Salary information of a Pharmacist:

Let us now look at the basic salary details of the Pharmacist.

Ø  Salary details:

• Salary – - $51,652 – $120,859
• Bonus  – - $394.53 – $10,380
• Profit Sharing – - $207.50 – $20,952
• Total Pay – - $56,008 – $126,241

• Popular Industries and Salary Range

Following is the information related to various industries. The range of salaries offered by different industries is furnished below.

• Pharmacy – - $66,790 – $123,196
• Hospital – - $63,550 – $124,020
• Healthcare – - $64,763 – $124,031
• Pharmaceuticals – - $60,311 – $121,981
• Retail  – - $61,893 – $123,175

• Popular Employers and Salary Range

The salary also depends on the employer.

A highly reputed company will obviously offer better salary packages.

Have a look at the salaries offered by different employers below.

• CVS / Pharmacy – - $51,953 – $122,114
• Walgreen Co. – - $65,436 – $132,108
• Walgreen’s Pharmacy – - $55,000 – $108,482
• Rite Aid Pharmacy     – - $50,000 – $124,818
• Wal-Mart Pharmacy – - $67,500 – $120,716
• CVS Caremark Corporation – - $84,507 – $128,006
• Target Corporation – -$67,500 – $100,000
• Kaiser Permanente    – - $80,000 – $122,500

• Years of Experience and Salary Hike

It is a known fact that work experience is a fetching factor when it comes to salary.

Listed below are the salary ranges for people with different amounts of experience.

• Less than 1 year – - 18%
• 1-4 years – - 43%
• 5-9 years – - 13%
• 10-19 years   – - 15%
• 20 years or more – - 11%

• Most Common Health Benefits

Apart from the regular salary, a Pharmacist is entitled to the following health benefits.

• Medical: 83%
• Dental: 66%
• Vision: 48%
• None: 15%

• City and Salary range

The place or city at which a Pharmacist is located also most of the times determine the amount of salary earned.

Below information throws some light in that regard city wise.

• Chicago, Illinois – - $70,265 – $115,731
• New York, New York – - $39,149 – $130,815
• Houston, Texas – -    $45,913 – $120,805
• Atlanta, Georgia – - $43,455 – $119,195
• Miami, Florida – - $48,000 – $122,449
• Dallas, Texas – - $35,799 – $121,198
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – - $89,115 – $117,446

• State or Province and Salary Range

Now let us have a look at the salaries offered in different states or provinces as a whole.

• Texas  – - $49,018 – $123,685
• California – - $58,598 – $125,840
• New York – - $58,175 – $122,245
• Florida – - $48,479 – $117,050
• Illinois – - $59,461 – $117,881
• Pennsylvania – - $76,899 – $116,839
• North Carolina – - $67,290 – $120,387

• Benefits/Perks

Perks and other benefits are always a part of what an employee gets. Following is the information related to additional perks and benefits a Pharmacist gets.

• 401(k) – - $59,638 – $125,724
• Paid Holidays / Vacation       $62,573 – $124,921
• Life Insurance/Disability       $60,859 – $125,390
• Paid Sick Leave        $60,426 – $129,425
• Malpractice / Liability Insurance      $61,577 – $129,515
• Casual Dress/Atmosphere    $48,097 – $136,200
• Stock Options $64,962 – $133,582

• Company Size and Salary range

For most professionals, how big the company is matters the most. A bigger company will have much to give to its employee.

So, now let us look at the salaries offered by companies of different sizes in terms of man power.

• 1-9 – - $46,250 – $119,800
• 10-49  – - $49,316 – $118,783
• 50-199 – - $74,658 – $128,802
• 200-599 – - $51,521 – $128,420
• 600-1999 – - $50,000 – $110,000
• 2000-4999 – - $60,402 – $173,826
• 5000-19999    – - $89,632 – $141,359
• 20000-49999 – - $102,901 – $120,992
• 50000+ – - $67,500 – $135,000

Pharmacist job overview:

To become a pharmacist one can choose to be a laboratory technician initially. For now, we will discuss the opportunities for pharmacists. The various areas a pharmacist can work are pharmacy, hospitals, industries, engineering and public health inspector. Here are some explanations for each job.

The pharmacist or pharmacy, oversees the preparation of medicines and its distribution. He is an advisor to his clients, in that he must explain how one should take his medicine, mentioning the side effects and do the research to incompatibility with other drugs. He will be entirely responsible if he gives medicines out of the doctor’s prescription. The hospital pharmacist, which of course works in the hospital should provide, replenish drugs and also inform physicians about them. He has a key role with the team that intervenes at the level of health. The pharmacist-biologists work in laboratories or in private or public establishments. The pharmacist engineer may be employed in the sectors of the chemical industry, the environment or food. The pharmacist inspector may work in the Ministry of Health.

The pharmacist plays a prominent role in the pharmaceutical industry. He is responsible for reading the prescribed medicine order made by the customer and providing prescription drugs. He may also advice the best drugs to his clients. But he must also manage the inventory and accounting. In a private laboratory, the pharmacist may be the chief biologist, but also analyzes the drugs and generates reports.

In the pharmaceutical industry, the pharmacist may also exercise to make drugs. In this case, he follows the drug throughout the development cycle from the stage of research, manufacturing, quality control or authorization dossier in the market in particular.

