Question:
Is it possible to hire an employee with a medical or some other, but not pharmaceutical, education to work in a pharmacy for the position of a consultant, sales assistant, cashier (or otherwise)? How can this be done legally?
Answer:
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According to Part 2 of Article 52 of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation of April 12, 2010 N 61-FZ “On the Circulation of Medicines” (as amended on June 25, 2012), individuals can carry out pharmaceutical activities if they have a higher or secondary pharmaceutical education and a specialist certificate.According to paragraph 33 of Article 4 of the Law, pharmaceutical activity is an activity that includes wholesale trade in medicines, their storage, transportation and (or) retail trade in medicines, their dispensing, storage, transportation, manufacture of medicines.
From the totality of the above norms, it follows that persons with a pharmaceutical education should be directly involved in dispensing medicines on the trading floor of a pharmacy organization.
According to paragraph 4 "e" approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 22, 2011 N 1081 "Regulations on licensing pharmaceutical activities" (as amended on September 4, 2012), one of the licensing requirements for the retail trade in medicines is that the applicant has a license ( of the licensee) employees who have concluded employment contracts with him, whose activities are directly related to the retail trade in medicines, their dispensing, storage and manufacture, who have higher or secondary pharmaceutical education, a specialist certificate.
According to clause 8.1 of the Industry Standard “Rules for the Dispensing (Sale) of Medicinal Products in Pharmacy Organizations. Basic Provisions” OST 91500.05.0007-2003, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation of March 4, 2003 N 80 (as amended on April 18, 2007), pharmaceutical positions in pharmacy organizations are occupied by specialist pharmacists or pharmacists in accordance with the established procedure . At the same time, paragraph 8.3 of the Standard establishes that in the departments of pharmacy organizations with an open form for displaying goods and selling goods that are allowed to be dispensed from pharmacy organizations, it is allowed to involve persons with secondary or secondary medical education or higher medical education as consultants.
An analysis of the totality of the above legislative norms allows us to conclude that employees who do not have special education can work in positions not related to the manufacture, receipt, storage, dispensing and sale of medicines in pharmacy organizations.
Thus, a cashier in a pharmacy may not have a pharmaceutical education if he is completely excluded from the process of selling medicines, but only accepts money from customers and issues cash receipts. An employee with a medical education may be accepted for the position of sales floor consultant. In order to avoid possible claims from regulatory authorities, it is advisable to formalize the duties of a cashier and a consultant in separate local acts of the organization by order), highlighting in a separate paragraph a ban on any operations related to the manufacture, receipt, storage, dispensing and sale of medicines, and also clearly prescribe job responsibilities of such employees in job descriptions and employment contracts.
It is not recommended to establish the title of the position “sales consultant” for an employee without a pharmaceutical education, since the concept of “salesperson” is formally directly related to sales.
16.10.12
Why is it important to have a Pharmaceutical Education Specialist serving the pharmacy? How often do you ask pharmacists for advice? “Are there any cheap analogues of this drug? .. And what is the difference between this and that drug? .. And give me something for a sore throat ...” Familiar?
You trust the person behind the counter with your health. But who works in the pharmacy? Are you sure that this person is an expert in his field? Vladimir Rudenko, Doctor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, talked about pharmacists and pharmacists and the quality of service in pharmacies.
What is the difference between a pharmacist and a pharmacist?
The difference in the level of education. The qualification "Pharmacist" is received by specialists who graduated from universities (faculties of medical higher educational institutions), and a pharmacist - colleges, medical schools. I note that pharmacist-trained specialists cannot occupy all those positions in pharmacies, which should only be pharmacists. In general, in the international practice of many countries of the world there is a position exclusively of a pharmacist.
Do people with a medical education have to work in a pharmacy?
Can it be any health worker or only a person with the appropriate education? By the way, where can you get one? I would like to emphasize that the pharmacy must be staffed by specialists not with a medical, but with a pharmaceutical (!!!) education. In universities, this profession is taught for 5 years.
Why must there be a professional pharmacist, and not just a health worker or a person who is good at using special computer programs?
The pharmacy must necessarily employ specialists in professional pharmaceutical education who provide professional pharmaceutical services and carry out pharmaceutical care of the patient. No computer program can replace such specialists. At the same time, each pharmaceutical education specialist should be able to professionally use special computer programs and work with modern computer equipment.
