Pharmacist
Pharmacists give advice on the use and supply of medicines and medical appliances.
Day-to-day tasks
As a pharmacist you could:
- dispense medicines in a pharmacy, hospital or GP practice
- give advice about prescriptions, drug dosages, risks and how to use and store medication
- run screening programmes and buy, test and distribute medicines in a hospital
- manage stock and supervise and train staff like junior pharmacists
- do research into new medicines or run clinical trials
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- sensitivity and understanding
- customer service skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- maths knowledge
- excellent verbal communication skills
- the ability to read English
Industry Qualifications
To become a pharmacist, you'll need to complete a master's of pharmacy (MPharm) degree, approved by the General Pharmaceutical Council which takes 4 years.
You'll then need to complete the pharmacist foundation training scheme which takes 1 year.
If you do not have the qualifications to get onto a master's of pharmacy degree, you could do a pharmacy foundation degree which takes 2 years.
You could then take a job as a pharmacy assistant or pharmacy technician and apply to join the master's degree in its second year.