If you want to be one of the most important members of your community, become a pharmacist. Pharmacists come to the rescue whenever we have a cold or headache, or when we have more serious medical needs.
Choose your specialisation
Pharmacy is also one of those professions where graduates have a wide choice when it comes to their workplace. Community pharmacists have a range of responsibilities; in addition to processing prescriptions they run their own businesses. Hospital pharmacists supply medication and work in conjunction with doctors and other health professionals to implement drug therapy programs. Industrial pharmacists are involved with the manufacture and distribution of medicinal products.
The Australian advantage
If you think this is the career for you, prepare for rigorous training at university before you can practise. This rule applies the world over. However, with unique requirements for registration in different countries, is an Australian qualification a good investment?
The answer is ‘yes’. The pharmacy profession now has fewer international boundaries, with a growing number of countries acknowledging the equivalence of Australian qualifications. International students from as far and wide as Malaysia, Canada, Fiji, Hong Kong and Nepal have studied in Australia before practising at home. To find out more, contact the registration authority in the country that you plan to work in.
Professional qualifications in pharmacy are available in most areas of Australia. Even so, they are offered at only a few campuses. This makes them difficult to enter, but also highly prestigious.
Once you have completed the formal elements of training, you will begin a year’s supervised practice.
More options for postgraduate study
But if the above sounds familiar, you have probably completed your registration and are now thinking about postgraduate study.
Postgraduate courses in this field are usually designed for people who already have a degree in the field. You can choose from a range of graduate certificates, graduate diplomas, masters degrees, PhDs and even professional doctorates.
Pharmacy is a secure and interesting career. Use our Search function to find a list of Australian institutions offering qualifications in this field.
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