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all about pharmacist jobs.

A pharmacist safely prepares and dispenses medical treatments. They work in a hospital or clinic with doctors and nursing staff or in a pharmacy in a drugstore or superstore. They are responsible for checking that prescriptions are correctly prepared for each patient and for supervising pharmacy staff.

what do pharmacist jobs entail?

As a pharmacist, you are an expert on the prescription and use of medications. You dispense drugs to patients and advise them on how to take them safely. For non-prescription treatments, you can advise on appropriate doses and administration. You supervise prescriptions to ensure their quality, safety, and legal compliance.

what is a typical work schedule for pharmacists

Your work schedule varies depending on your employer, but a pharmacist's job in Canada is typically a 37.5-hour week. In hospitals and in large retail chains, you can expect to work shifts and weekends to cover opening hours or the patients' regimens. In smaller clinics and stores, you might work overtime.

In a laboratory or in academia, you often work 9-5, Monday to Friday. You do not normally travel during the working day, and travel for work abroad is unusual.

what are the pros of pharmacist jobs?

• Good prospects: According to Salary Explorer pharmacists typically earn a higher than average salary. In the health service, you have a structured career path, while in retail or industry, you are a responsible person with professional certifications. As a pharmacist, you can run your own business or develop your career in management, research, government regulation or academia.
• Suits scientifically-minded people: The entry-level requirement to work as a pharmacist is a bachelor's degree, and the pharmaceutical industry is one of the major employers for biologists and biochemists as well as pharmacists. In the healthcare and regulatory sectors, you can work on laboratory testing of new treatments and quality approval of medicines.
• Comfortable surroundings: As a pharmacist, you typically work in a hospital, clinic, drugstore or laboratory. Your conditions are well-lit and air-conditioned, and you are not expected to do extensive travelling or work outdoors.

what are the cons of pharmacist jobs?

• Demands strict attention to detail: As a pharmacist, you are responsible for making sure that the medicine and dosage are correct for every prescription that you prepare or approve. In many cases, an error in dosage or selecting the drug from stock can be extremely harmful to the patient.
• Long hours on your feet: When you work in a hospital or retail dispensary, you spend your time fetching small batches of medicines to prepare individual prescriptions. The to-and-fro of the job means that you typically spend most of your time standing.

what are common pharmacist interview questions?

• Tell us about yourself? This is an opportunity to sell yourself to the employer. You can briefly build your pitch with your academic successes and previous achievements and describe how you fit the job profile.
• Why are you interested in this job? This is an opportunity to be more specific about how your achievements, interests and ambitions fit you for the job.
• What is your greatest weakness? Nobody can do everything perfectly. With this question, employers are generally looking for self-awareness, self-improvement, and the steps you take to make sure that your weaknesses don't let down your performance.

pharmacist resume and cover letter requirements

Your pharmacist resume should include:

• Your name and contact details
• A brief summary of your skills and experience
• Your education and qualifications, including professional memberships and certifications
• Your employment history
• Your work-related skills and, if necessary, your experience with procedures and products that the employer uses.

In your cover letter you describe how you meet each element of the employer's job description and person specification. You should support each point with reference to your resume and descriptions of achievements.

what is the job outlook for pharmacists?

The job outlook for pharmacists varies from fair to good, depending on the province. Employment growth from the expansion of the sector is expected to increase; however, new school leavers are projected to outnumber the new positions. There is an increase in jobs from changes such as new pharmacies opening in superstores, and an ageing population is expected to require more medicines. The retirement age is expected to be lower than average; however, many pharmacists are finding management opportunities in the health service or opening their own businesses.

what are the different types of pharmacist jobs?

As a pharmacist, you can work in a number of areas in the healthcare sector:

