pharmalady

hi, Do you have an idea of what a registered pharmacist is paid in walgreens?

Hi pts, I think you should be able to do that but the best way to comfirm that is to check with the IL state board of pharmacy.

Hi Laura . pharm, Just writing to congratulate you on your achievement. I am really very proud of you. I wish you all the best in your future endeavour. pharmalady

Well xtinch, in my own oppinion , Five years is too long a time to be irrevocably bound to a company if the company does not have to file your h1 visa. But then again, it depends on your kind of personality because this type of decision comes with a lot of disadvantages. You may want to seriously consider such disadvantages before signing any contract. I have a couple of friends who understandably went into such long time contracts due to work visa disability but it was a struggle throughout the five years. Being very free minded individuals, they were stripped of their decision powers and they had to stomach what they do not believe in because they are bound by the terms of their contracts. My friend had worked for this chain for over three years in a remote city and had rose to the the level of pharmacy manager. The very moment they found a US trained pharmacist who was willing to work in that store, they made him the pharmacy manager and sent her to another remote city to build up the pharmacy. This was so demoralising for her but she had to stay on until she gets are green card. You may also want to negociate with the company that a two year contract is most comfortable with you.

Thanks jk_login, I actually just got my naplex result and by the grace of almighty God I passed.You could actually pass naplex without internship experience. I know quite a good number of our collegues who did. It's just that I personally always like to know what I am gettting into. Anyway whatever decision you take, I belive you will be fine. Right now I am trying to study for my Texas mpje.

Hi Naplex 08 To sign a contract to work for one year post licensure is not a bad deal at all considering the fact that walgreens wanted me to relocate and sign to work in that store for three years post licensure.I know you would want to consider so many other factors. I wish you all the best with whatever decision you eventually take.

hey jk_login, It is not mandatory to apply for the intern license if you have no intentions to start counting your hours yet. I gave internship a shot with the knowledge that my license is valid for only a couple of months because I wanted to have a first hand internship experience prior to taking my naplex. This decision also helped me to reduce my intenship hours by a good margin.It is also a wise decision to to postpone applying for intern license until you are through with naplex and mpje. This will afford your an opportunity to give these landmark exams the maximum devotion they require. I wish you all the best in your exams.:tup:

Hello jk-login, The true situation is that the three months window requires you to take your naplex and mpje to continue with your internship in the state of texas. In my own case, I actually obtained my intern license towards the end of january subsequent to obtaining my fpgee certificate in december. Right now, my intern license is expired and my internship is on hold until I am through with Naplex and mpje. I personally spoke to Lisa and she advised me to send in my hours so as to lock them in. She also said that I would be required to reapply for internship license to continue with my internship in the state of texas.

Hi paka 3012, I don't think their is a standard parameter to determine how many hours you should invest in studying for Naplex because I see it as a personal thing. Conservatively, I would say three months is a good enough time to get prepared.For me, continous study from after fpgee exams and toefl ibt is a secret that gives you the confidence to attack naplex because the information you are suppose to assimilate is quite enourmous. My sincere advice, is to use the method that is most effective for you. Check how well you are doing from time to time. You can never go wrong by mastering every aspect of pharmaceutical compuetation and calculations because this would help your confidence during the test. Calm down, get as much information as your can on common disease states, drugs to manage or cure them and possible interactions between these drugs. Then every thing will go fine.

Hello, I would need a clarification on this issue. Are US pharmacy graduates from foreign countries made to sit for fpgee and toefl ibt ? I personally see that as degrading.

Hello zyvox, Yes , you can order for a rescore of just one section of the toefl ibt test. Actually only the speaking and the writing sections can be rescored. Give it a shot and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

Hi Laura pharm, In the state of texas, it is mandatory that you sit and pass your naplex and mpje within three months of obtaining your fpgec certificate otherwise you would not be able to proceed with your internship. It is more appropriate to say Naplex and Mpje before internship.

Hi mask 123, For the state of Texas, it was stated categorically that NAPLEX and MPJE results can not be obtained over the phone. Can you please tell us what your Naplex experience was ? I hope to sit for NAPLEX before the end of the month.

