What Are the Job Duties of a Pharmacist?
Do you excel at the sciences, enjoy helping people and have excellent attention to detail? If so, you might be interested in a career as a pharmacist. Read on to learn more about common job duties of a pharmacist and the educational requirements you'll need to meet for licensing. Schools offering Psychopharmacology degrees can also be found in these popular choices.
Overview of a Pharmacist's Job Duties
A pharmacist is a specialist who collaborates with physicians and other health care workers to provide medication to patients. As a pharmacist, you must be knowledgeable about medications, their common uses, possible side effects and interactions. Your day-to-day tasks may include supervising a pharmacy department, providing counseling and health advice to patients or performing research. You might specialize in dispensing one particular kind of medication, such as drugs for cancer treatments. Employers include hospital pharmacies, retail drug stores, nursing home dispensing clinics or clinical research labs.
Dispensing and Monitoring Medication
Your primary duty as a pharmacist is to dispense medications that are prescribed by a physician. You'll also be responsible for informing doctors about a patient's medication history, monitoring treatment programs, administering drug therapies and providing instructions on the correct usage of prescription medicine. While dispensing and monitoring a patient's medication, you must be aware of and protect patient privacy.
Counseling Patients
Another important aspect of your job may include counseling patients about health concerns, such as diet, exercise, stress management and home health care supplies. You may assist patients with questions, such as possible side effects and proper dosages for over-the-counter and prescription medications. You may also provide information on topics, such as how to quit smoking, or give advice for managing chronic conditions, like diabetes and asthma.
Research and Other Pharmacy Specializations
Some pharmacists work as pharmaceutical researchers, performing research experiments to develop and test pharmaceuticals. If you enjoy the idea of teaching the subject and working in academia, you might consider pursuing a career as a professor at a school of pharmacy. Several programs offer options to specialize in certain pharmaceutical areas, including the following:
- Nuclear pharmacy
- Geriatric pharmacy
- Oncology
- Intravenous nutrition support
- Psychiatric pharmacy
Academic and Licensing Requirements
In order to work as a licensed pharmacist, you must earn a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from a school program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Some of the courses you may take include physics, chemistry, natural sciences, biology and calculus. You could also learn how to interact with patients and spend up to a year working under the supervision of licensed pharmacists.
Once you complete your degree, you must pass several tests to obtain a license to practice. The first step toward licensing in all 50 states is to pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam (NAPLEX). This 185-question exam ensures you have a thorough understanding of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy skills (www.napb.net). Many states also require that you take the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam, which tests your understanding of laws and regulations concerning medication distribution. Each state may have additional exams and requirements set by the state board of pharmacy.
To continue researching, browse degree options below for course curriculum, prerequisites and financial aid information. Or, learn more about the subject by reading the related articles below:
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