• The majority of pharmacist jobs are in hospitals and the health service, preparing medicines for dispensing to patients. You work in the dispensary, with regular contact with nursing staff, doctors, and patients. You are responsible for maintaining stocks of medicines and for supervising pharmacy assistants. You are also responsible for ensuring that prescriptions follow regulations for dosage and administration and that drugs with conflicting effects are not being prescribed together.
• As a retail pharmacist or druggist, you work in the pharmacy department of a drugstore to prepare and dispense prescription medicines to the public. In all but the smallest stores, you supervise a team of pharmacy assistants who package the prescriptions, and you are the legally responsible person in the pharmacy. You also advise customers on non-prescription medicines and therapies and might be the store manager in some cases.
• As a pharmacy technician you advise patients on their treatments and how to manage their health. You prepare prescriptions and give them to patients, take responsibility for the supply of medicines in the pharmacy, and supervise pharmacy assistants.
• As a pharmacy assistant you work as part of a team, supervised by a registered pharmacist or a technician. You work with patients or customers and prepare prescriptions for the pharmacist's approval. You also deal with stock-keeping and receiving deliveries. If you are working in a hospital, you might accompany nursing staff on wards to administer medicines.
• A pharmacy manager manages the operations of a pharmacy, including budgets, staff, stocks, and any problems that arise. In a hospital, the pharmacy manager is a senior administrator. In retail, you might be a department manager, a store manager, or the manager of a region.
• In the pharmaceutical industry and in academia, pharmacists can be part of the research teams developing testing regimes for new drugs. You work in laboratories and clean rooms, working directly with chemicals and medicines, or in the field administering clinical trials.

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what is the average salary for a pharmacist?

According to Salary Explorer the average salary in Canada for pharmacists is $151,000. That varies widely depending on qualifications, experience, the region and the employer. An entry-level position with a bachelor's degree can pay $72,300, while you could earn $236,000 with a graduate degree and over ten years of experience. In addition, a pharmacist job in retail can also include overtime and shift work to cover working hours and be compensated with time and a half.

average pharmacist salaries in Canada

• annual: $151,000
• monthly: $12,500
• weekly: $3,125
• hourly: $83

Top paying areas for pharmacists in Canada include: Alberta and Quebec.

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what are the duties and responsibilities of pharmacists?

• Dispensing medications: As a pharmacist, you are responsible for dispensing medications and other treatments to patients. You check prescriptions for safety to ensure that no drugs conflict with one another and take responsibility for providing the correct medicine and dosage. You communicate with doctors about prescriptions and advise patients on how to take their treatments safely.
• Ensuring legal compliance: You review doses, labels, and procedures and maintain records to ensure that medicines are administered according to healthcare regulations. You also maintain your certification and awareness of your field to ensure compliance with changes in regulations.
• Securing inventories: You secure and maintain inventories of controlled drugs and dispense them in compliance with regulations. Many of the items in a pharmacy can be stolen and misused, and out-of-date drugs must be disposed of legally and safely.
• Supervision: You are responsible for pharmacy technicians and assistants who do the work of maintaining stocks and preparing prescriptions. You might manage their training, and training pharmacists and technicians requires you to be a registered pharmacist yourself. You also manage the pharmacy's inventory, staff and budget if there is no specific pharmacy manager.
• Communication: You support patients with wellness services and health screening, blood pressure monitoring, administering vaccines, and screening for diabetes and other problems. You discuss drug side effects and pain management, and you are often the first point of contact for patients before they go to the doctor. You could also teach other healthcare professionals about various treatments and their prescriptions.

where do pharmacists typically work?

Pharmacists typically work in dispensaries in the healthcare sector, whether in hospitals and clinics or drugstores and superstore pharmacies. As a pharmacist in a hospital, your main work is with clinicians, checking doctors' prescriptions and preparing medicines to be administered by nursing staff. In retail, you work with the public, dispensing medication to doctors' prescriptions, dispensing non-prescription drugs and treatments, and advising customers on healthcare in general. Pharmacists also work in research and industry, in drug development, testing and manufacture. Your skills and knowledge as a pharmacist are in demand in teaching and regulation and preparing and running clinical trials of new treatments.

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what skills and competencies do pharmacists need?

• Science: Pharmacy is a discipline of medicine, and you require a strong grounding in chemistry, biology, and math subjects such as statistics. You require a good awareness of laboratory protocols and great analytical skills and record-keeping, and you will learn experimental methods and quality testing.
• Attention to detail: As a pharmacist, you require an excellent memory for the details of drug dosages and interactions. In a busy pharmacy, you have to be accurate with every prescription you approve because a mistake can threaten the patient's health. You also have to be detail-oriented to manage the minutiae of thousands of drugs in the dispensary, their labelling, storage requirements and shelf life.
• Communication: As a pharmacist in retail, you are dealing with patients over the counter and often consulting with them on how to manage their health. In a hospital or clinic, you are also dealing with doctors and consulting them about their prescriptions and with nursing staff about how to administer treatments. In all these cases, you need good communication skills to put across information clearly. You also require good interpersonal skills to ensure that busy medical professionals take your advice in prescribing drugs.
• Knowledge of regulations: Drugs are very strictly regulated to maintain the safety of patients and prevent misuse. You have to have good record-keeping skills to ensure that stocks are maintained accurately and good knowledge of all of the details of drugs regulations. You also have to maintain your own knowledge and certifications because you are legally responsible for the drugs you keep and dispense.
• Management skills: As a pharmacist, you are a senior professional supervising staff, stock, budgets, and often facilities. You require skills with computer stock management systems and with managing assistants. If you are a pharmacist in a small dispensary, you may also need payroll and accounting skills and other skills to manage a business.

