Jobs and career prospects of long term care Pharmacists
In This Article
This article will cover queries related to the job and life of a long term care pharmacist. What are long term care pharmacists’ salaries and responsibilities?
Long term care pharmacists, also known as LCT pharmacists, are a vital part of health care service, especially nursing homes and the likes, rely heavily on these long term care pharmacists to provide essential health care services.
As a Long term care pharmacist, you can earn a salary of up to $148k a year! So without making the conversation any longer. Let’s explore the career of Long term care pharmacist jobs.
What is a long term care pharmacist, and what do they do?
Long term care pharmacists are those who are responsible for reviewing currently prescribed medications, Therapy, and recommended doses for patients. They are also in charge of altering the drugs given to the patients and analyzing patients’ health records to ensure there is no medicine that could cause any bad effect on the patient’s body.
The pharmacists at long term care facilities also assess patients who have been through prolonged therapy sessions and may decide to discontinue or decrease the number of sessions if needed.
Additionally, long term care pharmacists are also in charge of verifying the medication that arrives from the suppliers.
Some long term care pharmacists work in a wide range of long term care facilities, where they visit once or twice a week, depending on the needs of the facility in which they are working. And they also provide guidelines on medicine to both patient and nurse and discuss patients’ health condition(s) with doctors.I think you have all the qualities mentioned above. It is time to find an appropriate wage for you. As the USA is a diverse country, salaries will be different as well. For this, you have to research a bit as the hourly payment varies from state to state. Let’s find out.
Where does a long term care pharmacist work?
There are a lot of career opportunities for long term care pharmacists. Their career offers them to work in multiple work settings.
Some of them are as follows:
- Hospice care
- Nursing Homes
- Assisted care facilities
- Residential Care homes
- Hospitals
- Independent living facilities.
And other facilities that provide long term care to the elderly and disabled people.
Long Term Care Pharmacist’s Salary
Long term care pharmacists’ liability and work options help them make a large amount of money! Which is higher than what most people in the United States earn!
As with any other job, you will earn more as a long term care pharmacist based on your work experience, training, education, and current location.
Well, it’s time to know how much does a long term care pharmacist earns!
The lowest and fresher long term care pharmacists earn the lowest(which is not that low compared to other positions!) of $43 per hour! That helps to generate nearly $90,000 a year!
And the highest-paid long term care pharmacists typically earn about $148,000 per year.
It’s important to remember that pay ranges differ from one state to the next. Let’s see some states that pay the highest to long term care pharmacists:
- Alaska
- California
- Connecticut
- New York
- Washington
- Oregon
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
If you live in one of these states and try to get a job as a long term care pharmacist, you can expect that you will earn more than your peers in other states.
How to become a Long term Care Pharmacist?
As you know, you can make SIX figures just after a few years of work experience. But for this, you’ve to dedicate yourself to the limit because being a long term care pharmacist isn’t an easy thing.
Below we’ve given the list of essential requirements to be a long term care pharmacist:
- Bachelors and Masters degree in pharmacy
This profession requires job seekers to complete a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy to advance their journey to become long term care pharmacists. This is the first step you’ve to consider right after completing your college degree.
And after completing bachelor’s degree, you can complete Masters in Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D) as many employers seek a Master’s degree.
- Pass Pharmacy School
The next step you have to take is preparing yourself for the pharmacy school admission test. The test is known as Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT). And the passing score for PCAT varies on which pharmacy school you’re trying to enroll at.
- NAPLEX license
Let’s say this is the second last and one of the hardest steps before launching your long term care pharmacist career. The North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) will test your knowledge related to the pharmacy field.
And remember that you must pass this license exam within 5 tries, and if you fail, you will have to wait up to 1 year before you can sit for it again. The exam for NAPLEx licensure will cost you $575.
- Training
After completing your pharmacy school, either they will manage training for you, or you’ll have to manage training. Because while being on the training, you’ll get hands-on working experience as a long term care pharmacist, which will help you land a full-time job.
Future Of Long term care pharmacist
If you look at the statistics from a decade ago, you’ll see how fast long term care pharmacists’ salaries and career opportunities are going up. Also, the number of hospitals and long term care isn’t declining; rather, they are increasing.
So, the future of long term care pharmacists is undoubtedly a glowing one.
And there are also various career paths in long term care pharmacists; what are those?
- Director of the pharmacy in long term care.
- Pharmacist in charge
- Consultant pharmacist
- Pharmacy technician
What skills should you possess while joining as a long term care pharmacist?
Every job sector wants workers who exhibit some characteristics since these characteristics will help you to perform effectively in your job sector, as well as to adjust to working life more easily and advance in your career quicker.
Some skills to have:
- Cooperation with the TEAM(s)
- Multitasking
- Maintaining work schedule
- Time management
- The mindset to learn and teach
- Communication
Benefits That Long term care pharmacists Get
With a handsome salary and pleasing working life, long term care pharmacists also get a good number of fringe benefits, including the following:
- Education reimbursement (for master’s degree or additional training/certification courses)
- Health, Dental, Vision, insurance
- Medication coverage
- Retirement plan
- Additional training
- Paid leave
- Focus on detail
Best way to get a job as a long term care pharmacist
First, we hope this article helped you learn about the career you want to pursue. Now, How can you get a long term care pharmacist job?
- Keep yourself in contact with the university and pharmacy school alumni
- Use website to search jobs, like (indeed)
- Contact with Royal Recruiter (which is us!)
First, we hope this article helped you learn about the career you want to pursue. Now, How can you get a long term care pharmacist job?
- Keep yourself in contact with the university and pharmacy school alumni
- Use website to search jobs, like (indeed)
- Contact with Royal Recruiter (which is us!)