Doctor of Pharmacy Degree: Getting the Required Training
The Doctor of Pharmacy degree program is an important part of becoming a registered pharmacist. For instance, it is a prerequisite for the NAPLEX national licensing examination. Even though this program produces a Doctor of Pharmacy, this is not a graduate degree. It requires completion of a two-year pre-pharmacy program as a prerequisite into the program.
Training Requirements
There are numerous and varied pharmacy degree programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. You will find that these programs offer highly structured curriculums, generally requiring several hundred credit hours for graduation, plus a small amount of elective options. Coursework for a two-year pre-pharmacy program is often structured as follows:
- Five semesters of biology (including two semesters of human design and one of microbiology)
- Four semesters of chemistry (including two semesters of organic chemistry)
- One semester of physics
- Two semesters of Introductory Analysis
These type programs also require practical experience as a pharmacist. While working on your degree, as a part of fulfilling the curriculum requirements, you have the opportunity to complete several hundred hours of practical experience in a variety of settings, such as a university pharmacy, a community pharmacy, or a hospital pharmacy.
Additionally, experience may be earned in a research setting. A small number of undergraduate research fellowships are available, but the competition for these positions is fierce.
Job Opportunities with a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree
Upon completion of a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and passing the NAPLEX exam, many job opportunities are available to new pharmacists. More than half of all pharmacists become community pharmacists, performing a role as a consultant, providing advice and health related information as well as dispensing medications and related services.
As the general populace ages and organized health care expands, pharmacists are more frequently providing care in not only hospitals and nursing home settings but in other extended care facilities. Pharmacists are members of health care teams, along with physicians and nurses, providing opportunities for involvement in patient care.
Pharmacists are also involved in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of roles, including research and quality control. Pharmacists with administration and sales interests can use their pharmacy background in becoming medical service representatives, promoting the use of a particular firm’s pharmaceutical products in the health care industry.
Another option is in the academic realm, becoming part of the faculty in the many schools of pharmacy. Not only do these pharmacists teach, but they also perform research and conduct patient care. Of course, to become a faculty member at a pharmacy school usually requires postgraduate degrees and training in addition to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.
As technology increases, so does the opportunity for increased cooperation of health professionals working together as a team. For those pharmacists who want to get into medicine to help patients, there will also be an increase in opportunities to do so.
This is a good time to pursue a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. The field continues to expand, as there is a greater demand for not only existing pharmaceutical products but research into new ones.
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