Looking for a pharmacist to interview!! Can anyone help by answering these questions?

What is your education and where did you obtain your degree(s)? Is there a difference in educational requirements to practice as a pharmacist today compared to when you graduated and what do you think of the changes? What is your opinion on nutritional and herbal supplements? What is a few of the issues with these supplements? What do you think of the switch from prescription to over the counter meds? What do you think is the nurse鈥檚 role in med admin and teaching? How do you think we can reduce med errors in ambulatory and inpatient settings? What do you think wil be some of the role changes for a pharmacist in the new century? What do you think are the 3 most important issues facing the profession of pharmacy today? Anything else you would like to discuss or add would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Holy cow! That's a ton of questions. I'd suggest calling up some local pharmacies (or going there in person) and asking the pharmacists if any of them would be willing to sit down for an interview.

Or, call up local pharmacy schools and ask the professors there.

I can answer a couple of the questions quickly:

1) Changes in education: there's really only been one major change. In the "old" days, all you needed was a bachelors degree. Now, you need a PharmD. What someone thinks of it depends on that individual person. Most don't care or will say it's a good thing (or didn't hurt).

2) Switch from prescription to over the counter: what switch? There's been no real switch. Yes, some previously prescription drugs are now over the counter (Claritin for example). Not a big deal. It's such a tiny drop in the bucket that it's not noticeable. Pharmacists are not worried about job security, if that's what you're going for. There are so many new drugs coming out, that the tiny amount that goes to OTC doesn't make a dent in the workload. If anything, it's nice b/c it's one less drug to deal with.