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 should not 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. Besides 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.

About salaries and turnover

Pharmacists receive approximately 40 to 50 thousand rubles. Pharmacy directors - from 50 to 100 thousand. However, to earn 100 thousand rubles in such a position, you need to be the director of a very cool and popular pharmacy, and there are not many of them. All pharmacy chains have several “milking” outlets, which feed the entire company with their revenue. They have huge sales. For example, there was one pharmacy in a luxury shopping center, where monthly revenue reached 19–20 million rubles. The standard visitors there are women who buy creams for 25–30 thousand rubles and can easily spend, for example, a hundred at a time. The main thing in the financial success of any pharmacy is its location. People usually stop by to pick up medications on their way home or to work, so it is important that the location is accessible. Here, as a rule, the concept of “favorite brand” does not work.

All pharmacy chains there are several “stop” points, who feed the entire company with their revenue. They have colossal sales


Everyone thinks that pharmacies make crazy money, but in reality this is not at all true. Take a grocery store for comparison: you can make whatever markup you want, hire people without education or migrants as cashiers. Work in the store is continuous, and each check averages 500–1000 rubles. With a pharmacy, everything is completely different: you only need qualified specialists to work, since they are obliged to help a person choose medications, you cannot make a large markup, and they don’t leave a lot of money at the pharmacy either. Spending 2,000 rubles on groceries in a store is not a problem for a Muscovite, but in a pharmacy it is already a whole event.

Buyers

The most paradoxical thing is that still, in 2014, people are embarrassed to buy condoms. Usually their purchase looks like this: a man of about 30 comes and buys a bunch of nonsense like cough drops, foot cream, aspirin and in the end, as if casually, asks for condoms.

Inappropriate people very often come to the pharmacy and create scandals and pogroms. There was a case where a woman herself was rude to a pharmacist, demolished a display window, and then wrote a complaint against the seller. In such situations, brawlers don’t think that, in fact, every pharmacy has more than one surveillance camera, and some pharmacists have microphones built into their coats (many chains monitor the quality of service this way).

Still,
in 2014, people
embarrassed to buy condoms


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.

Several weeks in a row in one pharmacy every morning a man came with a piece of paper
five thousand rubles
and tried buy a fingertip for 50 kopecks

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

Quite a lot of discount pharmacies have appeared in recent years. 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. And the best remedy for baby colic 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.

Illustrations: Masha Shishova

“Big Village” talked to pharmacy workers about how they manage to maintain their conscience and make money at the inconvenient intersection of medicine and business, why medicines are so expensive and who are they really - missionary doctors or ordinary sellers? All character names have been changed.

Irina Nepryakhina, 58 years old

Retired pharmacist

I never dreamed of being a pharmacist: I planned to enter a state university to study biology. But then my cousin and her friend submitted documents to the Ulyanovsk pharmaceutical school and asked me: “Aren’t you afraid of not getting in?” I got scared that I really might not be able to cope with the exams, and I went to Ulyanovsk with them. In the end, I graduated and my sister dropped out, so we only have one pharmacist in our family.

Two years later, I received a diploma with honors and was assigned to a production pharmacy in Kuibyshev. The manager was a tough old maid. Now I understand that she did everything right, but then it seemed that we were simply being oppressed: according to the health regime, long nails are not allowed, earrings are not allowed, but that’s what we wanted! Today I am grateful to her and the other pharmacists from that team: they were experienced specialists who could distribute the components for the medicine even without scales - and they were never mistaken. At the same time, everything was taken under strict control: first the medicine was checked by a pharmacist-analyst, then by a pharmacist-technologist, and before giving it to the patient, everything was checked again.

The pharmacy was considered a hazardous industry, we worked seven hours a day and also received milk

Such pedantry and scrupulousness extended to other areas of the lives of pharmacy workers. At the same time, they really loved people - they even forgave drug addicts. We had one regular client from a neighboring house who, as a boy, ran to the pharmacy for vitamins, and then grew up and became a drug addict. One day he came to the pharmacy with his child and began to demand a drug that could cause drug addiction. At that time it was sold without a prescription, but the pharmacist in the capital ( working at the first table, that is, at the cash register - approx. ed.) saw that in front of her was an already insane person, and did not want to give him pills. Word by word, he began to threaten and pulled out a knife. The woman was behind glass and her life was not in danger, but she was very scared for the child, quietly slid under the counter and crawled into the manager’s office, from where she called the police. And when she wrote a statement against that drug addict, she felt sorry for him and smoothed over some aspects. This guy, by the way, was released quite quickly, and he later came to apologize.

