Employees of a pharmacy organization who do not have a pharmaceutical education. Who works in the pharmacy? Is it worth working in a pharmacy?

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Do you want to work as a pharmacist without education? Is this possible and how can you get your dream job without a diploma?

Everyone knows that to master the profession of a pharmacist, you need to study long and hard. But what to do if you don’t have the money, strength or opportunity to get a specialized education, but you want to work in a pharmacy. If, for example, you already have a higher education, then a second one can only be obtained on a commercial basis, for which there are not always funds. Or your age does not allow you to spend five long years on your education again. Or, due to some illness, it is not possible to enter the Faculty of Pharmacy, but there is a desire to be associated with this specialty. Against the background of all this, the question arises: is it possible to work as a pharmacist without education?

Working as a pharmacist without education

According to the law, if there is no specialized education, then you cannot work in a pharmacy as a pharmacist without education. But the reality is that if you really want to, you can find pharmacies that will hire you without a specialist certificate. Only in this case can you work only as a consultant. And this, accordingly, is lower wages, less interesting job, but also less responsibility.

To work as a pharmacist without education as a consultant, it is enough to have a diploma of medical education (ideally a higher education, but secondary specialized education is also possible). Everything will depend on the policy of the director of the retail chain. Although, of course, it is impossible to get a job in a good network with a high level of pay without a specialist certificate.

If a person is a student at the Faculty of Pharmacy, then, from about the third year, you can try to look for a job as a pharmacist without a full education, but with an elementary education. Here, too, everything will depend on the leadership. Nobody likes to hire untrained students and constantly help them, especially when there are lines at the pharmacy that are a kilometer long. This will be stressful for the employee, his colleagues and the pharmacy's clients. Because if an employee doesn’t know something, then service is delayed, and dissatisfaction in the queue grows. But even for this, you need to understand a large number of drugs, be able to choose the right analogue if the drug prescribed by the doctor is not available in the pharmacy, or it is too expensive for the patient.

If a person is a student at a medical institute, then he can also try to get a job in a pharmacy as a pharmacist without having any education in his specialty. But he will most likely be hired only for night shifts, when the flow of clients is small and broad specialized knowledge is not required to serve clients (the population of night pharmacies is quite specific). The disadvantage of this work is that it is night work, and in the morning you have to go to college, and that it can be unsafe if the client turns out to be aggressive, violent or intoxicated.

Also, if you want to plunge into the work of a pharmacy, you can get a job as a goods receiver. And then, having seen the work of the pharmacy from the inside, you can finally decide for yourself whether or not it is worth getting a specialized education.

What to do to work as a pharmacist?

Working as a pharmacist without education is not an entirely correct, temporary path. If you want to work as a pharmacist in the full sense of the word, then you definitely need to study. There is no need to be afraid, to think about age, that this is not respectable, I won’t be able to, if I have the desire.

If you have a higher education, no matter what specialty, are not young, and want to become a pharmacist, you should think about graduating from a pharmacy college. The training lasts four years, the workload is not as heavy as at a university, but at the end of the day, students receive a specialist certificate and the opportunity to immediately find a job in a pharmacy.

If age and ambitions still allow, then it is better to go to get a higher specialized education, although it will take longer. You need to study at the institute for five years to get a diploma, and then do residency. To obtain a specialist certificate and the right to work. But in this case, more interesting and brighter prospects open up.

What I would like to say finally is that having an education will always be valued. If you want to become an intelligent specialist, then you need to study. Well, if we consider the work of a pharmacist without education, then only as a drug dealer.

The work of a pharmacist is responsible and serious. Unfortunately, nowadays he is more and more often viewed as a simple seller of medicines. This lowers the status of the profession and makes it of little prestige. Applicants mistakenly begin to think that a pharmacist can only work in a pharmacy selling medicines, forgetting how wide and diverse this industry is. That’s why you need to try to get a specialized education, so as not to stand on the same level as ordinary sellers, in order to feel like a privileged class, which pharmacists, pharmacists and doctors were once considered to be. And we ourselves have brought them down to the level they are at.

Working as a pharmacist without education is working as a sales manager and nothing more. Education is a privilege, knowledge and opportunities, which, together with experience, produce brilliant specialists. Think about it.

