Pharmacy’s Prognosis
Angel Stivers grew up in a small town in Kentucky. Her parents were both teachers, so Stivers always figured she’d be one too when she grew up. But a part-time job at the local pharmacy when she was in high school changed all that.
“I was really taken by the hand and put out on the front line. I was helping patients not only fill their prescriptions, but helping them make decisions. And I really realized that we are a trusted profession and we really can make a difference.”
Stivers studied hard in college, got good grades, and applied to pharmacy school. She did not get in.
“It was probably one of the biggest disappointments, but at the same time it made me more determined that that’s what I wanted to do and I wasn’t going to settle for anything other than what I wanted to do. So it only made me work harder for it.”
She retook a couple classes and the entrance exam and was eventually accepted at the McWhorter School of Pharmacy at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama — where Joseph Dean is the dean — “dean squared”, he jokes.
“Each of the last two years we’ve had more than 1,000 qualified applicants for 120 spaces.”
Samford?s not alone. The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy reports that total pharmacy school applications more than doubled in the last two years. And demand for prep classes for the Pharmacy College Admissions Test — or P-CAT — is also skyrocketing, says Justin Serrano — vice president of Kaplan Test Prep.
“There isn’t such a long training period. If you were going in to be an MD, you might spend four years in med school and depending on what your specialty is another four to eight years doing your residency.”
By comparison, pharmacists can work with just a bachelor’s degree, though many do go on for two more years of training. Other driving forces? Pharmacy is seen as more family-friendly than some other careers in medicine. That may be why women dramatically outnumber men at many pharmacy schools, even though female faculty at those schools face a glass ceiling. A study in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education finds that in 2002, women made up 55% of all pharmacy school faculty, but accounted for only 41% of tenured faculty. Male professors also made higher salaries. Still, the salary prospects for working pharmacists of both genders are good. Samford?s Joseph Dean says most of his graduates will make at least $95,000 dollars a year to start.
“Employee pharmacists are making more now than they have ever made in the profession’s history.”
And their pay may go even higher as the nation confronts a pharmacist shortage with the aging baby boomers. The Pharmacy Manpower Project predicts a shortfall of as many as 157,000 pharmacists in the U-S by the year 2020.
Birmingham is 3rd worst in the Southeast for ozone pollution, new report says
The American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report shows some metro areas in the Gulf States continue to have poor air quality.
Why haven’t Kansas and Alabama — among other holdouts — expanded access to Medicaid?
Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
Thousands of ordinary people who helped clean up after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say they got sick. A court settlement was supposed to help compensate them, but it hasn’t turned out as expected.
Q&A: How harm reduction can help mitigate the opioid crisis
Maia Szalavitz discusses harm reduction's effectiveness against drug addiction, how punitive policies can hurt people who need pain medication and more.
The Gulf States Newsroom is hiring a Community Engagement Producer
The Gulf States Newsroom is seeking a curious, creative and collaborative professional to work with our regional team to build up engaged journalism efforts.
Gambling bills face uncertain future in the Alabama legislature
This year looked to be different for lottery and gambling legislation, which has fallen short for years in the Alabama legislature. But this week, with only a handful of meeting days left, competing House and Senate proposals were sent to a conference committee to work out differences.
