What does a Pharmacy Assistant do?

A pharmacy assistant helps pharmacists with any duties that are needed in order to keep the pharmacy running smoothly. This could include anything from answering the phones to helping customers. They assist the pharmacists with the actual prescriptions, making sure all the information about the patient is correct, and records are up to date. Pharmacy assistants also help maintain the inventory for medications and other pharmaceutical products.

Pharmacy Assistant skills and qualifications

A successful pharmacy assistant will have the following skills and qualifications:

• Client services or customer service skills
• Oral and written communication skills
• Knowledge of medication and pharmaceutical products
• Attention to detail
• Ability to multitask

Pharmacy Assistant experience requirements

A successful candidate for a pharmacy assistant or pharmacy technician position should have experience working in a pharmacy or a fast-paced environment. Experience working in an office is an asset due to the need to answer phone calls. Pharmacy assistants should also know how to work with information that is sensitive or confidential. Being able to work with people from varying backgrounds is also a good quality to have as well as experience in taking detailed records.

Pharmacy assistant education and training requirements

Pharmacy assistants or pharmacy technicians will typically need formal training at the college level. There is a lot of technical knowledge that they need to have hence the need for formal training. Some on-the-job training will also be needed in order for the pharmacy assistant to know exactly how the pharmacy is run. The formal education requirement is successful completion of a two or three-year college program in pharmaceuticals.

Pharmacy assistant salary expectation

According to Indeed Salaries, the average salary for a pharmacy assistant is $18.83 per hour. Salaries for pharmacy assistants are dependent on experience, location and company.

Job description samples for similar positions

If pharmacy assistant is not quite what you are looking for, check out these similar positions that can be found here.

• Pharmacy technician
• Pharmacist

Pharmacy Assistant Job Description FAQs

What qualities make a good pharmacy assistant?

A pharmacy assistant should be very organized and have a lot of experience in customer service. Someone who has worked in retail can be a great pharmacy assistant as they would have the required customer service skills and knowledge of how to use a cash register. You also want to find someone who stays calm when the pharmacy is busy and can handle multiple tasks at once. Pharmacies can become very busy, and it is the pharmacy assistant’s job to make sure that customers are not waiting too long or getting restless.

What are the day-to-day duties of a pharmacy assistant?

A pharmacy assistant is expected to do a lot of different tasks during their day. They are responsible for keeping the pharmacy running smoothly. To do this, a pharmacy assistant will make sure that staff schedules are well organized. They also have to make sure their inventory is up to date so that medications or pharmaceutical supplies do not run out.

What should you look for in a pharmacy assistant resume?

When looking at a resume of a pharmacy assistant, you want to look for someone who has experience working in a pharmacy. Customer service is also a very important skill to have as a major part of the job requires the pharmacy assistant to interact with clients. A very successful pharmacy assistant will also have experience in clerical work so that they can help with duties such as scheduling staff and ordering supplies.

What makes a good pharmacy assistant job description?

A good pharmacy assistant job description will clearly explain everything you want in an assistant. Make sure that the job description describes some of the day-to-day duties that the successful candidate will have to perform. This way, you will know that candidates already know a bit about the job that you are advertising. Another important factor is to describe the type of work environment a worker should expect. If your pharmacy is relatively quiet, then it is important to put that on the job description. By doing this, people looking for pharmacy assistant positions will know if they are likely to fit in with the work environment, which is an important aspect of the job.