Pharmacy Aides

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• Answer telephone inquiries, referring callers to pharmacist when necessary.
• Compound, package, and label pharmaceutical products, under direction of pharmacist.
• Unpack, sort, count, and label incoming merchandise, including items requiring special handling or refrigeration.
• Process medical insurance claims, posting bill amounts and calculating copayments.
• Greet customers and help them locate merchandise.
• Prepare, maintain, and record records of inventories, receipts, purchases, or deliveries, using a variety of computer screen formats.
• Maintain and clean equipment, work areas, or shelves.
• Restock storage areas, replenishing items on shelves.
• Greet customers and help them locate merchandise.
• Receive, store, and inventory pharmaceutical supplies or medications, check for out-of-date medications, and notify pharmacist when inventory levels are low.
• Compound, package, and label pharmaceutical products, under direction of pharmacist.
• Perform clerical tasks, such as filing, compiling and maintaining prescription records, or composing letters.
• Perform clerical tasks, such as filing, compiling and maintaining prescription records, or composing letters.
• Accept prescriptions for filling, gathering and processing necessary information.
• Maintain and clean equipment, work areas, or shelves.
• Prepare prescription labels by typing or operating a computer and printer.
• Deliver medication to treatment areas, living units, residences, or clinics, using various means of transportation.
• Operate cash register to process cash or credit sales.
• Answer telephone inquiries, referring callers to pharmacist when necessary.

Skills

• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.
• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.

Abilities

• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.

Knowledge

• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Administration and Management
  • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Administrative
  • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

Education

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Less than 1 month on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

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Education and Training Opportunities

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Pay

Washington Annual Salary

43320/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

20.83/hr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

1,980

Yearly Projected Openings

360

Personality

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

• Integrity
• Self Control
• Cooperation
• Attention to Detail
• Stress Tolerance
• Dependability

Tools

• Cash registers
• Desktop computers
• Filling or sealing auger dose machines
• HEPA filtered enclosures
• Label making machines
• Laboratory blenders or emulsifiers
• Laminar flow cabinets or stations
• Laser printers
• Magnetic stripe readers and encoders
• Personal computers
• Special purpose telephones
• Tablet counters

Technology

• Data base user interface and query software
• Electronic mail software
• Office suite software
• Operating system software
• Presentation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Word processing software