The Epoch Times talked with Dean Van der Veen, dean of the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy, to learn more about the profession.
As for the requirements for this profession Dean Van der Veen explained that the State of California started requiring a Pharm D doctoral degree for pharmacists in the year 2000. A dramatic increase in the number of schools resulted, so now there are 120, up from 70 a decade ago. In last 8-9 years the number of graduates increased, too; for 60-70 years it remained fairly constant.
He said the paths open to grads are so numerous, the problem is deciding which one to take. A student can go into a retail store/pharmacy, either chain or independent—often in Southern California the pharmacist owns the store. Or a student can work in a hospital, dispensing medications for patients, or work in an industrial setting, for the government, or in academia.
Comparing the cost of the education to the salary after graduation, the payback or return on investment depends on how much the person spends. It can be pretty quick, he said, if the person does not have a lavish lifestyle. In 2008 grads earned $125,000 and the average debt load was $60,000–100,000.
Dean Van der Veen also addressed career opportunities and the demand for pharmacists. There are more grads now, more schools, and the existing schools also increased enrollment. The demand was good for the last 7-8 years, and remains so now.
One hundred percent of USC grads are employed. One of the paths USC offers to help their students increase their value is a dual degree. There is the Pharm D & JD, adding a law degree to the Pharm D, or it can be paired with an MBA, or a degree in Public Health, all of which are more attractive in the job market.
In an economic downturn the demand for health care generally goes up or stays even. Also right now the baby-boomer generation is aging and that is a huge number of people, and they tend to be on more medications. Dean Van der Veen said he thinks the average 70-year-old is on 12 medications. This becomes a very complicated situation, he explains, because even something the patient thinks would be no problem, like fish oil or baby aspirin, can often conflict with other medications. Students are trained to understand the possible interactions.
The pharmacist needs to be there to check the entire drug regimen for interactions and make sure the patient is getting the full benefit of the medication. For example, one of the USC faculty members discovered that anti-cancer drugs are canceled out by green tea.
Dean Van der Veen says that some herbal remedies a patient thinks are going to help might not be beneficial—it’s important that a person talk to a pharmacist; he or she is trained in all medications, chemical and herbal. And it’s important that pharmacists keep up with the latest research. Dean Van der Veen said there are computer programs now to help them with this.
Going Above and Beyond
When a patient can talk with a pharmacist, who is an expert on medications, they can discover details that might make the prescriptions useless. One example came up in the clinic USC runs in Los Angeles. Dean Van der Veen talked about a patient with diabetes who was not stabilizing although he was taking the proper medication. The doctor was mystified and asked the pharmacist to look at the case. The pharmacist talked with the patient, agreed that he understood the directions and seemed to be following them, and couldn’t find the answer.
So he went to visit the patient at his home. It turned out that the patient was living in an old trailer with a refrigerator out in the yard—with no electricity! And there, inside the hot refrigerator was the medicine, faithfully kept in the refrigerator as instructed. Once the patient started using medicine which had been kept cool his diabetes came under control.
Being a pharmacist can be so much more than a job—it can be a chance to make a huge difference in people’s lives every day. Dr. Van der Veen wanted to share a few points about working with your pharmacist that will lead to better health care for our readers:
Take all your prescriptions to one pharmacy. The pharmacist will then be able to check for any possible interactions that could be harmful.
Talk with your pharmacist about any concerns you have about your health and the medications.
Let the pharmacist know all the products you are putting into your body. Remember, even green tea, with all its health benefits, can interfere with some drugs.
