Some jobs have more prospects in this current period than other professions. While some jobs such as being a financial analyst may pay more, the security of the job isn't exactly assured with the current trend of events and occurrences. The health care sector seems to be gathering more momentum as the demands for different careers increase. One of such careers is the pharmacist career.
Most people seem to have different ideas of what the job description of a pharmacist is. For some, he is just a dispenser, for others, he's nothing more than a tablet counter and yet for some other group of people, the pharmacist is the guy you meet at the counter in the drug section of a store who prescribes drugs or fills prescriptions among many other things. In the light of this confusion, it is better to clearly outline what the pharmacist does, and his role in the health care sector. In the simplest of terms, a pharmacist studies drugs or pills -tons of them, its effects on the body, drug dispensing, treatments and prescriptions. The knowledge gathered from all of these activities puts him in a better position where he can take care of and fill the prescriptions of patients.
The tendency however is to take the pharmacist for granted and see him as unimportant since doctors actually prescribe the medications. The pharmacist when fully employed and not sidelined, ensures that even the doctor's prescription is right. This is because in the process of hurrying, doctors sometimes prescribe wrongly.
Becoming a pharmacist isn't just about studying under one for a certain number of years before writing the exams. To become a pharmacist, it is very necessary to get 7 years of formal education. Therefore, anyone aspiring to become a pharmacist must undergo three different stages which include all the necessary courses and steps required before he can be called a pharmacist. These steps are:
1. Passing the PCAT (Pharmacy college admissions test). This is preceded by 2 years in college in the US and A-Levels in the UK. The necessary courses to be taken at this period include mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry. These are the necessary courses required. An interested individual may however, opt for courses in the social sciences and the humanities.
2. The second step actually involves studying at the School of Pharmacy in their chosen universities or tertiary institutions. During this process, they get to learn everything related to pharmacy. Some of the necessary courses often include pharmacology, dispensing, ethics of the profession et.c. Alongside their learning, they also get to acquire professional skills, knowledge and firsthand experience of the pharmacy practice.
3. After graduation from the school of pharmacy, all graduands are required to do a 1-2 yr internship or residency program during which they are assigned projects to work on and defend at the completion of their program.
4. Finally, the pharmacist takes a qualification or conversion exam such as the Multi-state Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam in the intended state before practicing.
