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Comment by ruph123 | Hacker News Reader

Oh yes that is correct. Sorry then I compared apples and oranges here. “Pharmacists” in Germany only hand out the medics and produce some. Doctors are the only ones who can prescribe.

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Same in US, except pharmacist in the US must go to school for at least 6 years.

And then they end up at some fluorescent-lid counter at a Walgreens filling pill boxes. Kind of sad when you think about it.

They are very well compensated for what they do. The work is less strenuous and mentally taxing than being a line cook.

They are usually the highest paid employees in a store, unless it's a Walmart where the general store manager can make just over six figures.

It's not a terrible gig, with only a 2-year program after your bachelor's.

But then doctors often end up looking at people's rashes all day and handing out hydrocortisone and tylenol.

There's a lot more advanced stuff pharmacists are qualified to do. Pills don't require much work, but liquids and powders may need to be mixed. Also they often can prescribe certain things like morning after pills for birth control.

Also pharmacists work in other places besides retail like hospitals.

I think this is outdated to a degree. Pharmacists like that would be needed in the pharma industry. The times when they mixed ingredients themselves on demand are probably gone.

I think it’s still pretty common; there are plenty of compounding pharmacies in my city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compounding

A niece of mine is a pharmacy technician at a Walmart in Indiana. She compounds drugs all day long. It's still extremely common.

She had to take a bunch of classes at the local branch of the state university system and then pass a certification.

That’s true in most countries, but pharmacists are trained to understand the side defects of medication better, able to detect mistakes made by doctors (dosage etc) and provide alternatives.

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