 Pharmacists interpret and review prescription orders, screen and review medication records, dispense medications, educate patients on proper use of drugs, and refer patients to other sources of help and care. Pharmacists must know the physical and chemical properties of drugs, the way they behave in the body, and how they might interact with other drugs. Josephine Sasu-Tenkoramaa is a 2006 aluma and is a pharmacy student at Rutgers University. She offers the following descriptions of pharmacy career opportunities:
1. Community Pharmacist: The most common and what people think of when they imagine the profession of pharmacy. Your main responsibilities are to dispense medication, provide counseling sessions and known the nature of how the pharmacy acquires its inventories.
2. Consultant Pharmacist: These pharmacists work in assisted living homes and they look at patients' medication. These patients often take multiple medications, so pharmacists must ensure that there are not any drug-to-drug interactions.
3. Managed Care Pharmacist: These pharmacists work for Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) companies or Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) such as insurance companies to determine the most effective way to administer drug therapies at a lower cost to help both the patients and the third party payers. If you're interested in business, this is a good place to be.
4. Hospital Pharmacist: These pharmacists work in hospitals and sometimes serve as clinicians.
5. Industrial Pharmacist: These pharmacists work in clinical trials, regulatory affairs, or post-market surveillance when the drugs are on the market. They monitor the development and safety of drugs for the mass population.
Practically any pharmacist position will require the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. This training typically takes four years to complete.
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