Hi Laura pharm,:grad: To answer your questions : Yes, I am done with Toefl ibt and NO, I did not meet Fpgec requirement at my first sitting. I just want you to realise that you are not the only one having problems with toefl. My first experience was quite understandable because I met the 26 speaking cut off but had 23 in the writing section. I said understandable because, prior to that time, I was very slow typing on the computer. This prompted me to buy a book to study for toefl ibt(initially I thought I did not need a book to pass toefl the Fpgec way). Then I started learning how to type on the computer desperately with particular emphasis on speed. When I became bold enough I offered to register again for toefl ibt but unfortunately there were no available seats in my area of residence. Well, I drove about two hours to the city that had available seats. On the test day I worked on my confidence and gave maximum concentration to each section of the exam. At the end of the test I was satisfied with my performance. Alas!! the result came out and I had 29 in reading,25 in listening, 23 in speaking, and 28 in writtng. You can imagine how discouraged I was . For the rest of that day I was glooming but on the next day I ordered for a rescore of my speaking section and I also registered to retake the toefl test. I prayed to God for a positive outcome of my rescore because I was so confident that I did well in that test. Well the day to retake the test came before I got my rescore result and had to drive about three hours to write a simple toefl test. Would you believe that my test was completely messed up due to some technical hitch faced by the center? I went back home totally devastated. Two weeks after this incident I got my rescore result with a 28 score in the speaking. That marked the end of my agony with toefl. Right now I have my Fpgec certificate(got it last year december), my intern certificate, I am registered to take the Naplex in less than a month and I don't need visa sponsorship BUT I still cannot find a chain to hire me as an intern without conditions and contracts. With all this going on, I have resolved to direct all my energy and intellect towards my Naplex because on the long run, passing this landmark test will ultimately give me a voice that will be heard. I am writing you all this so that you can realise that challenges are bound at every stage and we are here to surmont the challenges. I come from a country where Britsh kind of english is our lingua franca and I have spoken english from childwood. All my education was in english and the irony of the whole thing is that the Americans always compliment me when they here me speak saying "we love the way you speak english with your Britsh accent". Mind you I am an African. Be encouraged sis, and continue to give it your best shot. You shall overcome.

Hello Laura pharm, I can imagine what you are going through but my sincere advice is that you should keep giving toefl your best shot. I want to believe you have the best materials to practice with and I would also suggest that you practice the speaking section on your own by recording your responses so that you can work specifically on your weakness. For me my goal on test day was to be the first to start my test, be fast with my reading and listening so as to gain time for my speaking section because it really helps your concentration if you are the only one talking at the center. It is also very important to stop analysing how well you have done in the speaking section once you are done with it so that you can give maximum concentration to the writing section. Well, for we foreign pharmacist we have come to realise that toef ibt speaking section is not a measure of how well you can communicate in english but how well you perform on test day. Do not be discouraged by how many times you have taken the test but be spured on by what you want to achieve(Fpgec certification.) because really no chain would want to have anything to do with you if they think that you are not measuring up to expectation. They are not patient enough to understand what you are going through. Keep registering for the test you will definately be lucky to have a good pull of questions. Be confident when it comes to the speaking and speak out loud. Ordering for a rescore is another option you may want to explore. Laura pharm dont,t be discouraged because it is too early in the scheme of things to pave way for such feelings. There are so many challenges every step of the way. Even when you have your Fpgec certificate and visa to work , they still try to make things difficult for you coming up with all types of tricks and conditions. We all need to be strong and continue to exhibit strong peserverance and determination which will be a pointer to the stuff we are made of. I always at any little opportunity I get prove that we foreign pharmacist are strong and don,t give up easily. we always pursure every issue to the very successful end. I have faith in you and I believe you can do it again. Prove them wrong one more time. I hope to hear the good news soon because as soon as you are done with toefl your chain store would be willing to apply for your visa.

Hello Fafy, Welcome to the next level on the road to success:tup:. I actually stay in the fortworth area. Like I said before, my interview was based on the information I had on my resume though I made mention of some drugs during the course of the interview to explain some diffrences I have personally observed in the practice of pharmacy here in the US and in my country of origin. All things being equal you should be getting your certificate in another two weeks and you have three months from the date on your certificate to pass Naplex and mpje. Which is exactly what I am trying to do. This a good time to get a spot for your internship. Well you could start to apply to Walgreens through the international pharmacist recruiter and as soon as you get your Fpgec certificate, fill an on line application on their wed site. Alternatively you could walk into any of their stores and talk to the pharmacist manager about possible internship positions. One thing I know for sure is that they need interns outside the Dallas/fortworth metroplex.You will definitely get an intern position. Cvs and Walmart are options you may want to consider. I hope I have been able to address some of your concerns.:)

Hello Sony 07 and coolpharm, Thank you for your encouraging words. I live in the state of Texas and it is mandatory that you sit and pass naplex and mpje within three months of recieving your fpgec certificate. You could actually sit for your naplex before your internship hours. I do not need visa sponsorship because I am a US permanent resident. Well it took Nabp just about two weeks to mail me my Fpgec certificate.You could still apply to walgreens through the international pharmacy and fill an online application because that's the pool their district managers and supervisor draw from. I hope I have been able to provide answers to some of your concerns. With God nothing is impossible!! Pharmalady.