Nowadays, it is almost impossible for a modern person to do without medicine when he or his relatives are sick. And sometimes you just need to purchase or to keep your body in good shape and carry out preventive measures. In large and small cities you can find many pharmacies and pharmacy kiosks. What awaits us on the shelves? Packages of tablets, capsules, injection ampoules, heating pads, blood pressure monitors, pipettes, elastic bandages, thermometers, ointments, suspensions, syrups, glucometers... the list can be long.
Some people have the mistaken opinion that the pharmacist who dispenses all pharmaceutical products is just a salesman in a clean white coat, deftly taking out beautiful and bright packages with liniments, dragees, drops from many drawers and cabinets. So MirSovetov decided to talk about what pharmacists do, to reveal the features and subtleties of their complex work. This article will also be useful for those who want to connect their lives with medicines and patient treatment. Getting it right in life is not an easy task.
So what knowledge and personal qualities are important for pharmacy workers?

General information about the profession

A pharmacist is a qualified specialist involved in the preparation of drugs, their research, quality control, storage and dispensing (sale). The profession is prestigious; it is in seventh place in terms of demand. The word “pharmacist” has a very ancient origin; translated from Greek it means “he who gives healing and protects from disease.” In ancient times, there were healers who successfully tried to treat people with drugs that they themselves prepared. And only in the thirteenth century in Europe there was a division of labor and responsibilities between pharmacists and doctors. At first, in Russia, drug experts were simply called pharmacists.
You can obtain this socially significant specialty in pharmaceutical colleges or pharmaceutical departments of medical colleges or schools. It will take about 3 years to master all the intricacies. If you want and try, you can eventually become a chief pharmacist-pharmacist by completing full-time or part-time training at an academy, university or institute, combining work and study.
At school, special attention should be paid to the study of chemistry, botany, anatomy, and mathematics. Responsibility, care and good memory will be very useful in further studies.

Some salary information

I’ll just name the average numbers:

• throughout Russia it ranges from 15,000 to 21,000 rubles;
• in small towns and villages – from 12 to 19,000 rubles;
• in Moscow it is much more - from 32 to 42,000 rubles.

Pharmacists successfully work in the following organizations and institutions:

• in pharmacies, and of any form of ownership - private, municipal, state;
• in large and small warehouses;
• in quality control centers medicines and pharmacy departments;
• in laboratories, research institutes (research institutes) and other institutions involved in the creation of new drugs, collection and processing of medicinal plants;
• at pharmaceutical plants and pharmaceutical factories engaged in industrial production of drugs;
• in pharmaceutical companies producing drugs, being their medical representative.

Knowledge and skills

All my life I remember the apt saying of the Indian doctor Sushruta, read a long time ago in one of the books on Ayurveda (the science of life): “The medicine is in the hands knowledgeable person is likened to immortality and life, in the hands of the ignorant - to fire and sword.”
There is an opinion among teachers that either gifted individuals or very diligent people can become a good pharmacist. After all, in the classrooms and offices of an educational institution, a future specialist will have to study many special disciplines. I will list just a few of them:

1. Pharmacology is a science that helps to understand how a drug affects the body, introduces doses, side (undesirable) effects and contraindications.
2. Pharmacognosy is a very interesting and promising science that studies medicinal plants, animal raw materials (bee, snake venom, placenta) and the drugs that contain them. This knowledge will help you understand beneficial features plants and learn how to make medicinal teas and mixtures to heal many ailments.
3. Pharmacotherapy is the study of diseases and the principles of their treatment with drugs.
4. Medicine technology is a subject in which one learns how to properly prepare dosage forms according to doctors’ prescriptions and the requirements of medical institutions, seal them, and arrange them accordingly.
5. Pharmaceutical chemistry is a science that provides knowledge on how to properly control the quality of prepared dosage forms.
6. Organization and economics of pharmacy (abbreviated as OEF) - introduces the basics of organizing the work of pharmacies, the rules for dispensing drugs from pharmacies and storing them.

Great importance is currently being given to students studying computer technologies and application programs that will be useful in future work.
A special role is also given to the basics of psychology, bioethics and deontology, because a pharmacist communicates with people all day.
And you can’t do without knowledge of Latin, because you’ll have to read prescriptions written out in illegible doctors’ handwriting.
In addition, you must be able to master the skills of working on modern cash registers, because in many pharmacies the positions of pharmacist and cashier are combined.
The educational process is replete with many hours of practical training in laboratories and classrooms specially equipped for these purposes.
To master a profession related to human health and life, you will need a lot of strength, endurance and determination.