I liked working in a pharmacy, and in the eighties I entered the Kuibyshev Medical Institute to study to become a pharmacist. Compared to a pharmacist, he has a broader outlook and a higher degree of responsibility. According to my assignment, I went to work in another city, and then I got married and was reassigned back to Kuibyshev.

Here I, a pharmacist-analyst, was hired at a large pharmacy - in addition to customers, we served ten hospitals. It was very scary on the first day, but I quickly became friends with the team - we communicate and still meet to this day. At that time, the staff of pharmacies was completely different from what it is now: there was always a manager, two or three deputies, a pharmacist-analyst - the shift leader, pharmacists-technologists who take medications and work with visitors. In the assistant's room there was another pharmacist-technologist who sat opposite the pharmacist and watched him prepare the drugs. There were also pharmacists and packers - after all, medicines were prepared in large volumes at once, for example, during the flu period, children's cough medicine was made in liters. Next in the hierarchy were the nurse and the cleaning lady. Since the pharmacy was considered a hazardous industry, we worked seven hours a day and also received milk.

During the first three years after graduation, a pharmacist earned 85 rubles a month, and a pharmacist earned 105 rubles. You could live peacefully with this money.

Today I would not undertake to believe the saying “Exactly like in a pharmacy”

After some time, our head decided to make me her deputy, but according to the rules, I could only switch to a new specialization five years after graduating from university, and they had not yet passed. Then the manager talked to the head of the pharmacy department, I went to Pyatigorsk for retraining and after a month and a half became deputy manager.

The nineties were a difficult time for pharmacy workers: state pharmacies were first corporatized and then began to sell. If you owned shares in a pharmacy, but another person owned the premises, you could be kicked out of there at any time, having your shares taken away. At the same time, people came into our field who didn’t care what to trade, and the spirit for which I loved my work left. Today I would not undertake to believe the saying “Exactly like in a pharmacy.”

My colleagues have changed, as has our entire country. Previously, there was strict accounting and documents were kept from the founding of the institution, in our case - 70 years. Now new “opportunities” have opened up - for example, mobile kiosks have appeared. People took a car and drove around villages selling medicines. That’s where the temptations began: you arrived in a distant village, there were no cash registers, only cash. You were told to sell the medicine for 29 rubles 50 kopecks, but no one has these kopecks, why not sell it for 30. Where does the surplus go? In your pocket!

Previously, everyone was responsible for their own workplace and knew their responsibilities, but here - if the cleaning lady doesn’t come, you also wash the floors

Those people who today organized large trading companies were just starting out then - they transported medicines from Moscow in checkered bags. Then they delivered them to some pharmacy to the head of the capital and asked them to sell them past the cash register, and split the proceeds. Since there was no longer any control, it was almost impossible to track the scheme and the number of packages. After the 2000s, computers appeared in pharmacies, and it became more difficult to carry out fraud, but by that time the people had already become corrupted and were accustomed to having money that they had not earned. To my bitterness, the first to fall for this deception were the old pharmacists I respected: they were accustomed to a small salary and easy money became too strong a temptation for them.

Then things got worse: hospitals began to leave us because they had nothing to pay for medicine. Private pharmacies appeared, disrupting the entire structure: in the Soviet Union, pharmacies had to be no closer than 100 meters from each other, and each had ten thousand inhabitants. Private ones opened three per house - that was the first time we heard about competition. Then the owner of our pharmacy changed, turnover fell, salaries became lower - and we slowly began to quit. I myself left in 2002 and got a job in a private pharmacy.

Nowadays you rarely see pharmacies where they make medicine - they mostly operate at hospitals, although there are a few private ones left. Now it’s unprofitable: it’s one thing to sell a package of a drug, it’s another thing to keep a whole staff of pharmacists, analysts, controllers, but you also need mortars, calibrated scales, filter material - what are the costs? Nowadays, pharmacies usually have a manager and two chief managers, who replace each other, and that’s the whole team.

