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| Median Wage (USD, 2025) | Projected Job Openings (2025-2035) | Projected Growth (2025-2035) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Statistics | $140910 | 14200 | 4.6% |
| State Statistics | - | - | - |
| City Statistics | - | - | - |
Experience Requirements Overview
- Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
- Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
- Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Education, Training and Experience
Required Level of Education: Doctoral Degree
Related Work Experience: Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year
On-Site or In-Plant Training: Up to and including 1 month
On-the-Job Training: Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months
Detailed Work Activities
- Verify accuracy of patient information.
- Communicate detailed medical information to patients or family members.
- Advise patients on effects of health conditions or treatments.
- Analyze data to identify trends or relationships among variables.
- Analyze health-related data.
Work Values
Achievement
Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Working Conditions
Recognition
Relationships
Support
Independence
Tasks
- Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
- Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
- Work in hospitals or clinics or for Health Management Organizations (HMOs), dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultant, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas, such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.
- Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
- Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
- Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
- Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, or registries of poisons, narcotics, or controlled drugs.
- Prepare sterile solutions or infusions for use in surgical procedures, emergency rooms, or patients' homes.
- Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
- Assess the identity, strength, or purity of medications.
- Plan, implement, or maintain procedures for mixing, packaging, or labeling pharmaceuticals, according to policy and legal requirements, to ensure quality, security, and proper disposal.
- Teach pharmacy students serving as interns in preparation for their graduation or licensure.
- Refer patients to other health professionals or agencies when appropriate.
- Order and purchase pharmaceutical supplies, medical supplies, or drugs, maintaining stock and storing and handling it properly.
- Manage pharmacy operations, hiring or supervising staff, performing administrative duties, or buying or selling non-pharmaceutical merchandise.
- Publish educational information for other pharmacists, doctors, or patients.
- Advise customers on the selection of medication brands, medical equipment, or healthcare supplies.
- Assay radiopharmaceuticals, verify rates of disintegration, and calculate the volume required to produce the desired results, to ensure proper dosages.
- Offer health promotion or prevention activities, such as training people to use blood pressure devices or diabetes monitors.
- Update or troubleshoot pharmacy information databases.
- Contact insurance companies to resolve billing issues.
Work Styles
Innovation
A tendency to be inventive, to be imaginative, and to adopt new perspectives on ways to accomplish work.
Achievement Orientation
Intellectual Curiosity
Tolerance for Ambiguity
Initiative
Adaptability
Self-Confidence
Perseverance
Leadership Orientation
Humility
Sincerity
Empathy
Cooperation
Optimism
Social Orientation
Cautiousness
Attention to Detail
Dependability
Integrity
Stress Tolerance
Self-Control
For more information on this career visit: https://explorehealthcareers.org/careers/pharmacy-and-pharmacology/pharmacist/
Data Source: This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This page includes Employment Projections program, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.