Fiancé considering starting all over to become Pharmacist

Nurses Career Support

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Let me start by saying I’m not a nurse I can only experience what you all go through through the things my Fiancé tells me after work. She comes home and is physically and mentally drained. And the days before work her spirits drop just thinking about having to return to work.

My biggest question for you all is where should she go from here. She’s been a registered nurse for about 3 years now between 2 different hospitals. From the things she tells me about some of the peoples reaction, she seems like an amazing nurse. But she’s at the point where she is considering going back to school to become a pharmacist. She gained a respect for this industry while she was in school she was working at a pharmacy for about 5 years.

I ultimately don’t want to see her so upset about work of course but I’m also trying to keep our financial future in mind. If we did the math right going back to school to become a pharmacist will cost nearly 100k on top of the student loans that we both already have. I just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone has been through this or even thought about it. What other options does she have? I really would appreciate any feedback on this topic because as I mentioned this isn’t my field.

Thanks for reading!

0 Votes

Random opinion:

Both of you WYAO and pay off the debt as fast as possible. Don't take on more in your current financial state. Consider proceeding with further schooling after you have the debt paid (way, way) down and have some savings.

Big debt really limits your choices and decisions.

6 Votes

If you peruse sites similar to allnurses for pharmacists, you will find a lot of people complaining about the lack of job prospects for pharmacists and job dissatisfaction. That, obviously, doesn’t mean she won’t be happy as a pharmacist, but it may warrant a second look at nursing. What parts of nursing does she like? What aspects of pharmacy is she drawn to? Chances are, there’s a nursing job that fits the bill.

9 Votes
Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I think a lot of us fantasize at some point about moving on to an entirely different career, so she's not alone there. With the debt situation, though, it sounds like going back to school would add a ton of stress that wouldn't help matters much.

Has she taken a look to see what other jobs are out there? With three years of hospital experience under her belt, that could open a lot of other opportunities that she might like more. Even if she took a part-time job in a better environment and stayed per diem at the hospital, it would mean less days she has to mentally prepare herself for working the floor. She should probably look to see what else she can do with this degree and license; there is probably something she would like that she is already qualified for.

3 Votes

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I agree we shouldn’t add on to our debt situation which brings me here to find other options to present to her.

As far as what she likes about nursing, I think she truly enjoys helping others. She’s very selfless so when it comes to helping others she doesn’t mind going the extra mile. What she dislikes about the job is when patients/family members demand this from her. You all know what I mean I’m sure you’ve been there. What’s drawing her back to the pharmacist field I think is just not dealing with people so directly. Working with patients on the other side of the counter and not so personal. She also loves to organize which I’m sure you need to be being a pharmacist.

I kind of like the part time idea. Maybe it’s something to consider in the future when we get a couples bills paid of soon. But ultimately I agree that there must be some position that she can work towards that will not require her to go back to school for another 7 years or so. What type of nurse practitioner should I suggest she research?

0 Votes
Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

If becoming a pharmacist is totally her dream job maybe it’s worth it after the debt is under better control. But there are also many outpatient options in nursing where you can still help people but with less stress. Phone triage, public health, outpatient clinics... hope it works out!

2 Votes
Specializes in retired LTC.
2 hours ago, LibraNurse27 said:

If becoming a pharmacist is totally her dream job maybe it’s worth it after the debt is under better control. But there are also many outpatient options in nursing where you can still help people but with less stress. Phone triage, public health, outpatient clinics... hope it works out!

I really do like this response, but ...

in all my years of practice, I've NEVER heard of a pharmacist having to single-handedly maneuver a 450 pound pt onto a bedpan on the 11-7 shift on Christmas.

Or being MANDATED into necessary overtime.

And I believe few pharmacists ever agonized about taking a sick day (being truly miserably sick). And if there's a snow emergency, the option to brave the weather is different, esp when kids are now home for the day.

They DON'T administer medicines, so if they do fill a med order in error, the mistake should be caught.

I used to comment that if I ever wanted to change careers, it would have been to become a pharmacist.

Like others have said, control spending, get debt under control, select the most $$$reasonable course/program, and GO FOR IT.

The field of advanced nursing practice is not all cracked up to what many seem to believe, and I think it may become significantly tougher in the immediate future (postings here on AN seem to be heading in that direction).

I believe that pharmacy may offer a better future.

3 Votes
Specializes in Informatics / Trauma / Hospice / Immunology.

There are plenty of outs without spending 6 or so years and 6 or so figures. Here’s a few: medical device teaching, clinical research (small amount of school), medical device or pharma sales, work on an msn while working as a nursing teacher, school nursing, legal nurse advisor, nurse researcher, hospice/ palliative home nurse, dialysis nursing, nurse practitioner, work for a travel nurse company or start one. There are many ways out of patient care, but it takes research and work getting there. Pharmacy may be easier, but at what cost?

3 Votes
Specializes in Informatics / Trauma / Hospice / Immunology.

I should add, nursing or health system informatics. You may, as a pharmacist, end up there anyway.

4 Votes
Specializes in Psych.

She may want to consider advancing her nursing degree. That can open up a lot of cool things to do as a nurse.

3 Votes

Not to burst any bubbles but some of these positions are not that easy to come by or are any less stressful. If they were there would not be so many openings for them. The medical device sales position will likely require more years of experience and sales experience, and the clinical researcher positions I have seen want tons of years of experience or new grads. The legal nurse advisor??? If there are any openings, woudn't one need experience in this area of nursing or some type of certification? I have not seen any openings for this type of job. It helps if one has an ER background or EMT background when it comes to triaging unless the place is willing to give one the appropriate amount of training. An important question is what type of nursing is your wife skilled in? If she changed areas of nursing it could help or hurt her. School nursing could be an option along with an out-patient job. Just remember if she leaves the hospital right now and does not return for a while, she may get locked out. Some of the non-hospital jobs can leave a person working all day for huge amounts of hours, like a dialysis nurse. Many of them work 15 plus hours. Home health can have you driving your car around all day, hoping you will get paid for visits or earn enough points to get paid. It is not easy work. You must be skilled enough to not need a nurse right by you to tell you everything to do. I say all of this to be straight up with her because ultimately it takes a certain amount of experience to get to a less strenous and stressful job. You usually have to stay somewhere for a certain amount of time. The future is in informatics and computer related health care. There are nurse coders or nursing positions looking for people with a health information background. If she is looking to make a switch and has a BSN, maybe a certificate in this area of health care will suffice or an associates degree.

1 Votes
On 4/21/2019 at 8:55 AM, NotANurseBut90 said:

Let me start by saying I’m not a nurse I can only experience what you all go through through the things my Fiancé tells me after work. She comes home and is physically and mentally drained. And the days before work her spirits drop just thinking about having to return to work.

My biggest question for you all is where should she go from here. She’s been a registered nurse for about 3 years now between 2 different hospitals. From the things she tells me about some of the peoples reaction, she seems like an amazing nurse. But she’s at the point where she is considering going back to school to become a pharmacist. She gained a respect for this industry while she was in school she was working at a pharmacy for about 5 years.

I ultimately don’t want to see her so upset about work of course but I’m also trying to keep our financial future in mind. If we did the math right going back to school to become a pharmacist will cost nearly 100k on top of the student loans that we both already have. I just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone has been through this or even thought about it. What other options does she have? I really would appreciate any feedback on this topic because as I mentioned this isn’t my field.

Thanks for reading!

Google Nurse pharmacist...

0 Votes
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