Important Personal Qualities

Today, a qualified pharmacist is required to possess a huge amount of knowledge and constantly improve it independently, because new drugs often appear on the pharmaceutical markets. This requires a unique memory, diligence, accuracy, high self-control, organization, and responsibility for the results of one’s activities. The distinctive qualities of people in this profession are honesty, humanity, endurance and patience, goodwill, and philanthropy. From my own experience I am convinced that the most healing of all medicines is warmth. A sensitive, attentive attitude towards each patient will help instill in a person’s mind confidence that the medicine will definitely help him. When communicating with sick people and their relatives, irritability, indifference, arrogance, haste in service, short temper, and resentment are unacceptable. Sick people need rudeness and irritability, which they often manifest, voluntarily or unwittingly. We must be able to understand such people who are in a stressful situation and faced with an illness. Communication skills and responsiveness will help you avoid conflicts and receive moral satisfaction from the fact that you were able to contribute to the patient’s recovery.
A person who decides to master the specialty of a pharmacist must be prepared for the disadvantages and difficulties. Here are some of them. Be prepared for the fact that the work schedule will be “sliding”, that is, you will sometimes need to work on weekends and holidays. You have to spend a lot of time standing; by the end of the shift, your legs get tired, swell, and “hum.” There are also occupational diseases - the joints and veins of the extremities are susceptible to them. The risk of respiratory tract diseases is also high, because people with other infections also go to the pharmacy. I confess to you, it is not easy to work all day when there are flu epidemics, wearing a “mask”. Then there is no time to sit down even for a minute.

Job responsibilities when working in a pharmacy

A pharmacist is required to know:

1. Not only legal acts regulating its work, but also legislation Russian Federation, amendments and annexes to them from local authorities relating to pharmacy.
2. Fundamentals of all pharmaceutical disciplines.
3. Classification, nomenclature and purpose of drugs and pharmaceutical products.
4. Rules and methods of providing first aid.
5. All the subtleties of preparing dosage forms in a pharmacy and the features of their storage and dispensing.

So what does a pharmacist do in a pharmacy?

1. Provides the population with medicines, taking into account the demand and need for them. Compiles orders for medications and pharmaceutical products in a timely manner.
2. Together with other employees, he accepts the goods, correctly arranges them in storage areas, taking into account the proper conditions and features in accordance with the rules.
3. Dispenses (sells) finished and prepared medications in pharmacies to clients with (and without) prescriptions and supplies hospitals and other institutions according to formalized requirements.
4. Carefully ensures that recipes and requirements are completed correctly.
5. Checks the compatibility of ingredients and the appropriate doses for the patient’s age. There is no doubt that it is the exact dose that makes any substance a powerful medicine that defeats diseases, or a poison that leads to death.
6. Prevents medical errors.
7. Engaged in the production of dosage forms (powders, mixtures, ointments) according to recipes or requirements from hospitals, observing all the rules.
8. Carries out internal pharmacy quality control, expiration dates, identifies counterfeit drugs and removes them from sale.
9. Informs and advises patients about the methods of using medications, doses and time of administration, and tells how to properly store the drug at home. Often a sick person goes to a pharmacist rather than a doctor for help and prescriptions. It is important to listen to the patient and provide him with all possible assistance. For example, offer a remedy for intestinal disorders or fever. But if the symptoms are serious, then it is unobtrusive but convincing to recommend visiting a doctor.
10. It happens that the patient suddenly becomes unwell, then it is necessary to provide pre-medical assistance before the arrival of the patient.
11. Complies with all sanitary and hygienic standards and pharmaceutical regulations.
12. Complies with safety requirements when working with devices and equipment, fire safety.
13. Organizes the workplace rationally.
14. Follows the rules of ethics and morality in professional communications with clients, doctors and employees of his team.
15. If required, informs doctors about new drugs and changes in the rules for dispensing drugs from the pharmacy.

In addition to the above, pharmacy employees are financially responsible persons and are responsible for the safety of medications and funds.

