What does a clinical pharmacist do?
A clinical pharmacist is responsible for offering high-quality health care services for the patients, especially on administering effective medications by evaluating the patient's health condition and checking medical history. Clinical pharmacists assist other medical professionals in developing treatment plans and pharmacy programs, educating the patients on appropriate medicine dosages, medicine intake instructions, and other activities that would help patients achieve their healthy lifestyle and wellness. They must have excellent knowledge of the medical industry, including appropriate treatments and procedures, to provide the best treatment options for the patients' needs and patiently respond to their inquiries and concerns.
Clinical pharmacist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical pharmacist resumes:
- Train, manage and instruct pharmacy technicians, interns, and PharmD candidates on clinical rotations.
- Dose and manage all Vancomycin and Aminoglycoside antibiotics throughout the entire hospital including overseeing, evaluating, and ordering antibiotic labs.
- Receive and verify drug orders from physicians using computerize physician order entry system, including cancer chemotherapy orders.
- Implement updated pediatric chemotherapy-induce nausea and vomiting (CINV) guidelines and policy for use in all pediatric patients receiving chemotherapy.
- Provide clinical assistance to the RPh staff in addition to case processing.
- Maintain sterile product manufacturing processes to comply with federal, state and local regulations and JCAHO standards.
- Coach and support pharmacy team members, interns with compassion, motivate and inspire staffs strengths and skills development.
- Verify physician orders with CPOE using the Meditech system for adult, geriatric, pediatric, neonatal, and psychiatric patients.
- Initiate JCAHO abbreviations adherence protocol.
- Prepare iv solutions and antibiotics.
- Administer continuous and 12-lead electrocardiogram monitoring.
- Evaluate suitability of Rx for individual patients.
- Prepare, recommend, dispense and administer ACLS medication.
- License pharmacist charge with providing comprehensive pharmacy service to CVS customers.
- Educate cardiac rehabilitation outpatient clients on hypertension, cholesterol, and medicine safety.
Clinical pharmacist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Clinical Pharmacists are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and PharmD. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Computer skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Pharmacists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 20%
Ensured therapeutic outcomes of medications were maximized and adverse events minimized for patients with mental health and substance abuse disorders.
- Patient Care, 11%
Designed and implemented a pharmacy direct patient care program for oncology patients receiving chemotherapy agents including patient counseling and staff education.
- PharmD, 7%
Assisted pharmacy preceptor in educating PharmD candidates from Albany College of Pharmacy.
- Medication Orders, 5%
Reviewed physician medication orders, entered medication orders into computer, verified completed orders for accuracy after filled by technicians.
- Pharmaceutical Care, 4%
Work with the hospice residence interdisciplinary team to ensure effective and cost efficient pharmaceutical care of patients with limited prognosis.
- Drug Therapy, 4%
Coordinated and conducted professional development programs to increase staff proficiency levels regarding drug therapy, disease state management and pharmacy policies/procedures.
Most clinical pharmacists use their skills in "patients," "patient care," and "pharmd" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential clinical pharmacist responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a clinical pharmacist to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "pharmacists must evaluate the contents and side effects of prescribed medication to ensure that the patient may safely take it." Additionally, a clinical pharmacist resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "review and interpret culture and susceptibility data for antibiotic appropriateness and recommend changes, by pharmacokinetic dosing. "
Communication skills. Many clinical pharmacist duties rely on communication skills. "pharmacists frequently must explain to patients about how to take medication and what its potential side effects are," so a clinical pharmacist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways clinical pharmacist responsibilities rely on communication skills: "conducted medication therapy management sessions for patients of the grady health system and sent follow up communication with drug therapy recommendations. "
Detail oriented. For certain clinical pharmacist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "detail oriented." The day-to-day duties of a clinical pharmacist rely on this skill, as "pharmacists are responsible for accurately providing the appropriate medication for each patient." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what clinical pharmacists do: "provide detailed oriented clinical observation of medication orders and patient profile to identify and prevent medication-related problems. "
Managerial skills. A commonly-found skill in clinical pharmacist job descriptions, "managerial skills" is essential to what clinical pharmacists do. Clinical pharmacist responsibilities rely on this skill because "pharmacists, particularly those who run a retail pharmacy, must have good leadership skills." You can also see how clinical pharmacist duties rely on managerial skills in this resume example: "retail pharmacist with immunization certification managerial responsibilities communication with doctors and insurance companies counseled patients"
The three companies that hire the most clinical pharmacists are:
- Highmark102 clinical pharmacists jobs
- CVS Health71 clinical pharmacists jobs
- HealthTrust70 clinical pharmacists jobs
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Compare different clinical pharmacists
Clinical pharmacist vs. Pharmacy internship
When it comes to a pharmacy internship, one of the primary responsibilities is to observe pharmacy operations and develop efficient communication skills as most of the tasks will revolve around customer service, such as providing instructions on when to take medications and what could be the side effects. Moreover, working as a pharmacist requires excellent attention to detail, ensuring that all customers receive the correct type and amount according to their prescriptions. Among the duties can also revolve around administrative tasks such as verifying prescriptions, keeping and maintaining accurate records, and responding to inquiries.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between clinical pharmacists and pharmacy internship. For instance, clinical pharmacist responsibilities require skills such as "pharmd," "oncology," "patient outcomes," and "patient safety." Whereas a pharmacy internship is skilled in "customer service," "blood pressure," "math," and "inventory management." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Pharmacy interns earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $95,157. On the other hand, clinical pharmacists are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $94,946.The education levels that pharmacy interns earn slightly differ from clinical pharmacists. In particular, pharmacy interns are 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a clinical pharmacist. Additionally, they're 18.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical pharmacist vs. Pharmacist informaticist
A pharmacist consultant specializes in providing advice to patients regarding their medication, discussing benefits, and recommending other services as necessary. They usually work at pharmacies, where they are also in charge of tasks, such as conducting research and assessments, maintaining records, utilizing tools and software to develop organized reports and information databases, and generating sales forecasts for different medications. Additionally, they also coordinate and work together with physicians and other medical experts in developing treatment plans in adherence to standards and regulations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, clinical pharmacist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "patient care," "pharmd," and "medication orders." Meanwhile, a pharmacist informaticist has duties that require skills in areas such as "meditech," "delivery systems," "clinical applications," and "computer software." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, pharmacist informaticists achieve lower levels of education than clinical pharmacists. They're 6.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 18.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical pharmacist vs. Accredited pharmacist technician
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, clinical pharmacists are more likely to have skills like "patients," "patient care," "drug therapy," and "pharmacokinetics." But a accredited pharmacist technician is more likely to have skills like "bcps," "clinical rotations," "therapeutics," and "primary care."
Most accredited pharmacist technicians achieve a similar degree level compared to clinical pharmacists. For example, they're 1.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 21.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical pharmacist vs. Pharmacist consultant
Types of clinical pharmacist
Updated January 8, 2025
