Pharmacist

Overview

Pharmacists ensure safe and quality use of medicines, and optimise health outcomes by contributing to selecting, prescribing, monitoring and evaluating medicine therapy, and researching, testing and developing pharmaceuticals and medical products.

Day-to-day

• receiving prescriptions, checking patients' medicine histories, and ensuring optimal dosage and methods of administration and drug compatibility before dispensing
• preparing or supervising the preparation and labelling of liquid medicines, ointments, powders, tablets and other medications to fill prescriptions
• advising prescribers on drug incompatibility and contra-indications
• reviewing and monitoring the medicine therapy of individual patients, and assessing the effectiveness of the total medicine therapy
• maintaining prescription files and recording issue of narcotics, poisons and habit-forming drugs
• storing and preserving vaccines, serums and other drugs subject to deterioration
• supplying non-prescription medicines, and diagnostic and therapeutic aids
• supervising and coordinating the work of Pharmacy Technicians, pharmacy interns and Pharmacy Sales Assistants
• conducting research to develop and improve pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and related chemical products
• conferring with Chemists, Engineering Professionals and other professionals about manufacturing techniques and ingredients
• testing and analysing drugs to determine their identity, purity and strength in relation to specified standards
• developing standards for drugs used in pharmaceuticals.

Considerations

• stressful.