Hello Sony 07 and coolpharm, Thank you for your encouraging words. I live in the state of Texas and it is mandatory that you sit and pass naplex and mpje within three months of recieving your fpgec certificate. You could actually sit for your naplex before your internship hours. I do not need visa sponsorship because I am a US permanent resident. Well it took Nabp just about two weeks to mail me my Fpgec certificate.You could still apply to walgreens through the international pharmacy and fill an online application because that's the pool their district managers and supervisor draw from. I hope I have been able to provide answers to some of your concerns. With God nothing is impossible!! Pharmalady.

Well ,in my own opinion I think this is a good time to start getting in touch with the different chains. There is a greater chance of being hired now because all their undergraduates are back in school and it is going to take another three months for the universities to turn out new graduates.:)

Hello hygeian! Thank you so much for your reply. It was quiet helpful.The interview went perfectly well. Like you said the key to a successful interview in our field of practice is to have a solid background and to be confident of yourself. I personally discovered that you are assessed based on how confident you sound and not necessarily on the correctness of your responses. I will be sitting for my naplex in march, so I need all the time I have to study Because I believe it is going to be very challanging to start my internship in a busy chain like walgreens just about six weeks to my naplex.

Hi Hygeian, Congtulations on this giant step foward. In my own case I am already scheduled to have an interview with walgreens on thursday.The problem is that I dont know what to expect in terms of the manner of questions I will be asked.I would also like to know if one has to negociate pay with the interviewer or if it,s a flat rate. Do you know any thing about sign on bonuses? I would really appreciate it if you could shed some light on these concerns of mine. By the way, I heard that Wal mart is a good company to work for. What state are you resident in?

Hello Saritha I would personally solve these caculations in this manner. 1.)1lb =454g. So a 1lb 10%w/w zinc oxide ointment would contain 45.4g of zinc oxide powder. It is very important to note at this point that 454g of ointment would contain 45.4g of zinc oxide powder and 408.6 of ointment base. Therefore 16%w/w of zinc oxide ointment would contain16g of zinc powder mixed with 84g of ointment base.Therefore 16g/84g = p/408.6. cross multiplying gives 16g x 408.6g = 84g x p. This brings the value of p(zinc oxide powder)to 16g x408.6g/84g = 77.82g. But remember that we already have 45.4g in the ointment , therefore we just need to add 77.82g - 45.4g= 32.42g. to the original ointment 2.) 95%v/v ---70%v/v-----=60parts of 95%v/v of alcohol usp = 2.4parts 10%v/v----70%v/v------25parts of 10%v/v alcohol solution = 1 part 85parts total =3.4 Therefore the total volume of final solution can be determined as such 1part/3.4parts=240ml/x ;x= 240x3.4 = 816ml with the total volume of alcohol solution known the volume of 95%v/v alcohol usp added can be found as such2.4parts /3.4parts = xml/816 therefore x = 816x2.4/3.4 = 576ml of alcohol usp is required. I hope I have been able to give an insight into solving this calculations.You may want to check the calculation parts of comprehensive pharmacy review for clarity. [clap]

hello tomrai, Passing Naplex first attempt without any internship experience is a great achievement which needs to be commended[clap]:tup:. Well, I live in the state of Texas and hope to be licensed Texas. I find it so difficult to concentrate and study for my Naplex and mpje which I have to sit for between now and march 2008.I have purchased Manan shroff theory and calculations, CPR by shargel, the Texas state law book. I have also been opportuned to borrow kaplan 2007 Naplex and mpje review books from a friend. Would you please advise if these materials are adequate for a thorough review? Now that you have passed Naplex have you been able to get an internship spot? I wish you all the best in the practice of your profession.

Well, my congratulations are in order. It is actually a big step forward to have two strong chains offering you internship positions.Based on what I have heard from my friends who have been working in both chains for close to ten years I would advice that you go for Walgreens.I would be very glad if you can give me an idea of how to get into any of these two chains because I have been trying for close to two months to no avail. I wish you all the best in the pursuit of your career.By the way, have you sat for Naplex and mpje already?

Hello, I am writing to encourage you to demand for a rescoring if you are absolutely sure of your performance in the speaking section. I was a victim of the inconsistent scoring of the speaking section my self but because I was so confident of my performance I ordered for a rescore. You would not believe that 5 was added to the 23 I had prior to the rescoring. They were even nice enough to refund the $60 rescoring fee.While you do that, pray to almighty God for favor with whoever is going to rescore your test.