Community Pharmacy Assistants provide customer service and retail sales skills in Pharmacies, and sometimes dispense medicines. They will complete tasks including:

• Stocking shelves
• Checking out items for purchase
• Controlling and ordering inventory
• Selling beauty and toiletry items
• Helping to dispense medicines
• Providing basic advice about health and medicines to customers.

Hospital Pharmacy Assistants complete tasks including:

• Preparing, dispensing and supplying medicines from a prescription under the supervision of a pharmacist
• Maintaining and reviewing stock levels of medicines
• Assist in the preparation of medicines
• Assisting with inventory management including ordering, receiving, storage, distribution and stocktake of medicines
• Assisting with customer service and patient care with relation to pharmaceutical healthcare.

• You could work in a community (retail) pharmacy. Community Pharmacy Assistants require more customer service skills and will deal more with general health issues seen in the community.
• Hospital and Health Services
• Community care facilities

You will need to enjoy working with a broad range of people, as Community Pharmacy Assistants sell products and provide advice to a broad range of people. You will need to develop a general knowledge of health conditions and medications, so literacy and numeracy skills are important.

There is an age requirement to work in a pharmacy – The Queensland Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996 stipulates that pharmacy assistant employees must be 16 years of age or more to be authorised to sell Pharmacy Only medicines.