PharmD Career Opportunities: What can I do with a PharmD degree?

The Doctor of Pharmacy, or PharmD, program at West Coast University (WCU) is a rigorous one. The program takes four years to complete and combines coursework with hands-on training. WCU strives to prepare each PharmD student with the education and experience required to flourish in the field. However, once WCU students receive their ceremonial hoods and bid their peers and faculty goodbye, what’s next?

What can one do with a PharmD Degree?

We’ve listed some of the top PharmD career opportunities that graduates can pursue after graduation.

Careers After PharmD

1. Clinical Pharmacies – Working out of medical clinics, clinical pharmacists provide assistance as key members of the cohesive healthcare teams that form a part of these clinics. Clinical pharmacists work closely with the physicians at the clinic to dispense and help manage medications for the patients of the clinic.
2. Hospital Pharmacies – Working in a hospital is another popular option as a career for PharmD graduates. You get to be part of a large medical institution and help numerous patients — providing drug therapy based on the inputs from the medical staff. There are even opportunities for specialization to move up into medical departments such as pediatrics, cardiology, psychotherapy and more.  
3. Community Pharmacies – Pharmacists can work in a pharmaceutical outlet – whether it’s a standalone, part of a chain, or start their own pharmacy. These community pharmacies are often the first points of contact for patients. Dispensing medication over the counter for common ailments and providing general medical advice is part of the responsibility of a pharmacist working in this environment.  
4. Consultation Services – Pharmacists can also provide visiting or consulting services with medical institutions that offer long term care. This requires repeated visits to the site and constant monitoring of patients, tracking their medication intakes, watching for changes in condition and communicating with the medical staff working there to help alter dosage or change treatments based on changes in their health.
5. Government Agencies – Everything from local government bodies to departments in the federal government regularly require pharmacists to join their ranks. In a government agency, pharmacists could be responsible for a variety of tasks including but not limited to: administering pharmaceutical care to veterans or prisoners, working toward disease prevention on a macro scale, researching or reviewing new drugs, and even helping with the formulation of drug policies.
6. Education – Teaching is another valid career opportunity in pharmacy. Pharmacists could be part of the teaching staff at an educational institute that teaches courses on pharmacy and help shape the careers of the pharmacists of tomorrow. They could also conduct research projects, studies and polls in order to help provide deeper insights into the field of pharmacy.
7. Nuclear Pharmacy – A highly specialized branch of pharmacy, nuclear pharmacy involves radioactive materials that nuclear medicinal procedures such as digital imaging – like MRIs, CT Scans and more – generally require. Nuclear pharmacists have the delicate task of handling these radioactive materials, including delivering these materials to the medical institutes that require them and dispose of them after they have been used.

Those are just seven popular PharmD career opportunities that graduates can pursue after receiving their degrees. Feel free to contact us if you have queries about the program.

WCU cannot guarantee employment.

WCU provides career guidance and assistance but cannot guarantee employment. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or position of the school or of any instructor or student.