I just worked my ass off and happily retired

Over time, pharmacies began to look more and more like regular stores, and pharmacists increasingly began to be called sellers. At first it hurt my ears terribly. More and more cosmetics appeared on the shelves, the staff was laid off more and more, and the schedule was tightened to 12 hours a day - and no bonuses for being “harmful”, you’re stupidly standing behind the cash register. There wasn't even time to eat. Previously, everyone was responsible for their own workplace and knew their responsibilities, but here, if the cleaning lady doesn’t come, you also wash the floors. But there was no need to complain about the salary: my relatives in agriculture received 5 thousand rubles, and I received 12, it was decent money.

I worked on a two-by-two schedule - I shipped the goods, and in between I ran around unloading 50 boxes of goods. On weekends I came home and lay down like a corpse - what lessons with the child, what food for breakfast? I barely had enough strength to run to the store, cook something and start the laundry.

I also worked in a large pharmacy chain - the process there is usually well-established, but there are other problems: large chains carefully studied foreign experience and realized that they could get additional income by selling drugs of their own brand. And then a person comes to you, and you have to offer him not the usual valerian for 9 rubles, but a branded one for 18. If you don’t sell it, you will lose points that give a bonus to your salary. In general, I was lucky that I was never poor and was not forced to make such deals with my conscience, but sometimes I still had to - when the salaries of my colleagues could depend on my sale.

I didn’t like this state of affairs, and I moved to a pharmacy at one of the Samara hospitals. I was happy, I thought that there would be doctors here who would make a prescription, and I could simply give the medicines. But alas, the sick came and conveyed the words “Go to the pharmacy, they will tell you everything.”

The new place was more like a perfume store: a bunch of cosmetics, some medicines and parapharmaceuticals - all sorts of lotions, shampoos, toothpastes. But I liked it there: I led an excellent team, no one stole. We constantly educated ourselves, studying medical journals, and from there in 2015 we learned about the order of the Ministry of Health No. 707n, according to which a pharmacist holding a leadership position cannot dispense medicines at the checkout counter. I was retiring that year, but the order affected my colleagues: if earlier the pharmacist-organizer could do everything and therefore was the highest level in the pharmacy, now his functionality was limited only to what was written in the diploma: they say, since he is an organizer, then give orders and don't go behind the counter. In small teams it is impossible not to interfere - and for fear of losing their jobs, pharmacists with extensive experience again went to study and receive additional certificates. During their studies, they became interns and lost wages. How painful it was to watch!

I haven't been working for the last three years. I won’t say that I’m disappointed in the profession, I’m just tired. There is such a thing as professional burnout - this is about me. The last years before retirement were especially difficult: we always had a queue, we received goods every day, and even participated in the renovation of the pharmacy. I moved the cabinets myself, stayed late after work, scrubbing dirt off them, making sure no one broke the display cases. I just worked my ass off and happily retired.

Finally, one more story. I had a girl I knew who sold shoes. Her neighbor opened a pharmacy and offered to work there. And she, without thinking for a minute about possible difficulties, agreed. She did not know that there were different dosages of medications, nor about storage conditions - they asked for the drug, she gave it. And she worked for quite a long time, and she also told me: “What, do you think I know less than you?” I try not to think about it and still believe that being a pharmacist is a responsible and very worthy job, but many today don’t care what to sell - either shoes or pills.

Ekaterina Gurbanova, 28 years old

Head of pharmacy in a large federal chain

The entire dynasty of women in my family are health workers: it seems that medicine was ingrained in the blood of my family a hundred years ago, if not more. After ninth grade, of course, I also went to medical college - the question of choosing an educational institution was not even raised.

After graduating, I got a job as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, but about a year later I realized that without a higher education I had no prospects: with a college diploma, your limit in pharmacy is to stand behind the cash register. But with higher education, you can already open your own pharmacy or become the head of one of the existing ones. So I entered the Reaviz Medical University and successfully graduated in 2016.

Unlike college, where I went without fully understanding that I was getting a serious education, at university I studied absolutely consciously. During my studies, I finally realized that I really like medicine - I get a thrill from helping people.

