Pharmacists

Compound and dispense medications following prescriptions issued by physicians, dentists, or other authorized medical practitioners.

Job Task

• Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
• Publish educational information for other pharmacists, doctors, and/or patients.
• Refer patients to other health professionals and agencies when appropriate.
• Research and develop drug products and drug therapies, such as radiopharmaceuticals or therapies for psychiatric disorders.
• Teach pharmacy students serving as interns in preparation for their graduation or licensure.
• Work for pharmaceutical firms in production, marketing, quality control, or sales.
• Work in hospitals, clinics, or for HMOs, dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultants, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.
• Assay radiopharmaceuticals, verify rates of disintegration, and calculate the volume required to produce the desired results, to ensure proper dosages.
• Order and purchase pharmaceutical supplies, medical supplies, and drugs, maintaining stock and storing and handling it properly.
• Offer health promotion and prevention activities, for example, training people to use devices such as blood pressure or diabetes monitors.
• Plan, implement, and maintain procedures for mixing, packaging, and labeling pharmaceuticals, according to policy and legal requirements, to ensure quality, security, and proper disposal.
• Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage and proper medication storage.
• Assess the identity, strength and purity of medications.
• Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
• Prepare sterile solutions and infusions for use in surgical procedures, emergency rooms, or patients' homes.
• Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
• Advise customers on the selection of medication brands, medical equipment and health-care supplies.
• Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
• Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of drugs and drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications and characteristics.
• Compound radioactive substances and reagents to prepare radiopharmaceuticals, following radiopharmacy laboratory procedures.
• Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, and registries of poisons, narcotics, and controlled drugs.
• Manage pharmacy operations, hiring and supervising staff, performing administrative duties, and buying and selling non-pharmaceutical merchandise.

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