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Calcutta Rescue
VOLUNTEER PHARMACIST
Job Description
Summary
The volunteer pharmacist should spend part of their time in Central Pharmacy Stores supervising and supporting the routine work of the
Pharmacy staff and recording any new donations received. The rest of the time needs to be spent on clinical projects supervising and
supporting pharmacy table staff and in the central Calcutta Rescue Office dealing with managerial and clinical pharmacy issues. She/he should
be able to manage a varied workload consisting of managerial and clinical roles and be able to delegate suitable work to the pharmacy
assistant, the stock keeper and to short-term volunteers as appropriate.
Responsibilities
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1.To carry out the following duties at the Main Pharmacy:
Cross checking and packing the Clinic medicine orders prior to delivery to the Clinics
Controlling medicine levels and drug storage conditions/ensuring that no expired medicines are sent to the Clinics
Helping to make decisions and follow up any issues in a timely manner
Assisting with the maintenance and improvement of operation systems, cost systems, documentation, general procedures and overall
pharmacy operation
Be involved in ordering special drug / medical items including doing a local purchase if necessary, getting medical equipment repaired and
other suitable ordering activities if necessary
Liasing with the office and providing necessary information
Answering any queries medical or pharmacy staff may have
Handling drug donations (see below) / helping to arrange donations to other organisations from excess CR donated stock, following
consultation with MAC.
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2. Training
Regular education courses on pharmacology / pharmacy related topics for Medicine checkers, interpreters and other staff as required
(CHECK IF NURSE CO-ORDINATOR SHOULD/COULD BE INVOLVED?)
Advising / training new long-term volunteer pharmacists and update the pharmacist handover accordingly.
3. To carry out the following on behalf of the clinic:
Supervising implementation and maintenance of CR-Medicine Guidelines Clinics
On a monthly basis, in each clinic supervising stock, checking medicines storage conditions, expiry dates, stock books, checking stock
levels held
4. Clinical Pharmacy role and Medicines Information
On request - Informing doctors / clinic staff about new drugs, new therapy regimes, economical alternatives, different brand names
Informing Doctors/Clinics of useful donations
Being a source of medicine information to medical staff. Where a record of the information could be useful, it should be logged in the
Medicines Information Queries folder on the computer so that queries can be referred to when necessary.
Assist in writing up guidelines / procedures for the use of new medicines, the management of diseases with medication
5. Handling medicines donations
Sorting through medicine donations; recording and controlling them, and informing doctors on a regular basis; identifying possible
substitutions and writing donor thank you letters
Acquiring donations by contacting local and international companies/organisations
Re-ordering Vitamin A capsules on a regular basis from Sight and Life, communicating with Sight and Life about our clinical use of vitamin A
throughout our projects with input from Doctors when necessary and writing thank you letters
Keeping and updating the “Useful Donation List” for the Support Groups
6. Meetings / Office
The pharmacist should attend the following meetings:
 Arrange and attend 6-monthly pharmacy table meetings with the Pharmacy Store Keeper, Doctor in charge of the clinic to resolve any
ordering issues in each of the 4 clinics
 Medical Audit Committee Meeting – alternate Tuesdays 2.00pm – Tala Park Clinic
 Doctors’ Meeting – first Friday of every month 2.00pm – Tala Park Clinic
 Volunteers’ Meeting – to be announced by the administrator / nurse coordinator
 Any other meeting on request – see Meetings List
 Maintenance and Update of the Pharmacy Section on the CR Website
 Providing tri-monthly / annual reports to the Reports Folder in Administration Files for inclusion in CR's tri-monthly / annual report
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7. Handicrafts
A selection of handicrafts, produced at CR’s handicraft project, is available for sale at Fairlawn Hotel, Sudder Street, where we have a stall
every Thursday evening from 6.30 - 8pm. Volunteers and visitors find it a most sociable get together. Every volunteer, as part of their overall
duties, should put themselves on the Thursday Fairlawn staff rota to help – usually this means once or twice a month depending on the number
of volunteers.
On an Occasional Basis/Rarely/As Required or Requested
 On busy days in the clinics, be available to help out with any issues the stock keepers / medicine checkers may have.
 The volunteer pharmacist in charge may have to supervise a pre-registration pharmacist who is volunteering with Calcutta Rescue as
part of their pharmacy training.
 Checking and updating the CR drug list, list of “Extras”, proposals about changes
 Providing / supervising statistics
 To monitor the use of various expensive drugs in each clinic and discuss their use at the Doctors Meeting with Doctors
 Deal with any queries on Pharmacy assistant and Stock keeper management and training
 Assist with training and examination of new medicine checkers and medicine table staff
 Checking and updating medicine related CR guidelines
Miscellany
 The volunteer pharmacist is encouraged to work with the Administrator and Nurse Coordinator on any new initiatives where pharmacist
input or managerial input maybe necessary or helpful
 The pharmacist may be requested to write short articles or reports on patients identified in meetings that may need sponsoring which
can then be put on the CR website or newsletters.
 The pharmacist may be requested to support the Data Operator in the editing of reports for submission in tri-monthly / annual reports or
reviews about patients to donors
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Qualifications / Experience / Skills
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Essential
Qualified pharmacist.
Good spoken and written English, as well as medical and business English.
Excellent organisational and communication skills.
Management experience.
Computer skills (Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel, use of internet based medical databases).
Able to resource appropriate medicines information to queries and utilise it to reach an appropriate solution appropriate to an NGO
environment. This involves being able to competently perform internet searches of medical sites, assess medical literature and interpret
medical statistics.
Flexible – the role of the pharmacist will involve new activities and new roles. A flexible approach to work will enable the volunteer to get
more from their experience as a volunteer as well being to the benefit of CR.
Desirable
Previous work in a developing country.
Experience as a hospital pharmacist with a clinical pharmacy background or medicines information background
Previous experience with pharmacy computer packages
Personal Qualities
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Ability to work well with others in a multicultural team.
Ability to be pro-active in terms of work creation and assess the unwritten needs of the pharmacy and clinics.
Commitment to volunteering overseas.
The pharmacist should also be self-motivated, enthusiastic, resourceful, able to self-reflect on their experiences, co-operative, flexible,
friendly and be willing to accept responsibility.
Sense of humour.
It is important to know that the first weeks in the job may prove particularly challenging as you try to work out exactly what is expected of you.
You may find the two volunteer comments of value in your adjustment period:
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