Specialist rights

A pharmacist has the right:

1. Receive the information needed to high-quality execution them of their professional responsibilities.
2. Increase your level of knowledge in special courses held once every five years, and receive a certificate of the appropriate type; undergo certification to be assigned a qualification category.
3. Take an active part in the work of pharmaceutical circles, conferences, meetings, competitions, exhibitions.
4. Based on the experience gained, introduce new technologies and improve the organization of work activities of the middle pharmaceutical level.
5. Make rational proposals and ideas to your management to improve the quality of service to the population with medicines and pharmacy products.

Responsibility for violations in professional activities

Offenses for which the pharmacist will have to answer:

1. For failure to perform or improper performance of the duties and tasks assigned to the employee - within the limits provided for and determined by the paragraphs of the current labor legislation of the country.
2. For offenses committed in the course of work - in accordance with civil, administrative and even criminal legislation.
3. In case of causing material damage to the enterprise - compensation provided for in the clauses of the employment contract, civil and labor codes of the Russian Federation.

As you can see, dear readers of MirSovetov, the work of a pharmacist is important, interesting, but at the same time very difficult and responsible. And not everyone can cope with such a large volume of responsibilities and knowledge that must be kept in mind and constantly improved. Therefore, if you are still leaning towards a career as a pharmacist, then I advise you to find time and sit in the sales area, or better yet, stand for 3 hours or more. Observe the actions of the pharmacist, I believe that you will become an eyewitness to several conflict situations that an experienced specialist will be able to resolve correctly. Then you will be able to understand whether it is worth choosing such a profession for your whole life.
And now I would like to touch on one more thing important point. I assure you, my dear readers, that a true pharmacist first of all thinks not about making a profit, but about how to help a sick person. And if you have a small one, don’t be embarrassed, tell the pharmacist about this, that there is not enough money for the medicine prescribed by the doctor. In this case, a solution will be found; they will recommend a synonym, that is, a drug containing the same active ingredient, but cheaper. MirSovetov sincerely wishes everyone sensitive and friendly pharmacists at the nearest pharmacy and good health!

Our expert is the dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy, chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod Association of Pharmacists, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Svetlana Kononova.

Document with "gaps"

Elena Shitova, AiF Health. "Drug Review": Svetlana Vladimirovna, why did the pharmaceutical community not like the new Federal State Educational Standard project?

Svetlana Kononova: This project, like many previously existing documents, does not meet the requirements of the time. Its content does not provide advanced professional education and does not ensure the specialist’s readiness for self-development. Today's approach to the formation of the Federal State Educational Standard is quantitative, not qualitative, and does not correspond to the pace of development of the pharmaceutical market. I hope that the new document will include proposals from the professional community and that its discussion will be sufficiently lengthy and comprehensive. Those fifteen days during which the project is publicly available on the Internet are clearly not enough for an informed decision. The adoption of such important documents requires a process of reflection.

- What do you see as the main “gap” of this document?

- The trouble is that we are not aimed at forming a moral person. For a professional, moral concepts should be at the forefront, but this is not happening now. One of the results of this approach is that social, professional and moral values ​​are distorted, qualified specialists leave the profession, and the value of education falls. This applies to all industries, but in medicine and pharmacy these negative processes are especially noticeable.

Code of honor or profit at any cost?

Don’t you think that in modern “pre-market” economic conditions Is the requirement to educate a moral person perceived almost as bad form? IN as a last resort, it comes down to religious overtones.

The perception of this concept is not the same in different age audiences. Students use it completely adequately, which cannot be said about many teachers. It frightens me when I see a wry grimace on the faces of educated adults at the mere use of the word “morality.” What can a medical school teacher teach who believes that this concept has only a religious aspect? In fact, the concept of morality is far from identical to religious ideas.

- What do you include in this concept?

The main criterion of morality is compliance with certain standards: legal, professional, spiritual, etc. And in our country today, in the medical and pharmaceutical spheres, legal requirements are often ignored. It is necessary to return moral guidelines to the profession. If a doctor writes a piece of paper instead of a prescription, and a pharmacist dispenses medicine using this piece of paper, then both of them are showing professional immorality.

It turns out that if the pharmacist did not dispense the medicine according to the piece of paper, then he did the right thing. What if a patient who does not receive medicinal help suffers or even dies as a result?

