Career Overlap Transition record Edition 1 · ESCO v1.2.1
Table 1Transition record

pharmacy assistanttospecialist pharmacist

A pharmacy assistant already meets 53% of what the specialist pharmacist role asks for. The move turns on 22 required skills not yet in the profile.

From pharmacy assistant
53%
Overlap1
To specialist pharmacist
29 Skills carried over
22 Required, not held
61.6 Difficulty2
Career overlap Partial match

53%

Learning distance Substantial retraining

61.6/ 100

1 Share of the specialist pharmacist role’s weighted skill requirement already met by the pharmacy assistant profile. Required skills count in full, supplementary skills at 0.35. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. 2 Combines what is missing with how specialised it is, so a gap of general skills scores easier than the same number of narrow ones.

Why

Why this move works

A specialist pharmacist role treats 28 of its required skills as things a pharmacy assistant already does. These are the ones it depends on most.

  • accept own accountability
  • adhere to organisational guidelines
  • advise on healthcare users' informed consent
  • apply context specific clinical competences
  • apply organisational techniques
  • communicate in healthcare

What stands in the way is 22 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 29 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A specialist pharmacist role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a pharmacy assistant background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held pharmacokinetics health and welfare
  • already held provide pharmaceutical advice communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held homeopathy health and welfare
  • already held pharmaceutical chemistry natural sciences, mathematics and statistics
  • already held educate on the prevention of illness communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held advise on healthcare users' informed consent communication, collaboration and creativity

All 29 carried skills, including the 28 the specialist pharmacist role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you would need to learn

The 31 missing skills fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered below in the order worth working in: the areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the supplementary ones.

Skill to acquire Tier
01 natural sciences, mathematics and statistics 7 required
  • required, not held botany required
  • required, not held microbiology-bacteriology required
  • required, not held inorganic chemistry required
  • required, not held organic chemistry required
  • required, not held pharmacology required
  • required, not held physics required
  • required, not held toxicology required
02 health and welfare 6 required, 1 supplementary
  • required, not held cancer risks required
  • required, not held pharmacognosy required
  • required, not held pharmacotherapy required
  • required, not held human anatomy required
  • required, not held pharmaceutical industry required
  • required, not held pharmaceutical technology required
  • optional, not held medical devices optional
03 assisting and caring 3 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held apply person-centred care required
  • required, not held provide anti-cancer medical treatment required
  • required, not held provide specialist pharmaceutical care required
  • optional, not held manage adverse reactions to drugs optional
  • optional, not held prescribe medication optional
04 communication, collaboration and creativity 3 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held advise on poisoning incidents required
  • required, not held provide specialist pharmaceutical advice required
  • required, not held provide medication information required
  • optional, not held use foreign languages for health-related research optional
  • optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
05 information skills 1 required, 2 supplementary
  • required, not held review patient's medical data required
  • optional, not held perform diagnostic testing for allergies optional
  • optional, not held conduct health related research optional
06 management skills 1 required, 1 supplementary
  • required, not held provide treatment strategies for challenges to human health required
  • optional, not held improve safety of medicines optional

2 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a specialist pharmacist role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 29 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held accept own accountability skill
  • already held adhere to organisational guidelines skill
  • already held advise on healthcare users' informed consent skill
  • already held apply context specific clinical competences skill
  • already held apply organisational techniques skill
  • already held communicate in healthcare skill
  • already held comply with legislation related to health care skill
  • already held comply with quality standards related to healthcare practice skill
  • already held contribute to continuity of health care skill
  • already held deal with emergency care situations skill
  • already held develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship skill
  • already held educate on the prevention of illness skill
  • already held empathise with the healthcare user skill
  • already held ensure safety of healthcare users skill
  • already held follow clinical guidelines skill
  • already held inform policy makers on health-related challenges skill
  • already held interact with healthcare users skill
  • already held listen actively skill
  • already held manage healthcare users' data skill
  • already held pharmaceutical chemistry knowledge
  • already held pharmacokinetics knowledge
  • already held promote inclusion skill
  • already held provide health education skill
  • already held provide pharmaceutical advice skill
  • already held respond to changing situations in health care skill
  • already held use e-health and mobile health technologies skill
  • already held work in a multicultural environment in health care skill
  • already held work in multidisciplinary health teams skill
  • already held homeopathy knowledge
The 2 learning areas not shown above
Skill to acquire Tier
07 business, administration and law 1 required
  • required, not held pharmacy law required
08 working with machinery and specialised equipment 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held maintain medical devices optional
9 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to acquire Tier
  • optional, not held improve safety of medicines optional
  • optional, not held manage adverse reactions to drugs optional
  • optional, not held perform diagnostic testing for allergies optional
  • optional, not held prescribe medication optional
  • optional, not held conduct health related research optional
  • optional, not held maintain medical devices optional
  • optional, not held medical devices optional
  • optional, not held use foreign languages for health-related research optional
  • optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
22 held skills the specialist pharmacist role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role check for medication expiry terms skill
  • not needed by the target role check information on prescriptions skill
  • not needed by the target role communicate by telephone skill
  • not needed by the target role communicate in foreign languages with health service providers skill
  • not needed by the target role communicate with customers skill
  • not needed by the target role ensure quality assurance for pharmaceutical products skill
  • not needed by the target role ensure the appropriate supply in pharmacy skill
  • not needed by the target role follow procedures to control substances hazardous to health skill
  • not needed by the target role handle petty cash skill
  • not needed by the target role handle the logistics of medicinal products skill
  • not needed by the target role hygiene in a health care setting knowledge
  • not needed by the target role maintain adequate medication storage conditions skill
  • not needed by the target role maintain pharmaceutical records skill
  • not needed by the target role medicines knowledge
  • not needed by the target role medicines for self-medication knowledge
  • not needed by the target role obtain healthcare user's medical status information skill
  • not needed by the target role operate cash register skill
  • not needed by the target role phytotherapy knowledge
  • not needed by the target role prepare prescription labels skill
  • not needed by the target role process medical insurance claims skill
  • not needed by the target role take pharmaceutical inventory skill
  • not needed by the target role transfer medication skill
15 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to acquire Tier
  • required, not held botany required
  • required, not held cancer risks required
  • required, not held microbiology-bacteriology required
  • required, not held pharmacognosy required
  • required, not held pharmacotherapy required
  • required, not held human anatomy required
  • required, not held inorganic chemistry required
  • required, not held organic chemistry required
  • required, not held pharmaceutical industry required
  • required, not held pharmaceutical technology required
  • required, not held pharmacology required
  • required, not held pharmacy law required
  • required, not held physics required
  • required, not held toxicology required
  • optional, not held medical devices optional
Index

Other moves recorded from pharmacy assistant

Full index of moves from pharmacy assistant

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.