You Want to Own a Pharmacy ... or Do You

For many pharmacists, the holy grail is to own your own Pharmacy, either singly or in partnership. But forget for a minute the challenge of finding the right one and the process to successful ownership and think about whether this is the right direction for you to take!

Of course buying a good pharmacy can lead to incredible rewards, financially, professionally and emotionally. However if it is not to be, there are great alternatives already available and new innovations on the way offering different and challenging career alternatives. Visit www.jobs4careers.com.au to see the widest range of challenging careers in pharmacy offered in Australia.

As the market environment changes with new entrants running with different business models (multi-store groups, discounters, service specialists, hospital specialists, on-line specialists) ... and with the prospect of other competitors and other institutional challenges ... many of you may be wondering what the future holds for you as a pharmacist.

As we move from a healthcare model focussing on reactive treatment to preventative care to predictive care, opportunities will arise that need the contribution of pharmacists in a variety of roles. Moving into this territory as a pioneer or early adopter may be the direction to feed your ambition and your needs without requiring the traditional pharmacy owner model.

So What is Your Pathway?

• Do you need the challenge of pharmacy ownership?
• Do you yearn to be a retailer?
• Do you have the business competencies to deal with the range of activities involved? Are you prepared to invest the time to acquire these skills to match your professional competence?

Visit www.practice4sale.com.au to see pharmacies available for sale and partnerships.

Or are there other pathways for you to fulfil your needs?

• Should you concentrate on the professional, scientific, technical and personal-care challenges and not be diverted by the exciting and consuming activities that ownership entails at least in the early stages?

Let us hasten to add these are not mutually exclusive and many of you will still want to do it all. Any direction can be greatly rewarding as long as it is the right one for you.

Maybe you should seriously be imagining yourself as a career employee or a "sole practitioner" as well as a pharmacy owner. Join one of the organisations that offers a variety of career paths that may never involve ownership. Work as a dispensing specialist, develop a career as a consultant pharmacist (as an HMR specialist, in disease state management, specialise in patient counselling), become a permanent locum if that is not a contradiction in terms ... Research and academia - the list goes on.

Life is a journey. You can always change your mind but consider the practical and the emotional issues and aim to discover your vision and specify your goals to set your course.

For further information and advice on ownership and careers visit www.medici.com.au



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