Do you need experts in this area?
Now the number of pharmacies is constantly growing. And there are more and more of them. Therefore, there is a need for an additional number of specialists who are eligible to work in pharmacies.
How to understand that in front of you at the "first table" is not a professional? What to do in such a situation?
When visiting a pharmacy, the patient should pay attention to the badge of the specialist who serves him. Only specialists with the education of a pharmacist or pharmacist have the right to dispense medicines, and therefore, in addition to the name and surname, qualifications should also be indicated on the badge. If there is other information, this person does not have the right to dispense medicines.
In a situation where such a “specialist” is trying to serve you, you need to contact the pharmacy manager with a notification about this (write a complaint) or to the regulatory authorities. You have every right to demand that you be served by a specialist with a professional education.
A new person in a pharmacy is always interesting, because he can make the work of the pharmacy team more professional and dynamic. However, in order to adequately integrate into the work from the first day, you must know and be able to do a lot.
Study the regulations
If you are new to pharmacy, make sure you are familiar with the following documents:
- Job description
The main document for the first-timer, since it is in it that the main responsibilities of the pharmacist / pharmacist are described. - Federal Law 61-FZ "On the Circulation of Medicines"
The main provisions of the Law will help to get an idea about the registration of medicines, quality control of medicines, the register of medicines, storage of medicines, etc. This legislative act refers to many other by-laws, which the specialist will be able to get acquainted with in more detail already in the course of work. - Law on Consumer Protection
Especially the points relating to the return and exchange of goods: their knowledge will help to calmly explain to the buyer all possible ways to solve the problem that has arisen. - Labor Code of the Russian Federation
It should be studied in order to understand your rights as an employee.
Check if you have the necessary knowledge and skills
These can be considered knowledge of the pharmacological groups of drugs and an understanding of which group is used for which disease. The pervostolnik will be able to recommend complex treatment and make up-selling of an over-the-counter drug only if he knows the main symptoms of the disease and the side effects of the drugs used in its treatment. But knowledge of many trade names will come in the process of work - cheat sheets and training events will help here.
In addition to the sale of medicines, the duties of the primary manager include maintaining the established pharmaceutical order, disassembling goods, maintaining defective journals, filling in temperature regime journals and maintaining other records established in the pharmacy. All this will also require a certain knowledge base from the beginner, but these duties can and should be learned in the process.
Stick to Service Standards
The main thing you need to know is that any sale is built from the same number of stages:
- Greetings
Allows the pharmacist to establish contact with the buyer. - Clarifying questions
It is important to identify the needs of the buyer - this will allow you to offer exactly what he needs. - Product presentation
Offer the buyer 3-4 drugs of different price categories, talking about the benefits of each. - Work with objections
It is important to establish a constructive dialogue with the client, finding out the reason for his dissatisfaction. - Completion of the sale
Leave a pleasant impression of the purchase by carefully packaging the product.
Follow the basic principles of communication
With clients
The biggest mistake that newcomers to pharmacies often make is labeling. It is unacceptable to evaluate the buyer by his appearance or base the presentation of the product on his own idea of its high cost: do not decide for the buyer whether he can afford drugs, it is better to identify his true needs by asking him additional questions.
It is well known that pharmacies are an extremely profitable business. For many, it will be a discovery that only the owner receives real profit. And pharmacists, is it profitable for them to work in a pharmacy? In addition to the availability of medicines (non-prescription), when I myself or someone close to me fell ill, and even then during working hours, I don’t see any advantages! But first things first…
Direct duties of a pharmacist:
1. Customer service, issuance of requested medicines.
2. Consultation of an uninformed buyer regarding the most suitable medicines.
3. Placing a pharmaceutical product on the appropriate shelves is a tedious and time-consuming process!
4. Tracking the expiration dates of each drug.
5. Inventory and revision for a certain period.
6. Cleaning windows.
I hope I didn't surprise you with the above! Even if a pharmacist is accepted to work at the checkout, no one has canceled the rest of the points - the requirement of most managers or owners of pharmacy points.
