Pharmacy assistant: duties, qualifications, salary

Reviewed by Elizabeth González Cueto

What do we need to know about the pharmacy assistant?

The pharmacy assistant is the one who assists the licensed pharmacist in preparing and dispensing medications for the patient. They also perform the over-the-counter selling of drugs, and approach you when entering a retail pharmacy. Pharmacy assistants can work in pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, care facilities, and in the pharmaceutical industry.

What are the duties and responsibilities of a pharmacy assistant?

Under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, they can dispense medicine. Check the prescriptions carefully and corroborate the dose is correct (and also make sure that it is a doctor’s prescription and not a fake one) Explain to patients how to take the medicines safely and most efficiently, solving their doubts and questions.

• Monitors the availability of stocks

• Reports out-of-stock

• Refills stocks, displays according to therapeutic use or can also be in alphabetical

• Monitor expiration dates

• Handle cash register

• Cleans stocks

• Practices the FIFO method in dispensing

• Pre-packing, labeling, and preparing medicines

• Monitor expiration dates

• Delivering medicines

What are the qualifications to become a pharmacy assistant?

• You must possess at least a GCSEs and a bachelor’s/college degree
• At least one year working experience preferably in selling, cashiering and customer service

How much is the salary of a pharmacy assistant?

Based on Wage order no. NCR-22, the minimum wage of a retail/service establishment will be 500.00 pesos a day. And usually, a pharmacy assistant works 8 hours a day for 26 days, and this can include shifts.