Pharmacist Certification For Health Care

By Adriana Noton

The man or woman that you see behind the counter in the pharmacy that is available to answer all of your questions is a certified pharmacist. They must know how to measure and mix medications, and they must be able to answer a myriad of different questions about those medications. Here are the things a pharmacist must do for certification for health care.

It is best if a student decides to become a pharmacist while he is still in high school. He can take extra science and mathematics courses in order to prepare himself for pharmacy school. He will need to learn how to write well, and he will need a good working knowledge of computers. It would be to his advantage to apply for a job or volunteer at a hospital, pharmacy or nursing home during those years.

There are three ways that you start your pharmacist career. Most students go to an accredited college and earn a four year degree before going on to pharmacy school. Others opt to go straight from high school into a pharmacy program known as "0-6". The other option is to go into an accelerated program.

Whichever program you choose should meet these qualifications. The school should be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, they should have top of the line computers, science courses and science laboratories and they should be a member of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Every pharmacy school has a list of courses that the students will need before they can enter pharmacy school. Those courses take approximately 2 years to complete at the undergraduate level. Some students go on and take 3 or 4 years of undergraduate studies instead of just the necessary 2 years.

Once the student finishes the two years of required class work, he will need to take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test. Once he has the test results, he must fill out the application form and gather the materials that are required by the pharmacy school. Some schools require an interview with potential students before acceptance.

Pharmacy school in itself is 4 years of study and practice, making the total number of years of schooling six. The student must work under a licensed pharmacist for a certain number of hours, depending on the state requirements. When he finishes, he will have the PharmD degree, meaning a doctorate degree in pharmacy.

When the student has finished his degree, he will need to take a variety of tests in order to apply for licensure or certification. Each state is different in what they require. These tests will examine the student's knowledge of pharmaceutical subjects as well as the pharmaceutical laws of the state where he will be licensed.

The outlook for jobs pharmacists is above average through 2018. One of the main reasons for this growth is the growing number of older people within the United States who require medications of some kind. The median annual wage for pharmacists is $106,410. Twenty-two percent of pharmacists nationwide make over $120,000 annually.

It is not easy to receive certification for health care as a pharmacist. To reach this goal, a student must spend 6 years studying and however many hours of practice his state requires. However, that still isn't everything. He must successfully pass every test the state requires to become licensed. - 29929

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