Pharmacists

Pharmacists store, preserve, compound, and dispense medicinal products and counsel on the proper use and adverse effects of drugs and medicines following prescriptions issued by medical doctors and other health professionals. They contribute to researching, testing preparing, prescribing and monitoring medicinal therapies for optimising human health.

Skill level: Highly skilled

Check your pay

  • The majority of Pharmacists earn a salary between R23 022 and R71 370 per month in 2024.
  • A monthly wage for entry-level Pharmacists ranges from R23 022 to R37 982.
  • After gaining 5 years of work experience, their income will be between R28 183 and R44 353 per month.

Check your pay

  • A Mission Pharmacist in human health and social work activities in scale 11 with 5 years or more experience earned minimum R43 433,00 and maximum R93 956,00 per month in 2019.

Duties and tasks

  • Receiving prescriptions for medicinal products from medical doctors and other health professionals, checking patients' medicine histories, and ensuring proper dosage and methods of administration and drug compatibility before dispensing
  • Preparing or supervising the preparation and labelling of liquid medicines, ointments, powders, tablets and other medications to fill prescriptions
  • Providing information and advice to prescribers and clients regarding drug interactions, incompatibility and contra-indications, side effects, dosage and proper medication storage
  • Collaborating with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the medicine therapy of individual patients, and the effectiveness of particular drugs or therapies
  • Maintaining prescription files and recording the issue of narcotics, poisons and habit-forming drugs in accordance with legal and professional requirements
  • Storing and preserving vaccines, serums and other drugs subject to deterioration
  • Advising clients on and supplying non-prescription medicines and diagnostic and therapeutic aids for common conditions
  • Supervising and coordinating the work of pharmacy technicians, pharmacy interns and pharmacy sales assistants
  • Conducting research to develop and improve pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and related chemical products
  • Conferring with chemists, engineering professionals and other professionals about manufacturing techniques and ingredients
  • Testing and analysing drugs to determine their identity, purity and strength in relation to specified standards
  • Evaluating labels, packaging and advertising of drug products
  • Developing information and risks of particular drugs

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