Complete your high school education or earn a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) The majority of states demand a high school diploma or GED for employment as a pharmacy assistant. On-the-job training under the direction of a licensed pharmacist is how pharmacy assistants acquire the information and experience necessary to do their jobs effectively.
Is working in a pharmacy a good job?
There is a wide range of employment and professional advancement opportunities available The pharmaceutical industry provides a wide range of employment and professional advancement opportunities, which makes it an ideal field for anyone who is looking for long-term professional possibilities as well as exciting new challenges.
You can advance your career from being a pharmacy assistant to being a supervisor or a team leader if you have the necessary extra certifications. A significant number of pharmacy assistants are interested in advancing their careers by taking courses leading to positions as pharmacy technicians and, if they so want, pharmacists.
Starting out as a pharmacy assistant gives you the opportunity to work your way up to the position of technician and then broaden your professional horizons from there. Technicians can be found working in a wide variety of settings, such as hospitals, pharmaceutical corporations, and businesses that provide subscriptions over the mail.
What does a pharmacy apprentice do?
how to get any job, how to get a job in hospital pharmacy with no experience for pharmacy technician
Apprenticeships in the field of pharmacy support: Pharmacy support employees assist pharmacists in the preparation and distribution of medications. You may be given a title such as pharmacy assistant, dispensing assistant, or medications counter assistant when you start working at the drugstore.
Among the possible tasks are:
Taking in prescriptions and distributing the necessary medication. managing goods and shipments while also accepting delivery. Providing sales of drugs available without a prescription.
Providing guidance on common illnesses and conditions. Providing assistance to customers both in person and over the phone when they have questions. preparing and labeling pharmaceutical products.
Pharmacy support personnel operate in a variety of settings, including general practitioner (GP) surgeries and hospital pharmacies, as well as pharmacies on the high street or in supermarkets.
What is the role of a pharmacy counter assistant?
A counter assistant is responsible for the selling of over-the-counter medications and works directly under the supervision of a pharmacist. This position requires a high level of experience and expertise. They are educated to provide guidance on common conditions and are required to be aware of when it is appropriate to direct a consumer to a pharmacist.
- Training is clearly very essential, but before you get to the point where you need to train a new member of staff, you need to make sure that you have recruited someone who has the appropriate amount of experience and abilities to be a good match for a job that focuses so heavily on the customer;
Abington Pharmacy in Northampton is owned and operated by Louise Austin, who also holds the position of superintendent pharmacist. She has one full-time and three part-time counter assistants on staff, in addition to another full-time pharmacist, three national vocational qualification (NVQ)3 pharmacy technicians, seven part-time NVQ2 dispensing assistants, two part-time administrative staff members, and typically a number of preregistration trainees.
She also has a national vocational qualification (NVQ)2 dispensing assistant. She explains, “I normally ask for someone who has experience working in a pharmacy, but I get tons of people who do not have that background but still apply.” “I ask potential candidates to email me their curriculum vitae in addition to their application so that I can do a paper sift.
After that, one of my coworkers will have an initial phone call with the ones that have been shortlisted to get a sense of whether or not they are personable because this is an extremely important factor.” However, Austin’s lack of previous expertise in the pharmaceutical industry is not always a deal-breaker: “In the event that they did not have it, the very least I would seek for is past experience working in retail.
- We do get quite a few applications from people who have worked in care, but I do not usually move further with them because, although their capacity for empathy is undoubtedly strong, we are looking for people who are able to behave themselves appropriately in a retail setting.” Graham Phillips, the director and superintendent pharmacist of the Manor Pharmacy Group, which consists of seven independent pharmacies spread around Hertfordshire in addition to two in Kent, is looking for potential counter staff members who have experience working directly with customers;
“Some experience of dealing with the public is crucial, and I want to see that they have common sense, strong communication skills, and adaptability,” he adds. “I like to see that they have worked with the public in the past.” “In a community pharmacy, you never know what is going to happen from one minute to the next, so I will question how they deal with the stress of not knowing what is going to happen next.
- Because patients are frequently unhappy or old and confused, it is essential that they feel supported and respected, and there must also be a knowledge of patient confidentiality;
- Another reason why empathy is so crucial is because patients are sometimes angry or elderly and confused.” The strategy taken by the greater multiples is the same;
Tracy Barton, who is the director of human resources at Well (which was formerly known as The Co-operative Pharmacy), says: “When hiring healthcare assistants, the most important qualities we look for are strong organizational skills, a passion for providing excellent medical advice to members of the community, and excellent customer service skills, ideally acquired in an environment such as a pharmacy, retail store, or care facility.