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Your free guide to a career in pharmacy

The best things about a career in pharmacy

We asked two community pharmacists what they love about their job. For Dr Kenny Lee, it was the variety of being a pharmacist, academic and volunteer. For Toni Riley, it was being involved in the RUM (Return Unwanted Medicines) Initiative which has been the catalyst for the environmentally friendly disposal of over 8,000,000kg of medicines.

Pharmacists can literally save a life. This is by ensuring that the combination of medications a patient is taking will not cause death or serious harm. Statistics promoted by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia include that there is a 70% reduction in medication errors when there is a pharmacist in a hospital emergency department. It has been suggested that pharmacist-led education is important in reducing medication errors.

Innovation

The profession of pharmacy is currently undergoing a transformation at a global level. The pharmacists of the future will be using their knowledge of medications in new ways. Some people may be excited by this while others find this daunting!

More and more programs are being introduced to recognize the important role of pharmacists in healthcare. One of these is the General Practice Pharmacist Fundamentals education program that aims to enhance the integration of pharmacists and community pharmacists within the primary healthcare setting. The Pharmacy Board of Australia and the Australian Pharmacy Council also recently made a joint announcement regarding a revised competency standards. 

2014 Australian Young Pharmacist of the Year Taren Gill sees many opportunities for the profession of pharmacy to move forwards in the future.

Recognition

It is possible to be recognized for a significant contribution to the profession and society. Three pharmacists received Queen’s Birthday Honours in July 2017. They were Graham Slade MPS, Kosmas Sclavos, and Harry Jones MPS. 

Things you really need to consider before deciding on a career in pharmacy

My Health Career recommends that you speak to a number of people in pharmacy so that you understand that the future of pharmacy will most likely be very different to the past.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia runs an annual National Student Business Plan Competition for students completing a pharmacy course at university. The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia also runs a leadership program for early career Pharmacy careerpharmacists who will drive strategy, change and innovation in the industry. These programs are evidence of a profession that is re-creating itself. Australian industry leader Cathie Reid has also asked the question “Is pharmacy facing its Kodak moment?

Turbulence

Pharmacy is a profession which has had a turbulent time in Australia in the last few years. Reasons for this include:

Stress

In a survey supported by Master Research Australia and the Pharmacists Support Service (PSS) to research the stress and wellbeing of pharmacists in Australia, researchers found that pharmacists have a higher level of stress compared to the general population. To aid in helping pharmacists all over Australia, the Pharmacists’ Support Service vows to continue working with a variety of organisations in the health industry. 

 

What do pharmacists do and where do they work?

Knowledge

In this video Professor Lisa Nissen covers the knowledge that pharmacists have:

 

Pharmacists may also give advice to elite athletes about which medications are on the banned substance list.

In the future community pharmacists could play a more pivotal role in reducing the abuse and misuse of prescription medications, via real time reporting of addictive medicines being dispensed. Jack Hammond points out that pharmacists are like the “police” of the prescription industry:

Communication

Victorian Guild President, Anthony Tassone has shared general principles of motivational Interviewing as well as the essential skills and styles of effective communication for pharmacists.

Vaccinations

After a process that has taken a number of years and included a trial in Queensland in 2014, in 2015 there was a national rollout of a course training pharmacists to administer vaccines. Some rural community pharmacies have been very successful in filling in the gaps in health care in their communities.

Cathie Reid pharmacy google glass explorer
Cathie Reid

Some pharmacists have become successful businesspeople. For example, in 2014, Canberra pharmacist Samantha Kourtis won two major awards, 2014 Pharmacy of the Year and Telstra ACT Business Woman of the Year. Another winner, named in the National Telstra Business Women’s Awards in 2011 is Cathie Reid, who advocate for wearable technology in healthcare, and sees applications for technologies such Google Glass in pharmacy.

As with many areas where it has been proposed that health practitioners other than doctors prescribe medications, this has been an area of controversy in pharmacy.  Another area where there has been some controversy is in the use of dispensing robots. Click here for the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia’s statement on the use of these robots.

Community pharmacy

Most people are aware of the area of community pharmacy. These are the “shopfront” pharmacies such as Amcal, Priceline, Chemmart, Guardian, Terry White, or Chemist Warehouse. Community pharmacists spend a lot of time:

  • doing prescription medicine counselling
  • assembling and labelling products
  • monitoring prescriptions, and
  • giving non-prescription medicines advice

There are a range of different career paths outside of community pharmacy. These include hospital, industrial, primary care, and academia.

Hospital pharmacy

Here the pharmacist’s role includes reducing medication errors and ensuring that medications are being used appropriately. Click here for the article “a hospital pharmacist hits the wards” by Matt, a Victorian pharmacist. Click here for the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia’s position statement on the role of the hospital pharmacist in an interdisciplinary team.

Industrial pharmacy

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says that if you are interested in working on a medicine and not face to face with patients, this might be the right industry sector for you.

Primary care pharmacy (practice pharmacy)

Chris Freeman - primary care pharmacist
Chris Freeman – primary care pharmacist

This often involves working out of a general practice but spending some time on the road doing Home Medicines Reviews which can be repeated for the same patient every 2 years. Practice pharmacists may never dispense a single medication. Click here for an account of the role of a primary care pharmacist. It has been said that the expansion of this model of pharmacy practice depends on the remuneration. Research suggests that patients may be becoming more open to having a pharmacist as part of their care team in a general practice setting.

Academia / research

In this article, Dr Kenny Lee gives his view on what he learned during the first 2.5 years of his PhD.

Non-traditional areas

Examples of pharmacists working in non-traditional roles are listed in the second half of this article.

Are pharmacy graduates getting jobs?

Refer to the pharmacy section on our employment page for detailed information.

ATAR for pharmacy and accredited courses

ATARs / Selection RanksClick here for the ATAR for every pharmacy course in Australia in 2022.

Accreditation – A career in pharmacy starts with completing an accredited course. On the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Approved Programs of Study page – select “Pharmacist” in the Profession box, and “General” in the Qualification Type box to search for courses.

How long does it take to become a pharmacist?

It takes a minimum of 5 years (including the mandatory 48 week intern year) to become a qualified pharmacist.

Please go to our pharmacy infographic page for more information on the pathways to becoming a pharmacist.

Become a pharmacist

How much money do pharmacists earn?

Go to our earnings page for detailed information.

University scholarships

Click here for our scholarships listing.

Videos about a career in pharmacy

Click here to go to our videos about a career in pharmacy from real pharmacists.

Latest News

Click here for the latest news about a career in pharmacy.

Career information from professional associations

  1. Pharmaceutical Society of Australia – pharmacy as a career
  2. The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia – hospital pharmacy – early career pharmacists

 

 

Kodak image: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Photo of Cathie Reid courtesy of Cathie Reid, and photo of Chris Freeman courtesy of Chris Freeman.

 

This page was last updated in January 2023.