Community Pharmacy Assistant

The Community Pharmacy Assistant program prepares an individual in collaboration with a pharmacist and a pharmacy technician registered by the Ontario College of Pharmacists to dispense, sell and compound medications; manage inventory; interact with patients and other health care providers and assist in the provision of medication therapy management and pharmacy services.

Students will learn concepts and problem solving strategies in the classroom that are later reinforced during lab components in Fanshawe’s state-of-the-art pharmacy lab and a community placement. Students also gain the skills to collaborate with other pharmacy health care professionals to ensure accurate patient record maintenance, process prescriptions, manage inventory, compound non-sterile products and assist customers with products sold in a community pharmacy.

What You’ll Learn

• Comply with all legislation governing pharmacy practice while adhering to established ethical standards and practices.
• Assist the pharmacist and/or pharmacy technician in dispensing, packaging and labelling of prescription products ensuring precision and accuracy.
• Discuss commonly encountered medical conditions and the basic pharmacologic drug classes which pertain to these conditions using appropriate medical language, pharmacological naming, terminology and non-proprietary/proprietary drug names.
• Compound non-sterile pharmaceutical products according to current standards, policies and guidelines.
• Perform data base entry, third party plan adjudication, inventory control, marketing plan implementation and cash handling processes.
• Effectively communicate and collaborate with patients, pharmacy team members, care providers and other health professionals in provision of excellent customer service.
• Recognize and refer instances requiring pharmacist intervention and pharmacy technician verification.