Retail Pharmacist

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.

• Work in hospitals or clinics or for Health Management Organizations (HMOs), dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultant, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas, such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.

• Prepare sterile solutions or infusions for use in surgical procedures, emergency rooms, or patients' homes.

• Update or troubleshoot pharmacy information databases.

• Publish educational information for other pharmacists, doctors, or patients.

Skills

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

• Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.

• Science - Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.

• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.

• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.

• Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

Knowledge

• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

• Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.