- The opposite situation may also occur: the patient will suffer from the drug that is indicated “on the piece of paper.” At the same time, the doctor did not write out the prescription and will not bear responsibility for the damage caused to the patient; the “arrows” will be transferred to the pharmacist. Today, a pharmacy worker turns out to be “extreme” both if he dispensed and if he did not dispense the medicine. But if every pharmacy required prescriptions, not pieces of paper, then doctors would behave differently. However, as long as pharmacies continue to prioritize profit at any cost, this is unlikely to happen.

- How realistic is it to observe moral rules in a market economy?

It is quite possible if you create the appropriate legislative framework and raise true professionals who consider it unacceptable to violate their “code of honor.”

- But non-professionals also work in pharmacies...

Unfortunately, this is true, and this is one of the most glaring manifestations of immorality in our industry. The problem of non-professionals has been repeatedly stated in high level, but I don’t know of cases where the owner of a pharmacy suffered real punishment for employing people without specialized education. I think that the existing inspection procedure to a certain extent helps to make it possible to hide even flagrant violations in this regard. The inspector is obliged to warn in advance about his visit, and by the time of the inspection everything in the documents will be corrected, and he will not see a single non-specialist at the workplace. In addition, any check is thematic, and if the topic states the storage of medicines, then only the storage will be checked.

The first table is often staffed not by pharmacists, but by nurses, which is fundamentally unacceptable. No matter how qualified a healthcare worker is, he is not a specialist in the field of pharmacy. It is also important that with a general shortage nurses In medical institutions, pharmacies create the preconditions for further outflow of nursing staff.

Lords of pharmacies, they are employers

Maybe we should take a different path and legitimize what is really happening, that is, give medical workers the right to engage in pharmaceutical activities?

- Such proposals have been made repeatedly, moreover, they are lobbied by certain circles. The emphasis is, in particular, on the fact that there are computer programs that allow anyone with a medical education to cope with the tasks of a pharmacist. But a computer program will never replace a person! So we will soon reach the point where we will replace the doctor with a computer.

The second argument of lobbyists is that there are not enough pharmaceutical specialists, since there are so many pharmacies. But it is the exorbitant number of pharmacies that gives rise to numerous violations!

- It is often said that competition allows prices to be reduced.

Where and when are drug prices going down now? They have been growing and are growing; the limiting factor is not the number of pharmacies, but the purchasing power of the population. Competition also does not improve the quality of service: if there is a non-professional at the first table, what kind of quality can we even talk about?

Our department conducted research on the social significance of the pharmaceutical profession, including its demand among different categories of the population. Among pharmacy visitors, 87% believe that pharmacists and pharmacists are necessary; in expert groups of doctors and pharmacists, this figure is at the level of 82-84%. But pharmacy owners and employers only in 38% of cases believe that pharmacists and pharmacists are needed to satisfy consumer demands.

Is it possible that with such “interest” among employers in specialists, pharmacies will soon be left without pharmacists at all?

- The situation here is ambiguous. According to pharmacists and pharmacists working in pharmacies themselves, employers have little interest in professionals: 42% of respondents think so. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that employers do not strive to improve the qualifications of their employees: only 14.3% of specialists have additional payments for having a qualification category and only 42.8% for professional experience.

However, in reality, pharmacy owners do not want to be left without professionals at all: 54% of employers would like to have “insurance” in the form of experience and knowledge of specialists. At the same time, consumers, according to pharmacy owners, can easily do without specialists (let me remind you that 38% of employers think so).

No prospects, no creativity

- Do pharmacy workers themselves want to grow professionally?

The worst thing is that pharmacy specialists see no prospects for their professional development. Our research has shown that after graduation, 65-70% of newly minted pharmacists and 90-95% of pharmacists go to work in pharmacy organizations, while 30-35% of pharmacists go to pharmaceutical companies. But after a year or two, the situation changes completely: specialists leave pharmacy organizations, where only 45-50% of pharmacists and 75-80% of pharmacists remain. Whenever possible, pharmacists go to work for pharmaceutical companies.

- Probably, the reason for the exodus of specialists from pharmacies is primarily low wages?

This is a significant, but not a decisive factor; the lack of professional prospects and uninteresting work are much more important. Many professionals consider working in pharmacies immoral. It also has an impact that corporate training has a narrow focus, limited, as a rule, to the field of sales. In addition, specialists do not like the fact that pharmacies are staffed by people without pharmaceutical education who have almost the same responsibilities and pay. Pharmacists go to pharmaceutical companies because not only are the salaries higher there, but there are also prospects career growth, interesting work, creative approach.

