25 Key Attributes Pharmacists Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Alex Garcia

Monday, September 7, 2015

Pharmacists dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. They may also advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.

The core tasks that pharmacists are likely to carry out include:

Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
Assess the identity, strength, or purity of medications.
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.
Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
Plan, implement, or maintain procedures for mixing, packaging, or labeling pharmaceuticals, according to policy and legal requirements, to ensure quality, security, and proper disposal.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that pharmacists would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for investigative work environments. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 95%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 94.6%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 92%

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.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 88.2%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

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.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 87.4%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85.2%

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.2%

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 84%

Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 83.4%

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.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 83.4%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.2%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.6%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.4%

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%