what training and certifications do pharmacists need?

The minimum academic qualification for a pharmacist is a bachelor's degree in pharmacy. You also need to follow a structured training programme and pass registration and jurisprudence exams set by the regulator of your province. You can find a link to your regulator at the site of the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA).

This is the qualification that you require if you are employed as a pharmacist or a druggist, dispensing medicines to patients. If you are coming back to work in a pharmacy, you may also be required to pass an exam to demonstrate that you are still competent.

• To practise as a pharmacy technician, you require a diploma from a college course that is certified by the regulator. This training includes legal and ethical responsibilities, patient care, health promotion and safety. You also have practical experience with lab work and work placements in pharmacies and hospitals.
• To work as a pharmacy assistant, you need a high school diploma with good grades in maths and sciences. This can be an entry to further training as a pharmacy technician, with sponsorship and college courses.
• Other jobs in the pharmaceutical industry require similar basic qualifications. You need at least a bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline to work in drugs manufacturing. To conduct research, you need a graduate degree and preferably a Ph.D. In order to teach pharmacists, you are required to be a certified pharmacist.

what skills and competencies do pharmacists need?

• Science: Pharmacy is a discipline of medicine, and you require a strong grounding in chemistry, biology, and math subjects such as statistics. You require a good awareness of laboratory protocols and great analytical skills and record-keeping, and you will learn experimental methods and quality testing.
• Attention to detail: As a pharmacist, you require an excellent memory for the details of drug dosages and interactions. In a busy pharmacy, you have to be accurate with every prescription you approve because a mistake can threaten the patient's health. You also have to be detail-oriented to manage the minutiae of thousands of drugs in the dispensary, their labelling, storage requirements and shelf life.
• Communication: As a pharmacist in retail, you are dealing with patients over the counter and often consulting with them on how to manage their health. In a hospital or clinic, you are also dealing with doctors and consulting them about their prescriptions and with nursing staff about how to administer treatments. In all these cases, you need good communication skills to put across information clearly. You also require good interpersonal skills to ensure that busy medical professionals take your advice in prescribing drugs.
• Knowledge of regulations: Drugs are very strictly regulated to maintain the safety of patients and prevent misuse. You have to have good record-keeping skills to ensure that stocks are maintained accurately and good knowledge of all of the details of drugs regulations. You also have to maintain your own knowledge and certifications because you are legally responsible for the drugs you keep and dispense.
• Management skills: As a pharmacist, you are a senior professional supervising staff, stock, budgets, and often facilities. You require skills with computer stock management systems and with managing assistants. If you are a pharmacist in a small dispensary, you may also need payroll and accounting skills and other skills to manage a business.

what training and certifications do pharmacists need?

• The minimum academic qualification for a pharmacist is a bachelor's degree in pharmacy. You also need to follow a structured training programme and pass registration and jurisprudence exams set by the regulator of your province. You can find a link to your regulator at the site of the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA).
• This is the qualification that you require if you are employed as a pharmacist or a druggist, dispensing medicines to patients. If you are coming back to work in a pharmacy, you may also be required to pass an exam to demonstrate that you are still competent.
• To practise as a pharmacy technician, you require a diploma from a college course that is certified by the regulator. This training includes legal and ethical responsibilities, patient care, health promotion and safety. You also have practical experience with lab work and work placements in pharmacies and hospitals.
• To work as a pharmacy assistant, you need a high school diploma with good grades in maths and sciences. This can be an entry to further training as a pharmacy technician, with sponsorship and college courses.
• Other jobs in the pharmaceutical industry require similar basic qualifications. You need at least a bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline to work in drugs manufacturing. To conduct research, you need a graduate degree and preferably a Ph.D. In order to teach pharmacists, you are required to be a certified pharmacist.

discover our most recent pharmacist jobs