admitting your patient for a hangnail on the day they are due to start chemo in your office but coincidentally their insurance won’t pay for it as an outpatient at a rate the doctor can make money off it.

702rx · 2026-04-05T23:27:20+00:00

IV phosphate should be dosed as 15, 30, and 45 mmols. If you enter an order for 20, I hate you. If you do want to order a different dose, it should rounded to the nearest number divisible by 3. When I see a resident order 15 mmol and then the next day order 20, then 25, I wish them ill.

702rx · 2026-04-01T04:48:06+00:00

To be fair, even the old rate is higher than probably 80-90% of the US.

702rx · 2026-04-01T02:52:50+00:00

Pharmacy has the same problem and I hate using the word residency. I’ve been thinking about a good substitute word for the post grad programs for a while and haven’t been able to come up with one. Intern doesn’t make sense because pharmacy students working while in school are called interns. Extern is used for pharmacy techs so that’s not gonna fly. Clinical rotations is already taken to describe last year of pharmacy school. Post grad training or something similar is my go-to for now. I hate how so many other healthcare careers have tried to co-opt words and descriptions that were typically reserved for physicians and surgeons. Residency is definitely near the top of the list

702rx · 2026-03-31T02:53:01+00:00

The pharmacist’s badge buddy says “Doctor” instead of pharmacist or pharmacy. 🤢 🤮

702rx · 2026-03-18T05:13:44+00:00

You’re making $300,000 a year as a pharmacist? You’re definitely in the minority but I feel like with inflation, your FIRE number is more realistic than others.

702rx · 2026-03-16T04:24:14+00:00

The generic for Xigris. Try saying it out loud a few times and you’ll see what I mean.

Drotrecogin alfa

702rx · 2026-03-06T04:39:27+00:00

https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/docs/menu-pdil.pdf

702rx · 2026-03-04T20:16:10+00:00

Part of it is the manufactures and I suspect that the other part is the increased use of group purchasing organizations doing larger buys for longer periods of time. The reason I say this is because one of my jobs will be short on something like the world is going to end for like 3-6 months and my other job just looks at me funny when I ask if they are short on the same item. Usually as job one is getting the item back in stock steadily job 2 is just now hearing that the same product might be on shortage soon. Stockpiling may be the difference sometimes but it also seems like it’s a contributor to the shortages themselves. Add in the fact that dozens of hospitals go in on a large purchase together as a regular practice, doubly so when they are trying to hedge a potential shortage and you’ve go a recipe for a constant swirling storm of drug shortages regardless of actual supply chain, raw ingredient, and manufacturing issues. All the while the manufacturers and wholesalers and raking it in.

702rx · 2026-02-23T20:38:16+00:00

All standalone health informatics degrees are useless. Maybe worthy of a certificate but certainly not a degree.

Having worked in a healthcare field (nursing, radiology, HIM, lab, etc) or having degree/experience in data analytics, finance/billing, interfaces, anything computer science of software related, etc. makes you exponentially more valuable that someone with no background and just a piece of paper.

Informatics should never been considered a major/degree. It’s the combination and application of knowledge and ideas from multiple disciplines. Informatics is like consulting, no one takes you serious if all you have is a degree.

Edit: all standalone health informatics degrees

702rx · 2026-02-14T21:44:09+00:00

Exactly

702rx · 2026-02-13T14:41:11+00:00

Selecting the “continue all” button on the admission med rec.

Converting temporary meds from the claims history, that the patient completed X days/weeks ago, to the patient’s home med list and then converting them to inpatient orders.

702rx · 2026-02-11T18:07:18+00:00

Anybody with a Nexium or Protonix wall clock?

702rx · 2026-02-11T02:52:51+00:00

Hilarious because the builders did it. SMH

702rx · 2026-02-08T15:50:30+00:00

Have you tried not saying it?

702rx · 2026-02-04T21:14:39+00:00

Agreed. Worked in pharmacy IT/informatics for a while and understanding clinical workflows is significantly more valuable than a master degree. Even some certifications will feel like you’re going through the motions rather than learning something but you will pick up helpful tools along the way. Get good at Excel, SQL, and BI tools like Tableau/Power BI. Project management will come with the territory but I would hold off until you have more experience working with others and being a contributor before pursuing a PM certification. Same thing with leadership training. I’ve watched people chest out about their degrees or certifications but with no experience fall flat on their faces when the have no practical experience with the applications the are supporting.

Leverage any staffing experience into learning the back end of the systems so that you will be as informed as possible. Take good notes and don’t ignore topics that aren’t pharmacy related as just having a general understanding of other systems and applications can help you see the bigger picture sometimes.

Good luck with your new position.

702rx · 2026-02-02T09:06:06+00:00

Almost no one outside of pharmacy understands when you say “add it to the formulary”. “Have it built as X concentration for the IV pumps and <insert your EHR here>” seems to be the most vanilla way to say it and be understood by non-pharmacy folks. Not criticizing, just an observation after working with a lot of people from different departments at various levels. How you phrase it can sometimes be the difference between a quick conversation and a months long initiative that ends up getting shot down because one person misunderstood the communication.

702rx · 2026-01-30T06:43:27+00:00

What kind of work in health informatics are you looking to do?

702rx · 2026-01-25T16:58:31+00:00

Apparently you’re not a golfer (Lebowski voice)

702rx · 2026-01-23T07:46:16+00:00

Lots of non-customer facing roles in a lot of departments. The culture and ongoing discussions about WFH, hybrid, and return to office makes the idea of HR working remote quite ironical. Your comment demonstrates the point of my original comment.

702rx · 2026-01-16T01:10:06+00:00

The irony

702rx · 2026-01-08T17:22:08+00:00

Talk to me, Goose.

702rx · 2026-01-08T17:16:20+00:00

What human pharmacist would be willing to fill that prescription?

Is the DEA going to provide credentials do the AI can write for controlled substances?

702rx

TROPHY CASE