皇家墨尔本理工大学

Your career as a pharmacist

As a pharmacist you ensure safe and effective use of medicines. Career options include working in both community and hospital pharmacies, for the pharmaceutical industry, or in administration.

What you will study

In this course you’ll gain knowledge of how drugs are formulated into medicines and administered and how they are used in the treatment of disease.

This four-year degree is your first step to becoming a pharmacist. It prepares you for the one-year internship program that you need to successfully complete in order to gain Australia-wide registration.

Once you've successfully completed the degree and the internship, you can practise in any area of pharmacy in Australia, including community or hospital pharmacy.

Alternatively, the degree provides you with a foundation from which you can progress with further studies to achieve a range of other career opportunities.

As an RMIT pharmacy student you’ll benefit from a supportive academic community with diverse research strengths. You’ll be able to gain real-world experience through work placements in both hospital and community pharmacies.

You’ll develop a sound scientific base in studies that include biochemistry, biostatistics, human biology, genetics, microbiology, immunology and cell biology.

In-depth knowledge of pharmacology, pharmacy practice, pharmaceutics and therapeutics is gained along with an understanding of drug development, clinical trials, regulatory affairs and pharmacovigilance.

Career

Pharmacists prepare and dispense medicines in many forms. They also give patients advice on how to take or use their medicines in the safest and most effective way.

Pharmacists advise members of the public and other health professionals about both prescription and over-the counter medicines. They provide advice regarding which medicines to select, how much to take, how different medicines interact with each other, and any potential side effects.

Pharmacists also work in the research and development of medicines and other health-related products and they can manage pharmacies or pharmaceutical companies.

On completing this degree you need to undertake a one-year internship in order to gain Australia-wide registration.

On successful completion of the degree and your internship year, you can work in:

community pharmacies
hospital pharmacies
the pharmaceutical industry (quality control, sales, marketing, and management)
the bio-pharmaceutical industry
clinical trials administration
drug information agencies
drug regulation for government or companies
consulting to industry
pharmacy professional organisations
pharmacy academia
medical research and communications