The salary of a pharmacist directly depends on the volume of revenue: in Moscow on average it comes out to about 45,000 rubles, here it is two times less

In "Reaviz" there were no simple objects at all - just a dozen different types of chemistry. But if you want to understand and develop, learning will be quite easy. The main focus of the program was on studying the effects of drugs on the human body, but we also had a mandatory course in nursing. It turns out that I spent ten whole years on medical education - four years in college and six at the institute. Therefore, it is very offensive when we, pharmacists, are considered sellers and not doctors.

Knowledge in medicine is very important for our profession, as more and more people bypass trips to doctors and go to get advice directly at the pharmacy. This is due to the fact that it takes a long time to go to the clinic: you need to take a referral, wait for your turn - it’s easier to tell the pharmacist about your problem and get treatment here and now. It has gotten to the point where some come purely for consultation. I try not to refuse anyone and help everyone.

I now have about ten years of work experience; I have worked in both local and federal pharmacies. The salary of a pharmacist directly depends on the volume of revenue: in Moscow, for example, the average is about 45,000 rubles, here it is two times less.

They may wish you to burn in hell if you didn’t find change for 1000 rubles when you bought it at 20

At the pharmacy where I now work, I have a lot of responsibilities, because I decided to take on everything - I am both the manager and the front desk worker. Each company has its own rules - in ours, for example, I am obliged to work at the cash register, dispense medications, maintain pharmaceutical order and cleanliness in the sales area. I also monitor the expiration dates of all medications in stock - and these are only the duties of the cashier. As a manager, I control the work of the staff, sales, pricing - in short, I am involved in the development of the pharmacy for which I am responsible.

My working day begins with opening a shift and setting myself up for the positive. It is very important: you need to greet gloomy people who have a shooting in their ear with a smile. After this comes the morning check of the pharmaceutical order, and then, in fact, work with customers.

Pharmaceutical order is a separate, big concern; it is associated with compliance with the rules for storing medicines: some need to be kept in a dark place, external medications cannot be stored with internal ones, prescription medications with over-the-counter ones, and so on. There is even a phrase “like in a pharmacy” - everything should be clear and in its place: something in the closet, something on the shelf, something in the safe, and nothing else. This procedure is monitored daily by all employees. We also check display cases throughout the day to make sure everything is displayed beautifully, according to merchandising.

I see drug addicts as soon as they cross the threshold of the pharmacy

To become a really good pharmacist, you need to know the composition, indications, treatment regimens, compatibility and special points for taking almost every one of the 10-15 thousand medications that are sold in pharmacies. And I say with confidence that to this day I am improving my knowledge in this in-depth pharmacology, because something new is constantly appearing on the market or you simply forget some points, since the amount of information is really huge.

In practice, in industrial pharmacies we were taught to prepare certain types of medicines, such as anti-grippin, rectal suppositories and ointments - it was very exciting, but this does not help me in my work. At home, I can only make “chatter” or a decoction, because there is no special equipment and ingredients.

What I don’t like most is vampire customers - they come to get on your nerves and get enough of your energy. Such people are capable of turning any situation into a scandal. They may wish you to burn in hell if you didn’t find change for 1000 rubles when you bought 20. But I must say that there are still more grateful buyers.

Men try to speak to a minimum, quickly buy the necessary drug and run away - sometimes, according to the classics, they say that they are buying for a friend

I see drug addicts as soon as they cross the threshold of the pharmacy. They give off an indescribable trail of alcohol, tobacco and something similar to acetone. And they also look typical: unhealthy skin color and dark circles under the eyes. But in general, there are now fewer drug addicts in pharmacies. Several years ago, a law was passed according to which drugs that can have a narcotic effect are sold exclusively with a doctor’s prescription, and the prescription form is taken and stored in the pharmacy for three to five years. And syringes are now sold only in packages.

One day, three people tried to buy four packages of medicine from me, from which they extract an extract and cook drugs. One of them asked for the drug, I took it out, but according to the rules, I can give it back only after I receive the money and give a check with change. And right at the moment of payment, two other visitors called me into the hall so that I could advise them. As soon as I walked away from the counter, the guy grabbed all four packs and ran away - then they cost around 250 rubles per pack. And there are a lot of such cases.

Six months ago, we were robbed by a group of young robbers - they grabbed everything that was on the open display case, which at that time stood near the entrance. A closed display protects against such cases, but an open display is more convenient for customers and brings more profit.

