The Responsibilities of Pharmacy Aides and the Nature of Their Work
Pharmacy aides carry out administrative duties in pharmacies. Usually aides are cashiers or clerks. They usually carry out clerical duties like stocking shelves, handling money, answering phones, and other jobs as designated by pharmacists or senior pharmacy technicians.
Some states have a bit of overlap in the job titles/duties of aides and pharmacy technicians. Aides usually work with and interact with pharmacy technicians on a daily basis. At the pharmacy I work at, the aides usually do the intake of prescriptions. They accept prescriptions, ask if the person has gotten prescriptions at our store before, ask if their address/phone/prescription insurance is all current, ask about any medication allergies, and give the current wait time if the person will be waiting in our waiting area. The responsibilities of aides at the store I work at include light cleaning, filing of original and phoned in prescriptions, filing of narcotic prescriptions, greeting and assisting customers, ringing up customers (processing credit and debit cards and handling cash), and asking a pharmacy technician or pharmacist for assistance when necessary. Sometimes retail pharmacy technicians will start out as aides. Working as an aide is a good way to “get your feet wet” in the pharmacy field. Often their skills as an aide give them a good grounding in how a pharmacy works. It gives them a “bigger picture” vantage point and gives them an advantage of better problem solving skills as a technician. Top of Pharmacy Aides
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