Yes, but I must admit that I almost had a heart attack when I saw one of the
pharmacists at a chemist where I maintain the computers actually standing
there with a mortar and pestle? and actually making up a special
prescription

I think the folks were just being facetious ... but in the jokes there is
actually a point: these days pharmacy is all about perception, and
regulators/academics are very eager to project a perception of the
profession that is very much at odds of what much of the general population
holds of pharmacists.  And being caught in this contradication can make you
more than a little cynical about the profession.  I can't think of another
profession that has to struggle as hard to define itself as pharmacy.
People may not be able to articulate the details, but we don't generally
have problems defining what a lawyer, physician, nurse, accountant, etc.
etc. etc. does, but ask a random person what a pharmacist do ...

Are you kidding me? The most frightening thing about this attitude is
what damage it can and will do the the profession as a whole.

and must *absolutely* be able to count to: 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180...

C.

Oh! Get Real!!
Everyone knows a pharmacist just stands behind a tall counter and pours
pills out of a big bottle into little ones...

I am applying to pharmacy school, and have been thinking in more
detail about what I want to do when I become a practicing pharmacist.

Currently, I volunteer in a hospital pharmacy, and get a little
exposure to what the pharmacists there do in their day to day jobs.
They get called on frequently to provide drug knowledge, and it seems
like, advice to the other staff (nurses/doctors).

It seems like pharmacy school curricula is highly intense. I would
think that pharmacists have SO much knowledge about drugs,
pharmacokinetics, and just an incredible amount of
chemical/physical/thermodynamic knowledge about how pharmaceuticals
work in the body. Yet it seems like they will never really get to
implement this knowledge day-to-day.

I would like to hear from others, both in retail, hospital, industry -
what do you think?

Do you use your education?

Are you consulted on by other healthcare peers as an expert?

Do you feel like you are called on, and needed, to provide your expert
advice?

To me, a pharmacist is a sort of a specialized doctor. Someone who can
be there to provide very specific and accurate information, and apply
that to a situation where lives are at stake, helping to save those
lives, and make them better. Do you feel this is the case in reality?