In the pharmacy we have measures to counteract thieves: this includes security and an alarm button under the counter, after pressing which the State Investigation Bureau arrives in 3-5 minutes. I never pressed it, because usually everything happens very quickly - you just don’t have time to react.

Sometimes people ask for an injection or to cure a wound that does not heal for a long time - some even took off their pants to show what was wrong with them

Buyers constantly ask strange questions, my favorite is “Do you have those little green pills in blue packaging?” Or, for example, they want a medicine with an “N” - most often they even manage to guess it, but the “N” is either not there at all, or is somewhere in the middle or at the end. Sometimes they ask for condoms, I ask: “Which ones?” In response: “Which ones do you like best?” I am very surprised by mothers who ask for “something for fever” for an infant who has had 39 with a cough for the second day. What do you do at the pharmacy? It's time for you to call an ambulance!

Delicate problems can also be difficult, especially when men come into the pharmacy. They try to speak to a minimum, quickly buy the necessary drug and run away - sometimes, according to the classics, they say that they are buying for a friend. People can be so ignorant in the medical aspect that when a person takes a drug, just in case, I explain exactly how it should be used. For example, there was one granny who came to complain that after taking the suppositories her stomach hurt. We first looked for a problem in the compatibility of medications, and then found out that she simply swallowed these suppositories.

I have had to provide first aid at the pharmacy more than once. People often come here with abrasions and cuts; once a person lost consciousness. Sometimes people ask for an injection or to treat a wound that has not healed for a long time - some even took off their pants to show what was wrong with them. This summer, since our pharmacy was located near the fan zone, people ran to us to buy water, so it was quite tight in stores. We even had to pump out guys who were falling from basic dehydration.

Sometimes you ask questions to the buyer and realize that the person is being treated for the wrong thing.

The worst mistake clients make is self-medication in the spirit of: “My neighbor drinks and it helps her, so that means I will too.” No matter how knowledgeable pharmacists may be, we do not have x-ray vision and cannot give comprehensive advice on all cases of disease. I promote consultations with specialists - this is very important. When purchasing medications, I always ask clarifying questions like “for whom?”, “for what?”, “what were you treated with before?”, “are there any chronic diseases?” and so on.

Now there is active propaganda on the Internet, which shouts that there is no need to take a medicine for 500 rubles if you can take its equivalent for 45. The fact is that few people understand that the price is connected not only with the brand, but also with quality goods. Sometimes, you have to explain to people at a primitive level that there is sausage for 100 rubles and for 500 - this is the same difference between cheap and expensive drugs.

When a client asks for advice on something, I always start with original drugs and at the same time explain what’s what. If the price doesn’t suit me, I offer something cheaper and gradually work my way down.

The conversation with the buyer is very important, because each case is individual and needs to be analyzed - sometimes you ask the client questions and you understand that the person is being treated for the wrong thing. For example, recently a man came for a dietary supplement to normalize intestinal flora, but in the end it turned out that he was taking them for allergies! The work of a pharmacist requires a lot of patience: all kinds of people come to you who are in pain - they are vulnerable and want support. Sometimes you have to turn into a psychologist in order to find an individual approach to a person.

Lately I’ve been thinking about going and studying to become a dermatovenerologist - now I’m more interested in treating rather than selling. I want to become a professional cosmetologist who gives various injections and practices aesthetic cosmetology.

Ulyana Kuznetsova, 25 years old

Pharmacist in a large federal chain

I fell in love with chemistry at school - thanks to my teacher. But due to a conflict with other teachers who lowered my grades, I could not stay until the 11th grade, and went to medical college to become a pharmacist. Thanks to my good academic performance, I was accepted without exams, and studying was easy for me: I was able to cope with both the school curriculum and specialized subjects within a time or two.

Already in my fourth and final year, I went to work in a pharmacy as a packer to get an inside look at working in pharmaceuticals. Well, having received my diploma, I got a job as a pharmacist there.

At first everything was great, I wanted to try everything and find out everything. My passion disappeared after about a year and a half of work due to the fact that my superiors underestimated me. I quit, worked for about a year at another pharmacy in Krasny Yar, and then got married and worked for another three years at one of the Samara pharmacies. I am currently on maternity leave with a total work experience of six years.