Salary of a pharmacist in different regions of Russia
A Petersburg pharmacy worker, standing behind the cash register and implicitly performing other duties, receives about 28,000 rubles a month. The capital's middle-level pharmacist is a record holder in his field, his income is 36,000 rubles. The salary is lower in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Tyumen, it varies from 15,000 to 20,000 rubles. The same range of income includes pharmacists in our northern region - Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (this is surprising given our prices for consumer goods!).
The specified level of Russian salaries in the field of pharmaceuticals is the highest. A simple pharmacist with a specialized secondary education and no work experience or less than one year of experience is unlikely to receive more than 15,000 rubles. Higher education is a higher priority in the assessment of the working month - 25,000 rubles. A pharmacy pharmacist with great experience can hope for 50,000 rubles, but not in the provinces, but in St. Petersburg. This city is a kind of leader, appreciating pharmaceutical activities.
Now you need to deduct from the indicated amounts taxes and fines established by the management of pharmacies in some cases. Some enterprises hire special inspectors who evaluate the work activity of each employee. Based on this, wages are calculated. And if the boss pays the work depending on the revenue? It doesn't look very attractive!
Such strict requirements lead to the fact that we, sick people and in need of a medicine, are forced to buy expensive drugs. Because they were advised by a professional, convinced of the benefits and quality of the medication. Not the fact that they will be the most effective. But the revenue and, accordingly, the salary of the pharmacist will be higher!
Pharmacy workers can be understood: not everyone is able to stand on their feet for 12 hours, serve customers one after another with different requests and characters. An old woman will come across who does not understand anything, and explain to her the whole history of the appearance of the pill ...
So, is it profitable to work in a pharmacy? Try to answer this question yourself, knowing the information that I provided in the article.
Pharmacies will always be needed by the population, because we all get sick. Thus, pharmacy chains are a large employer, constantly in need of staff and ready to offer good salaries.
Is it possible just to take and get a job at the nearest pharmacy? What kind of education is required for this and how much do they pay. Educational program on the work of pharmacies for readers of the magazine Reconomica is carried out by a pharmacist of the Pharmland pharmacy chain.
Who is a pharmacist and how is he different from a pharmacist
Pharmacist- a person with a secondary special education who works in a pharmacy and is engaged in the manufacture or dispensing (selling of drugs). Many people behind the cash register are called salespeople, but this is not true, and this is a gross mistake. One of the important features of the work of a pharmacist should be the ability to give competent advice to a pharmacy visitor on the use, combination of drugs, and sometimes even the treatment of certain diseases, since not everyone wants to go to polyclinics and spend their precious hours waiting for a doctor's appointment.
To get a position as a pharmacist, you need to study at a medical college or university in the Pharmacy department. What is the difference between a pharmacist and a pharmacist? If you graduate from the university, you get the title of pharmacist, and there are some advantages - in addition to the fact that you can also work as an ordinary pharmacist, you can also be the head of a pharmacy or be.
What does a pharmacist do in a pharmacy?
So what is included in duties of a pharmacist not engaged in the manufacture of medicines:
- Taking medicines from suppliers,
- checking the integrity of packages,
- checking the coincidence of series, expiration dates on packages and invoices,
- sorting goods on shelves and showcases depending on their temperature and light storage conditions,
- work at the cash desk (sale of pharmacy products and consulting on the method of application),
- checking the balance of goods and their expiration dates,
- maintaining a journal of reporting on the cash register, filling out a collection sheet.
Training and internship
When a young specialist pharmacist gets a job, he undergoes an internship at the place of work for 2 weeks. I know organizations - large networks that have their own training centers, in which they train new employees to work in their network - work on their computer programs, product layout, and most importantly, they study new drugs (pharmacological groups, methods of application, dosages, indications, contraindications, interaction with other drugs).
What a good pharmacist should know and be able to do
An employee working at the cash desk should know the assortment of his pharmacy well, in the absence of any drug, be able to correctly suggest a replacement for a drug with a different name, but with the same composition. Offering an analogue, I would say, is an art. People - especially the elderly - do not understand analogues, and until the last they are looking for what is written in the recipe.
There was a case (said a medical representative):
The pensioner came to the pharmacy, and the international name (active ingredient) was written in the prescription, and not the commercial one, and they tried to explain this to her, but she did not understand it. The result - she did not understand this, and went to more than ten pharmacies in search of the active substance, without buying the drug. But she could buy already at the first pharmacy, choosing one of those offered by the pharmacist.
