A lot of people are wondering about pharmacists in Switzerland. How to be a pharmacist? What are the responsibilities? How much is can a pharmacist in Switzerland earn? and a lot more!
We will cover all of these topics and a lot more in our article.
Pharmacists in Switzerland
A community pharmacist’s job is multifaceted. It has an impact on medical concepts, as well as social and economic ones. If you want to work in this field, you must enjoy social interaction, take on responsibilities, and be willing to train on a regular basis.
There are numerous opportunities to learn more about a wide range of subjects through post-graduate training, which is available after you complete your studies.
Community pharmacy, aromatherapy, homeopathy, personnel, hospital pharmacy, and so on are examples of these fields.
Also read: Online Pharmacy in Switzerland
Responsibilities of Pharmacists in Switzerland
Pharmaceutical classification
Pharmacies are usually open 6 days a week. People can get basic health advice there. Depending on his assessment of the situation, the pharmacist may prescribe the appropriate medication or refer the patient to another healthcare provider, such as a doctor, hospital, or osteopath.
Providing Information About Medicine Use
By maintaining a patient file, a patient with multiple doctors can ensure that his pharmacist ensures that all of his medications work well together.
The pharmacist can either personally deliver the prescribed medication or ensure that the pharmacy assistant who prepared it did so correctly. hey double-check and triple-check the dosages.
Pharmacists also ensure that the patient is aware of what they intend to do. The correct way to use the drug not only aids in the treatment, relief, or prevention of illnesses, but it also saves a significant amount of money. This contributes to lower healthcare costs.
Producing Magistral Medicines
The pharmacist can make anything from lotion to ointments to capsules to syrups to pills to suppositories as long as there is an official medical prescription. If his lab allows it, the pharmacist can also create sterile preparations such as injectables and eye drops.
Laboratory work necessitates a high level of precision and cleanliness in the execution of tasks. This ensures the finished product’s quality. Naturally, the pharmacist must ensure that the raw materials used to make magistral preparations, such as powders and liquids, are safe. The pharmacist will have to use lab tests to ensure that they are who they claim to be and that they are healthy.
Creating Weekly Schedules
This pharmaceutical service is required to ensure that people take their medications correctly, which improves treatment and reduces waste. If the pharmacy has a partnership with an EMS, weekly books for the elderly or medical facilities for the poor are frequently created.
Employee Education
The pharmacist supervises and instructs pharmacy assistants, apprentices, and trainees.
Dealing With Insurance Claims
Pharmacists typically deliver drugs, but patients are not required to pay right away because, if they have a third-party payment plan through their insurance, their pharmacist will bill their insurance companies directly for the drugs.
This means they are not required to pay right away. Billing is a task that is frequently assigned to a pharmacy assistant. The pharmacist in charge, on the other hand, is in charge of keeping track of how much money is being paid.
Pharmacy Administration
This includes managing the premises, which must be done in a safe manner, particularly in the lab. It also includes the pharmacy’s administrative management, such as rent, electricity, and salaries.
Characteristics and Abilities of Pharmacists in Switzerland
To be a pharmacist and do well in this profession, you must possess certain characteristics and skills, such as:
- Having a strong desire to constantly learn new things
- Being extremely cautious while working
- Appreciating the human touch
- Having fun when you have a lot of work to do
- Business management(staff management, economic aspect)
- Stress management
How to Be a Pharmacist in Switzerland
To become a community pharmacist, a academic program must first be completed. As a result, when the young student reaches the required age, he or she will be able to attend a Swiss university that trains pharmacists.
Only four Swiss universities provide the full training, which includes six semesters for the bachelor’s degree and four more for the master’s, as well as a year of internship in a pharmacy and a hospital setting. This is only available at the universities of Basle, Geneva, Bern, and Zurich.
Pharmacy education can be completed in a variety of locations, including Geneva, Basel, Zurich, and Bern (since the end of the 2010s).
Bachelor’s Degree
Students will learn about the following topics at the bachelor’s level:
- Biology, chemistry, botany, math, physics, computer science, and other “fundamental” disciplines are all important.
- Many basic medical sciences, such as anatomy and microbiology, biochemistry, and others.
- Some of the basic pharmacy sciences are biopharmacy, galenic pharmacy, pharmacology, phytochemistry, hospital pharmacy, and so on.
The student learns about the drug in the third year of his bachelor’s degree, from how to make the active ingredient to how to test the finished product.
Doctoral students will be able to put their knowledge to use during a year of “assistantship (internship) in a pharmacy or hospital.” They will also need to complete their diploma work and take additional classes in the following areas:
- Pharmacoeconomics
- Pharmaceutical follow-up
- Population health
- Pharmaceutical triage
- Pharmaceutical formulations
- Prescription validation
- And other topics
After two years of study, a student must pass a test to become a master of pharmacy. He must first pass the federal tests before he can do anything else. Only pharmacists who have passed their federal exams will be able to work in Swiss pharmacies.
Postgraduate Education
Different association provides community pharmacists with FPH training that prepares them to be experts in all aspects of their job, including health care, treatment costs, personnel management, financial management, alternative medicine, phytotherapy, aromatherapy, and essential oils.
Advantages of Pharmacist Job in Switzerland
There are many positive aspects to the job.
- Hours are changeable. Part-time work is performed by more than 40% of pharmacists, with percentages ranging from 20% to 90%. This is extremely beneficial when it comes to balancing work and home life.
- There is a high demand for pharmacists. Because there aren’t many pharmacists, this job hasn’t had any jobless people in a long time. The supply and demand concept
- One that is specific to the patient. This indicates that she trusts the pharmacist to whom she goes. The social aspect of this job is crucial.
- The opportunity to own your own pharmacy (independent or as a “franchise”).
A significant benefit of the training is that once the pharmacist obtains his master’s degree in pharmacy, he will have a wide range of options. Working in industry (research, sales, and marketing), obtaining a doctorate, working in a hospital, or even starting a business are examples of these (cantonal pharmacist, work within the public health office, Swissmedic).
Disdvantages of Working as a Pharmacist in Switzerland
- If you need medicine, you can go to the pharmacy from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., six days a week, and sometimes even on Sundays (for pharmacies located in stations, for example).
- Guards can be a major issue. Because they are carried out in the evening, at night, on Sundays, and on public holidays. The guards, on the other hand, are dispersed throughout the region’s pharmacies, particularly in the larger cities.
- People must sometimes deal with a large amount of administrative work, which can be time-consuming (accounting, correspondence from cantonal pharmacists, correspondence from pharmaceutical companies, etc.). The pharmacist is frequently assisted by a pharmacy assistant who has received postgraduate administrative management training or by his accountant.
Number of Pharmacists in Switzerland
According to PharmaSuisse, there were 1,998 responsible pharmacists and 3,654 deputy responsible pharmacists in Swiss community pharmacies at the start of 2020. As a result, there are now approximately 5,650 pharmacists working in a Swiss store. By 2020, there will be approximately 342 trainees in Swiss pharmacies (pharmacy students).
According to pharmaSuisse, by the year 2020, there will be over 22,000 people working in one of Switzerland’s 1,806 pharmacies. In the United States, over 9,000 people work as pharmacy assistants.
Pharmacist Salary in Switzerland?
The average annual salary for the profession of Pharmacist in Switzerland is CHF 96,114, including the 13th month and bonus (calculated on the basis of 506 salary data).