After several years of work, you know exactly what to offer the buyer, taking into account marketing and the established sales plan

I also started studying part-time at Reaviz, and before going to the academy, I managed to complete three courses. But now I doubt whether I should go back to school. The fact is that in a regular pharmacy, a pharmacist does not have any special advantages over a simple pharmacist - for example, the difference in salary is only about 1000 rubles, and to become a manager, you don’t have to get a tower - you can just work in one place for five years and get this job title. In fact, a higher education as a pharmacist is only needed to work somewhere in production, and you can’t get there that easily.

My working day began at seven in the morning and ended at seven in the evening. I came, removed the alarm and turned on the cash registers. Then she checked the storage conditions of the drugs - took readings from thermometers and hygrometers and wrote everything down in a journal. In the pharmacy, everything is stored strictly in its place: in the back safe there are drugs for subject-quantitative accounting, issued strictly according to a prescription, in other safes there are herbal and strong-smelling medicines. There is a special quarantine zone for medicines that have expired or are suspected of being counterfeit. The right conditions are created with the help of air conditioners and humidifiers.

At 8:00 the pharmacy opened to visitors, and I began consulting. In college, we didn’t study medications in detail, but at my first pharmacy they gave us special courses where they told us how to calculate the right drug based on symptoms, and inside the cash register there was a special program that helped us find it using algorithms. After several years of work, you already know unmistakably what you need to offer the buyer, taking into account marketing and the sales plan established by your superiors.

Even with the most boring grandmothers, it is enough to remain silent somewhere and just smile to nullify all their discontent

By the way, I have an absolutely normal attitude towards cheap analogues of expensive drugs. Yes, the original has gone through many tests and experiments, but there are less popular copies that are no different from it in composition and properties. Everyone has different wallets, and if a person cannot buy an expensive drug, I am ready to advise him on something more affordable. Within reasonable limits, of course: I will not offer a generic that is ten times cheaper than the original.

My salary directly depended on sales - on average I earned 25-30 thousand rubles with a base salary of 16 thousand. The highest salary was when I just started working: due to my enthusiasm and bonuses for good sales, I received around 35 thousand rubles.

I have learned to find an approach to all types of clients - even with the most boring grandmothers, it is enough to remain silent somewhere and just smile to nullify all their dissatisfaction. Oddly enough, the most squeezed were young people - many were embarrassed to ask for contraceptives or, for example, anti-flatulence medications.

It happened that buyers, their eyes widening, begged to sell them illegal drugs without a prescription. I always refused because it was illegal, and two years ago, when these drugs were on open sale, I looked carefully at the people who were trying to buy them. Drug addicts tend to be very nervous, so they are easy to spot.

Pharmacists can now be compared to consultants from communication shops who push you a phone for 60 thousand while you simply deposit money into your account

There were also cases of theft - one happened in the first year of my work. We had an open display and expensive cosmetics were on display. Evening, I’m standing near the cash register and talking to the security guard. The bell rings, a man comes into the hall, buys some medicine and seems to leave - at least it seemed so to us, because the bell on the door rang again. And then we hear a rustling sound. We go out into the hall and see the same man squatting behind a shelf and putting cosmetics from the display case into a bag. We didn’t have time to catch him, he ran away, abandoning the loot - there were seven thousand worth of goods in the package. After this incident, we removed all the “expensive” items behind glass on a turnkey basis.

From time to time I had to press the panic button, which we were forced to carry in our robe pocket. Most often this happened when all sorts of drunks came to us to get rowdy or to sleep - the rapid response team picked them up about five minutes after the call.

I love pharmaceuticals, so it upsets me that a pharmacist has now been turned into a salesman. If you want to get a good salary, you must fulfill the sales plan - offer some drugs not because you want to help, but because the management requires you to sell some brand. Of course, this does not amount to deception, but in general this approach can be compared to the work of consultants from communication stores who push you a phone for 60 thousand while you simply deposit money into your account.

Everyone knows who a pharmacist is. This profession is tempting at first glance. It would seem that medical romance is present, and the responsibility is relatively small. But is it really so? What is working as a pharmacist, what are the pros and cons of it?

Are pharmacists and pharmacists the same thing?

