Non-traditional roles for pharmacists

The increased chatter surrounding healthcare has piqued my interests in job opportunities for pharmacists outside the traditional roles, i.e. retail, hospital, IT, long-term care, etc. Physicians have been filling many of these roles for quite some time. For more information on physicians in non-traditional roles I recommend visiting Non-Clinical Medical Jobs, Careers, and Opportunities by Dr. Joseph Kim. It was Dr. Kim’s site that put my mind into overdrive.

Much of my interest in these non-traditional pharmacy jobs stemmed from various internet articles on advances in healthcare technology from companies like Microsoft, Google, and GE among others. These companies are developing some very interesting technology and have jobs posted that require a pharmacy degree.

Over the past several months I’ve applied for positions at several of these companies, but haven’t heard so much as a peep from most of them. Microsoft gets some brownie points because they were kind enough to send me a nicely worded rejection notice in the form of an email.

Anyway, pharmacists have a unique perspective when it comes to process design in healthcare and several of the “movers and shakers” in the industry have started to take notice. For those of you interested in something other than a traditional role in pharmacy know that there are positions out there that may interest you. All you have to do is look.