I want to learn!

It turns out that pharmacists working in pharmacies are not particularly keen on improving their qualifications. Do pharmacists with secondary education want to gain new knowledge?

- According to our research, graduates of pharmaceutical colleges in 87% of cases seek to continue their studies at a university via correspondence courses. The motive is the need to systematize and increase knowledge, self-improvement, prestige, future salary, improving general culture and expanding horizons. Under these conditions, the abolition of the correspondence education system will lead to the fact that the path to professional growth will be closed for pharmacists.

It is no secret that university education is sometimes divorced from practice, and yesterday’s students become disillusioned with the profession without even having time to master it.

This is true for employees of pharmacy organizations. Coming from university to real institutions, students and young professionals feel a contradiction between the theoretical part of the level of moral consciousness and empirically perceived values ​​and real relationships. Everything that a pharmacist was taught at a university remains in minimal demand; his work and salary practically coincide with the work and salary of pharmacists, or even workers without specialized education.

- Are pharmacies not following the rules or are universities out of touch with reality?

Both factors take place. We have already talked about how the excessive number of pharmacies affects the quality of their work. But universities are also failing in many ways. The dominant features of modern pharmaceutical education should be, firstly, cooperation with practice, and secondly, moral regulators: norms, laws.

Important Steps

- What practical steps need to be taken in order to realize these dominants?

A whole range of different measures is needed. First of all, it is necessary to legislatively differentiate the functions of a pharmacist and a pharmacist, providing for these distinctions in educational and professional standards, qualification characteristics and others. regulatory documents. To begin with, it is advisable to introduce a standard stating that only persons with higher professional education can manage a pharmacy. In the future, the entire concept of pharmaceutical activity will have to be changed, which will result in a redistribution of the responsibilities of specialists with higher and secondary education.

In particular, only pharmacists will remain at the first table, as is now customary in developed countries. At the same time, higher pharmaceutical education will take the form of a consistent two-level system, where secondary educational institutions will be organically included in the structure of universities. And before the introduction of a unified system, it is imperative to maintain correspondence higher education for graduates of pharmaceutical colleges.

- Is it necessary to change the curriculum at universities?

Yes, this is a challenge of the time that needs an adequate response. We are required to consolidate the scientific and practical experience of teachers and pharmaceutical workers to develop a new generation of Federal State Educational Standards, providing for changing the names of some disciplines and their rational volume. In particular, I think it is extremely important to strengthen the humanitarian block. But not through regular lecture material, but through training in the form of situational discussion. It is advisable not to grade students for such classes; analyzing the situation in an informal setting is much more effective than a seminar with the “threat of failure.”

- What specialists will graduate from pharmaceutical universities in the end?

Upon completion of the diploma level of the university, it is necessary to graduate general practice pharmacists. The list of specialties needs to be revised taking into account internship and residency. We have already said that the project professional standards it is necessary to revise and have the widest possible discussion among specialists.

It is important that the development and examination of professional standards is carried out not by one structure, as is the case now, but by independent authorities.

Unified state register pharmacists and pharmacists

- How can we combat the dominance of non-professionals, in addition to formal prohibitions that are currently ineffective?

It is required to create a unified state register of pharmacists and pharmacists working in pharmaceutical organizations of all forms of ownership, and to provide for mandatory membership of all specialized specialists in the All-Russian self-regulatory public organization. Moreover, this membership should not be formal; each person should understand that he is in full view of the entire professional community, and value his reputation.

Today, at the level of the Russian Ministry of Health, the task has been set to create a unified register medical workers. But for some reason we are talking only about those who work in state and municipal medical organizations, and private clinics fall out of sight. And nothing is said about the pharmaceutical industry yet.

I consider it advisable to create a register of both medical and pharmaceutical workers, including employees of all specialized institutions, regardless of their form of ownership. Now in our country not only the exact number of specialists is unknown, but also the number of pharmaceutical organizations, which makes it difficult to objectively analyze the situation.

I think that through the joint efforts of the state, the professional pharmaceutical community, and employees of educational institutions, it is quite possible to restore moral guidelines in the industry and make compliance with standards an organic need for specialists.