There is a widespread belief among ordinary people that a pharmacist is a person who works as a salesperson in a pharmacy. And no more. In fact, it is not entirely true; representatives of this profession work both in laboratories and in the production of pharmaceutical products. However, it is important to understand that working as a pharmacist in a pharmacy requires only secondary specialized education, and in order to participate in the development of new drugs or work, say, as a technologist at an enterprise that produces drugs, you need a specialized higher education. A pharmacist of the highest category is a pharmacist, a specialist who can begin his career either at the pharmacy counter, or immediately in some more serious organization. It is worth noting that the trade in pharmaceutical products is developing rapidly, and the lack of qualified personnel is obvious. It is not uncommon for pharmacists with secondary specialized education to become managers of pharmacies after several years of work.

Working as a pharmacist in a pharmacy: features of the profession

A pharmacist working in a pharmacy must not only dispense medications and count customers, but also have a good understanding of the drugs sold. Do not forget that some types of pharmaceutical products cannot be sold without a prescription. Another common situation is when a customer comes to a pharmacy and asks: “Give me something for my head.” The pharmacist must not only select the appropriate remedy for the described symptoms, but also try to convince the client to see a doctor, especially if the situation is serious. As for responsibility, here too everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Many medications are expensive, and even if you work honestly and accurately, there is a high risk that colleagues from another shift will not be the same. Is it easy to find a job as a pharmacist in a pharmacy? There shouldn’t be any difficulties; even employees without and with secondary specialized education are in demand.

Working hours and average salary of a pharmacist

All pharmacies in our country are divided into round-the-clock and open 10-12 hours. The most common are 2/2 or 3/3; 24-hour ones usually have different employees working day and night. Accordingly, there is a night shift - that’s the kind of work it is. The night pharmacist works with a minimum number of visitors. Some 24-hour pharmacies practice daily schedules. How much do pharmacists earn? For Moscow, the lower salary level for specialists in this profile is around 30 thousand rubles; for the provinces, the average amount is exactly half that - 15 thousand rubles. Working as a pharmacist is interesting in its own way, but not always easy - not all pharmacy visitors behave culturally. Physical activity is also high - after all, you have to spend most of the working day on your feet.

Details

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, means lower wages, less interesting work, 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 increases. 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.

It is well known that pharmacies are an extremely profitable business. For many, it will be a discovery that only the owner receives the real profit. And what about pharmacists, is it profitable for them to work in a pharmacy? Apart from access to medications (non-prescription) when you or someone close to you is sick, and even then during working hours, I don’t see any advantages! But first things first…

Direct responsibilities of a pharmacist:

1. Customer service, issuance of requested medications.

2. Consulting an uninformed buyer regarding the most appropriate medications.

3. Displaying 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 audit for a certain period.

6. Cleaning display cases.

I hope I didn’t surprise you with the above?! Even if a pharmacist is hired to work at the checkout, no one has canceled the remaining points - the requirement of the majority of managers or owners of pharmacy points.

Pharmacist salary in different regions of Russia

A St. Petersburg pharmacy worker, standing behind the cash register and secretly performing other duties, receives about 28,000 rubles a month. The capital's mid-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. Pharmacists in our northern region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, fall into the same income range (this is surprising given our prices for consumer goods!).

The specified level of Russian salaries in the pharmaceutical sector is the highest. A simple pharmacist with secondary specialized education and no work experience or less than one year of experience is unlikely to receive more than 15,000 rubles. Higher education has a higher priority in the evaluation of a working month - 25,000 rubles. A pharmacy pharmacist with extensive experience can hope for 50,000 rubles, but not in the provinces, but in St. Petersburg. This city is a kind of leader that values ​​​​pharmaceutical activities.

Now you need to subtract from the indicated amounts taxes and fines established by the management of pharmacies in some cases. Some enterprises hire special inspectors to evaluate the work activities of each employee. Based on this, salaries are calculated. What if management pays for work based on revenue? It's not a very attractive picture!

Such stringent requirements lead to the fact that we, people who are sick and in need of medicine, are forced to buy expensive drugs. Because they were advised by a professional and convinced of the benefits and quality of the medicine. It is not a fact that they will be the most effective. But the pharmacist’s revenue and, accordingly, salary will be higher!

Pharmacy workers can be understood: not everyone is able to stand on their feet for 12 hours and serve clients with different needs and personalities one after another. You come across an old woman who doesn’t understand anything, and explain to her the whole history of the tablet…

So, is it profitable to work in a pharmacy? Try to answer this question yourself, knowing the information I provided in the article.