Certifications and Licensure for a pharmacist job

●      It is strongly recommended to do a scientific degree, as the option is open to all.

●      Indeed, once your degree is acquired, you can work in a medical school.

●      You will have a common year with students in medicine and dentistry in particular.

●      Then you’ll have to pursue at least 5 years of study or more.

●      In fact, you can choose to work in pharmacies, and including an option which opens the doors of professions such as biologists.

●      Coming out of your training, there are many opportunities to work as a pharmacist.

●      Most positions will be as assistants, pharmacists in dispensing pharmacies, etc.

●      Thereafter, you can become involved in the industry.

●      You can also work in a medical laboratory and then buy it back for example.

●      The salary varies depending on your position, but we can estimate a beginning as an assistant pharmacist earn about $2,874/ month.

Other Demands of a Pharmacist:

●      Ensure that customers receive the best service possible.

●      Coordinate internal activities to meet customer needs globally.

●      Be responsible for external communication and proper management of the resolution of incidents.

●      Coordinate the launch of new products.

●      Experience as part of the value chain on the pharmaceutical production.

●      Availability to travel.

●      Marked customer service orientation.

●      Skills and relational negotiation.

●      Diplomacy and patience.

●      Ability to analyze and teamwork.

●      Multitasking.

●      Fluency in English.

Educational Qualification and Training

●      Pharmacist training is done in universities.

●      Anyone with a bachelor’s degree is eligible.

●      However, most of the applicants hold a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy science generally.

●      The first cycle lasts two years.

●      It is primarily chemistry: organic chemistry, analytical and atomistic.

●      Biology is also present: molecular, cellular, animal, plant.

●      Biophysics, mathematics, anatomy and botany, are also a part of the curriculum.

●      In the second part, i.e. the second year of this cycle, it is the work practices that have much importance.

●      The second cycle also lasts two years.

●      Courses that focus on pharmaceutical, biological and chemical materials are given.

●      The courses will also include clinical pharmacy, toxicology, bacteriology, biochemistry, etc.

●      This cycle includes many practical exercises.

●      The third level is again 2 years.

●      Now is the time of placement at the university hospital.

●      This course is part time.

●      The last year ends with an internship in pharmacy or in the university or a pharmaceutical institute.

●      This course is for a period of 6 months.

●      It is possible to extend the studies for another three years.

●      In this case, a candidate will be trained to become a biologist or chemist, or director of biological laboratories.

●      Online you can find more information and the name of universities and departments that serve your area.

Basic Duties of a Pharmacist

The activities of hospital pharmacists are mainly categorised as biology (medical tests), hospital pharmacy and hygiene.

Some hospital practitioners and academicians share their activities between the hospital, teaching and research.

The functions of the hospital pharmacist are numerous and vary according to services as follows:

●      Acquisition, storage, dispensing drugs

●      Purchasing, supply, conservation medicine, hospital management markets

●      Monitoring of clinical trials, in contact with doctors and manufacturers

●      Sterilization and dispensing of sterile medical devices

●      Pharmaceutical Technology (compounding, hospital, parenteral nutrition mixtures)

●      Hygiene (environmental control)

●      Medical and therapeutic information on the proper use of medicines to the medical and paramedical personnel

●      Implementation and monitoring

●      Control preparations, medical gas, water, Hemodialysis

●      Training of students in Grade 5 teaching hospitals and interns and preparers

●      Inventory management, monitoring of drug consumption in the various services

●      Possibility of joint academic activities, as part of the curriculum of teacher-researcher.

●      Dispensing of drugs and sterile medical devices for different services

●      Participation in sterilization operations

●      Preparations in controlled areas

●      Monitoring medical gas installations

●      Participation in management (supply, control, purchasing, inventory) hospital pharmacies

●      Hygiene of the establishment

●      Lending products to the public

●      The pharmacy technician at a business function primarily to customers (sales, issuance of orders, advice)

●      For administrative and accounting: he deals with issues like “direct payment”, their follow up with Social Security and various mutual sending of “customer records” to health insurance.

●      The work is mostly on computer and uploads.

Additional Responsibilities:

●      The pharmacy technician is also responsible for inventory management: he ensures the daily replenishment of drugs, delivery and storage of orders (twice a day: morning and afternoon). This task is simplified by directly connecting to various pharmacy providers by the use of telematics.

●      He can also make some preparations like ointments, creams, etc. but this is rare.

●      The pharmacy technician is subject to professional secrecy and must meet strict hygiene standards

●      Maintain records of delivery to the study site, the inventory at the site, the use of each subject and report to the sponsor

●      Ensure that the product is stored in favourable conditions as specified by the developer

●      Ensure that the  product in research is used only in accordance with the approved protocol

●      Explain the proper use of the product(s) to researchers of each subject (or medical personnel, as appropriate) and must verify, at appropriate intervals for the study, each subject and follow the instructions properly

●      Must also have an updated manual of standard operating procedures on the functioning of the area and the processes involved in IP management (receipt, storage, supply and return) and a protocol to collect information to be provided to nurses and the patient (or both) for the correct preparation and administration of the product.

●      It is important that the pharmacist is able to coordinate with the authorities to ensure he has at least a deputy trained in the use of the product research and development, with support from the service and a system operating in emergency situations for any impacts on the area of product development activity and quality indicators.