An employee of a chain pharmacy anonymously spoke about why foreign drugs are better than domestic ones, why pharmacists need microphones in their coats, and what can be expected from customers

Pharmacist education

Not all pharmacy employees have special education. It is required only by pharmacists and pharmacists. You can find consultants in pharmacies - they are usually sent by cosmetic brands to tell customers about cosmetics.

But working at the cash register (or “front desk,” as the pharmacists themselves call it) requires special education. Pharmacists or pharmacists become the “chief leaders”. Pharmacists are trained in medical colleges, and pharmacists in universities. In Moscow, they train to become pharmacists in only two places: at RUDN University and in Sechenovka. There are several strong pharmaceutical universities in other cities of Russia; most often their graduates come to work in Moscow. Of course, there is a difference in higher and secondary specialized education, but it cannot be said that it is noticeable in work. At the university, you are taught for five years both things that you will definitely need for work, and things that are not needed at all. But we shouldn’t assume that higher education is not necessary in our business: after all, after a university, knowledge is deeper.

The work of a pharmacist is very hard. In addition to the fact that you must not forget the names of medications, all contraindications and indications for use, you spend the whole day on your feet, running from one cabinet to another. An occupational disease of pharmacists is varicose veins. It happens that a pharmacist walks kilometers in a day. It’s also not easy to work as a pharmacy director: he is responsible for supplies, personnel selection, solves all utility problems, and at the same time stands behind the counter himself when someone needs to be replaced.

I have a favorite story about inappropriate buyers, it happened several years ago. We received a letter from a man, he wrote about how last night, during sex with his wife, the condom he bought from us broke, and he had to go to the pharmacy for emergency contraception. While he was getting ready, their little son woke up and asked him to buy him “something sweet,” so, in addition to the pills, the man had to buy candy for the child at the pharmacy. In the letter, the man demanded compensation for all expenses - the cost of condoms, which failed him, and money for candy, and the cost of gasoline - only about 500 rubles. We refunded and sent him a gift basket from the pharmacy.

There was another case when, for several weeks in a row, a man came to one pharmacy every morning with a piece of paper worth five thousand rubles and tried to buy a finger pad for 50 kopecks. Every morning they explained to him that the pharmacy would not have change for that amount in the morning, they offered to give him a finger pad, and so on. But in no way - for the man it was important. As a result, he ensured that pharmacists had 4,999 rubles 50 kopecks every morning when the store opened. When the man was able to buy a fingertip several times and get change, he disappeared.

Most of the visitors are striking in their illiteracy. People take the same drugs for years, but do not know what this can lead to. It happens that you try to dissuade a person from buying some medicine because it will not help with his problem or will only worsen the situation, but no one listens to you.

Drug addicts in pharmacies are rare visitors. Not all pharmacies sell narcotic drugs, because there are many problems with them. All such medicines come with one-time prescriptions: upon purchase, the pharmacist takes the prescription and files it in a special book. The pharmacy must keep all these books for years. Of course, not every pharmacy is ready to fool around with this.

The pharmacy business is considered seasonal. In the spring, anti-allergy remedies are traditionally popular, and in the fall – for colds.

Competition between networks

Behind last years Quite a lot of discount pharmacies have appeared. There is a constant struggle between them, in Moscow this is noticeably different, but in the regions there is a real war. There, networks write custom articles against each other, send their people to competitors, and so on. In Moscow, thank God, relations in this regard are more civilized. Discounters put minimal markups on medicines and pay off thanks to a large flow. In general, large chain pharmacies make up only 13% of the total number of pharmacies throughout Russia, the rest are tiny regional chains and private enterprises.

Private pharmacies are doing well. They work with the same people, they know what to buy, they are not influenced by marketing policies and they do not need to constantly set aside money for development. The pharmacy business becomes difficult when it gains momentum.

Now, unfortunately, few pharmacies make their own pills, powders, and so on. At the university we were taught this for two years. Such medicines are easy to make, cheap and effective. For example, for a rash, instead of an expensive, well-promoted cream, you can use freshly prepared zinc ointment for three rubles. A the best remedy for children's colic - this is dill water, which today, too, you won’t find anywhere in the world. But there are very few pharmacies left that prepare medications themselves; there are about ten of them in all of Moscow. This is very sad for the community.