Career profile Pharmacist

Table of Contents

• What does a Pharmacist do?
• What is a typical salary for a Pharmacist?
• What personality traits are common among Pharmacists?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Pharmacists need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Pharmacist do?

Pharmacists dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use.

In addition, Pharmacists may advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.

What kind of tasks does a Pharmacist perform regularly?

Pharmacists are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
• Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
• Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, or registries of poisons, narcotics, or controlled drugs.
• Plan, implement, or maintain procedures for mixing, packaging, or labeling pharmaceuticals, according to policy and legal requirements, to ensure quality, security, and proper disposal.
• Assess the identity, strength, or purity of medications.
• Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
• Order and purchase pharmaceutical supplies, medical supplies, or drugs, maintaining stock and storing and handling it properly.
• Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
• Advise customers on the selection of medication brands, medical equipment, or healthcare supplies.
• Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
• Manage pharmacy operations, hiring or supervising staff, performing administrative duties, or buying or selling non-pharmaceutical merchandise.
• Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
• Offer health promotion or prevention activities, such as training people to use blood pressure devices or diabetes monitors.
• Contact insurance companies to resolve billing issues.
• Teach pharmacy students serving as interns in preparation for their graduation or licensure.
• Refer patients to other health professionals or agencies when appropriate.

The above responsibilities are specific to Pharmacists. More generally, Pharmacists are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is a Pharmacist salary?

What personality traits are common among Pharmacists?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Pharmacist are usually higher in their Investigative, Conventional, and Social interests.

Pharmacists typically have very strong Investigative interests. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Also, Pharmacists typically have strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Lastly, Pharmacists typically have moderate Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Pharmacist tend to value Recognition, Support, and Relationships.

Most importantly, Pharmacists strongly value Recognition. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer advancement, potential for leadership, and are often considered prestigious.

Second, Pharmacists strongly value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Pharmacists strongly value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Pharmacists must consistently demonstrate qualities such as attention to detail, dependability, and integrity.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Pharmacists, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Pharmacists need?

Many Pharmacists have earned a graduate degree. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a doctoral degree, such as a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D..

Pharmacists may need some on-the-job training, but most candidates will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Educational degrees among Pharmacists

• 1.6% completed some college coursework
• 0.9% earned a Associate's degree
• 27.4% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 5.9% earned a Master's degree
• 64.1% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Pharmacists

Important Abilities needed by Pharmacists

Pharmacists must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Pharmacists need abilities such as oral comprehension, written comprehension, and oral expression in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Pharmacists, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Pharmacists

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Pharmacists frequently use skills like reading comprehension, active listening, and writing to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Pharmacists, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.