Transitioning from Pharmacy Technician to RN

Nurses Career Support

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Hello everyone,

My name is Denise and I've been a certified pharmacy technician for about 12 years now. I am currently one semester away from completing an LPN program in NYC. Hopefully I can continue and bridge into the RN program. I don't really come across any nursing students with a pharmacy background, so I was just wondering if there's anyone out there like me, lol. Maybe I can have some input as far as making the transition and the different career opportunities with my drug based experience already. I also have an AS in Biology so I guess I have a lot of different directions to go in, career wise. I just don't know what to do! Pharmacy will always be my first love lol. Thanks again and any comments are appreciated =)

-Denise

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Just curious - if pharmacy is your 'first love', why did you chose nursing?

I can't think of any specific area of nursing in which there is extra emphasis on pharmacology. Outside of advance practice roles, we are only responsible for administration - not ordering or dispensing.

If you grow tired of nursing later on, you may want to explore the possibilities of working as a pharmaceutical rep. I now that these jobs are mostly restricted to RNs, but I do know of one LVN (with BS in another field) who worked for Merk for a while.

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That's awesome thanks for your help! And as far as pharmacy being my first love, I applied to pharmacy school a few times and i've had terrible luck ( one school lost my transcript, etc.) I got a little discouraged, but thankfully, I've been working in clinical pharmacy so i've always been exposed to the RN's at my hospital facility so I gained an interest in that. Also, there seemed to be more opportunities with nursing - pharmacy is pretty much just retail, clinical, and industry. Thanks again for replying! =)

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Before I finally decided to go into nursing, I was in a similar situation: I had a BS in chemistry, then went to graduate school for pharmaceutical chemistry, and almost got my MS, but had to leave for family reasons. Besides that, I realized that working in a lab was not for me--I wanted to have more contact with the public. When I graduated nursing school in 1984, nobody was hiring because of new insurance regulations, so I took the first job I was offered, in psych. You wouldn't think that psych had much to do with chemistry, but my background really helps me understand the major psych disorders, which are all biochemical imbalances of the brain. Also, it helps me understand medications and their actions and interactions, not to mention being fluent in calculations. I have no doubt you will find and settle into a niche that suits you, just keep yourself open to whatever opportunities come your way.

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That's great! I have a chemistry background too and I was actually looking into mental health for those same reasons! Good luck and thanks =)

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