What does a pharmacist aide do?
Pharmacist aide responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real pharmacist aide resumes:
- Manage assigned pharmacy workstations and tasks while supporting team members in promptly, safely and accurately filling patient prescriptions.
- Follow all HIPPA regulations in relation to patient confidentiality.
- Deliver medications or pharmaceutical supplies to patients or nursing stations.
- Communicate effectively with patients, staff and medical personnel to delivery prescriptions.
- Prepare chemotherapy medications exercising all safety requirements necessary.
- Familiarize with most common prescription drugs and OTC medication.
- Maintain orders and inventory for OTC section of pharmacy.
- Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise kindergarten or elementary school programs.
Pharmacist aide skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Pharmacist Aides are proficient in Patients, Customer Service, and Expiration Dates. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Listening skills, and Math skills.
We break down the percentage of Pharmacist Aides that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 20%
Processed and assisted patients with dispensing over the counter medications
- Customer Service, 17%
Provided excellent customer service by assisting pharmacy customers with account and medication information Completed pharmacy customer transactions on the cash register.
- Expiration Dates, 16%
Reviewed expiration dates on prescription labels and disposed of medications that had expired.
- Unit Dose, 9%
Prepacked unit dose and bulk medicines, filled bottles with prescribed medications and affixed correct labels.
- Telephone Inquiries, 9%
Answered telephone inquiries, referred callers to pharmacist when necessary.
- Clerical Tasks, 5%
Perform clerical tasks, such as, filling, compiling and minting prescriptions records, composing letters, and answering phones.
Common skills that a pharmacist aide uses to do their job include "patients," "customer service," and "expiration dates." You can find details on the most important pharmacist aide responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a pharmacist aide to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "pharmacy technicians spend much of their time interacting with customers, so being helpful and polite is required of pharmacy technicians in a retail setting." Pharmacist aides often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "completed accurate cycle counts, inventory management and will-calls for customers. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling pharmacist aide duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "pharmacy technicians must communicate clearly with pharmacists and doctors when taking prescription orders." According to a pharmacist aide resume, here's how pharmacist aides can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "communicated effectively with patients, staff and medical personnel to delivery prescriptions. "
Math skills. This is an important skill for pharmacist aides to perform their duties. For an example of how pharmacist aide responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "pharmacy technicians need to have an understanding of the math concepts used in pharmacies when counting pills and compounding medications." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a pharmacist aide: "utilized basic math skills to accurately account for cash orders and receipts. ".
Organizational skills. For certain pharmacist aide responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of a pharmacist aide rely on this skill, as "working as a pharmacy technician involves balancing a variety of responsibilities." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what pharmacist aides do: "assisted students with physical disabilities develop strong organizational skills, complete homework assignments, and maintain dean's list-level grades. "
Detail oriented. A commonly-found skill in pharmacist aide job descriptions, "detail oriented" is essential to what pharmacist aides do. Pharmacist aide responsibilities rely on this skill because "serious health problems can result from mistakes in filling prescriptions." You can also see how pharmacist aide duties rely on detail oriented in this resume example: "checked and maintained details of pharmacy inventory. "
The three companies that hire the most pharmacist aides are:
- New York State Restaurant Association4 pharmacist aides jobs
- Riverside Medical Center1 pharmacist aides jobs
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Compare different pharmacist aides
Pharmacist aide vs. Ancillary
Aides are personal employees of their clients who commonly have health issues that render them unable to do certain tasks. They help out their clients with activities they may need assistance in. They may do personal errands such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking. They also provide care for their clients by helping them bathe, dress, brush their teeth, and other personal hygiene activities. Aides also help their clients walk, sit, and eat if their clients' motor functions are compromised. Aides are expected to be patient, caring, and trustworthy.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between pharmacist aides and ancillary. For instance, pharmacist aide responsibilities require skills such as "customer service," "expiration dates," "unit dose," and "telephone inquiries." Whereas a ancillary is skilled in "radiology," "cpt," "icd-10," and "nuclear medicine." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that ancillaries earn slightly differ from pharmacist aides. In particular, ancillaries are 4.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a pharmacist aide. Additionally, they're 5.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pharmacist aide vs. Aide
A certified pharmacist technician is responsible for assisting patients by providing medicines based on their needs or their physicians' prescriptions. Certified pharmacist technicians must be able to supply the correct medications, including the right dosage to patients. They must also have a broad understanding of the medical industry, providing medicinal information to patients and referring them to the right health professionals as needed. Certified pharmacist technicians also monitor medicine inventories, manage supplies, and create sales reports.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, pharmacist aide responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "expiration dates," "unit dose," "telephone inquiries," and "clerical tasks." Meanwhile, an aide has duties that require skills in areas such as "patient care," "cpr," "compassion," and "home health." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
On average, aides earn a lower salary than pharmacist aides. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, aides earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $27,848. Whereas pharmacist aides have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $40,695.In general, aides achieve similar levels of education than pharmacist aides. They're 2.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 5.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pharmacist aide vs. Prescription clerk
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a pharmacist aide is likely to be skilled in "patients," "expiration dates," "unit dose," and "telephone inquiries," while a typical prescription clerk is skilled in "rx," "emr," "schedule appointments," and "insurance eligibility."
Most prescription clerks achieve a similar degree level compared to pharmacist aides. For example, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 5.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pharmacist aide vs. Certified pharmacist technician
Types of pharmacist aide
Updated January 8, 2025