An employee working at the cash desk should be able to sell, offer related products by increasing the amount of the check - after all, his salary depends on it.
pharmacy salary
In different networks, a different percentage of your earnings from the total amount sold by you. In some pharmacy chains, wages are made up of the minimum rate + a percentage of sales, and in some just a percentage. The percentage is also different. Mostly from 1 to 5.
Large network or small pharmacy - where is it better to work?
It is better to go to work in a large pharmacy chain. They have good salaries, interest, and they value their employees and customers. Due to the fact that they have been on the market for a long time, they have a large turnover, which has a great effect on the employee's salary - after all, he works on a percentage.
I worked both in a pharmacy of a large network and had monthly sales in the amount of 1,500,000 rubles, and in a small one with a turnover of 100,000 rubles. In the first, I received a salary of 25-30 thousand rubles, in the second - 8-10 thousand rubles. The small pharmacy was my first experience. There, the salary was officially transferred to the card, and the percentage was paid in an envelope. And they still managed to calculate the percentage is not in my favor. Cut down, so to speak. It was a bitter experience.
I learned everything there and went to the pharmacy of the Farmland chain. Here the entire salary is official, a good percentage. Received cash bonuses for excellent work. What I like about this network is the way they treat their employees and occasional training opportunities at their head office to improve the knowledge and skills of pharmacists. At such training internships, we were the first to learn about, and sometimes even try, novelties in the pharmaceutical market. We also studied medical devices sold through pharmacies.
Work at the cash desk - financial responsibility
When working at the cash desk, you need to be very careful. Since people come, sometimes trying to load you in every possible way, distracting you and either trying to replace the full box with an empty one, or who want to pay with counterfeit banknotes. In a large stream of work, some do not notice this and then pay for their oversight out of their own pocket.
In general, the work is interesting, and many buyers come again, and many with thanks. Over time, the pharmacist begins to recognize regular customers and know what they need.
Prescription drugs and their dispensing
Also in the pharmacy there is a release of medicines according to the doctor's prescriptions - precursors. The pharmacist must be well aware of the rules and regulations for prescribing and strictly observe them. The constant flow of patients with prescriptions is met mainly by employees of the state pharmacy. They go there for registered potent and psychotropic drugs, as well as a certain group of patients who have the right to receive medicines for free.
And now for the interesting
There was a case when cheap contraceptives were brought to us. I don't even remember their names now. My partner-guy did the layout of the goods. It was necessary to free the shelf for them, but since there were none, he decided to free the shelf from seasonal goods with the inscription - "remedies for ticks and mosquitoes", but the inscription remained. Bottom line: people asked how to use such products from ticks and mosquitoes.
And also there are people who do not read the instructions and recommendations of the doctor and take drugs as they please.
Once a man bought rectal suppositories (in the anus), and they were still very expensive, and he took them orally (through the mouth with water). After completing the course, he came to us with a claim that they did not help him. We started to figure it out. He had to buy another package and carry out the treatment according to the instructions. Okay, this one drank them. There was a buyer who treated potency with a “direct method of treatment”. He tried to insert the drug into an organ in need of treatment.
Pros and cons of working in a pharmacy
The work, of course, is interesting, it requires constant improvement of one's knowledge. But, like any job, it has its challenges. In a good network, you will have a large flow of customers. By the end of the day, you won't want to talk anymore. Constant running around the pharmacy affects severe fatigue in the legs. If you are a regular pharmacist, and not a pharmacy manager, then most likely there will be either an 8 or 12 hour work schedule that ends at 8, 10 or 12 pm. For families, this is a tough schedule. If there is a child, someone should help and meet him from kindergarten or school while you are at work. But if you correctly allocate time, you can manage everything at home and pay attention to the family to the maximum on the weekend.
Connecting life with medicine, and in particular, choosing the profession of a pharmacist, you need to weigh the pros and cons. Can you take responsibility for the effect of a drug by recommending it without a doctor? Will you be able to work 8-12 hours at an active pace? Will you be able to withstand both physical and psychological stress? After all, customers are not always good. Some come to take all their negativity out on you and leave with peace of mind. For those who choose this profession, I recommend that they enter a higher medical institution, because after graduating from it, you will have more choice and prospects - such as working as a head or a medical representative who promotes pharmaceutical market any drug or product.