Pharmacy Intern at CVS Health in Des Moines, IA

You’ve invested a lot of time and energy in your education. Now you want the chance to make your mark. We offer challenging opportunities for you to learn and grow professionally. In our programs, you’ll be immersed in a culture of continuous improvement, with the goal of changing health care for the better.

Position Summary:

At CVS Health, we are focused on transforming health care for our customers and making our company a great place to work. We help people navigate the health care system – and their personal health care – by improving access, lowering costs and being a trusted partner for every meaningful moment of health. Within our Retail locations, we bring this promise to life with heart every day. Our 3rd year Pharmacy Interns play a critical role in supporting our pharmacy teams to consistently deliver on our brand promise, while developing their own skills in preparation for increasing responsibility.

As a 3rd year Pharmacy Intern, you will be focused on applying didactic learning from pharmacy school into real-world practice to become ready for a Pharmacist role. Under the direction of your preceptor, you will complete a comprehensive training roadmap designed to show you first-hand what it’s like to be part of a pharmacy team while gaining an overview of store, district, and regional operations. You will gain valuable hands-on experience through a training roadmap that includes a combination of Key Learning Experiences (KLEs), activities, and time spent with leaders in your district. While in the pharmacy, you will assist the pharmacy team to ensure that pharmacy operations run smoothly, our patients’ prescriptions are filled promptly, safely, and accurately, and we are providing caring service that exceeds patient expectations. You will learn to operate as part of the pharmacy team through consistent application of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), best practices, and effective communication. Throughout your shifts and in all customer and colleague interactions, you will learn to demonstrate empathy and genuine care, and contribute to a safe and inclusive culture where all people feel valued and empowered.

3rd year Pharmacy Interns are responsible for completion of a comprehensive training roadmap, focusing on KLEs that build aptitude in the following areas. As tenure increases, 3rd year Pharmacy Interns take on increasing responsibility of the safety and effectiveness of operations in the pharmacy, including but not limited to:

• Living our purpose by following all company SOPs at each workstation to help our Pharmacists and Technicians manage and improve patient health
• Following pharmacy workflow procedures at each pharmacy workstation (i.e., production, pick-up, drive-thru, and drop-off) for safe and accurate prescription fulfillment
• Contributing to positive patient experiences showing empathy and genuine care: creating heartfelt and personalized moments while serving patients at pick-up, drive-thru, and over the phone; keeping patients healthy by offering immunizations and other services at the register and over the phone; and demonstrating compassionate care by solving or escalating patient problems
• Offering to counsel, fielding medical questions, and soliciting information on a patient’s medical history to provide optimal care, when appropriate under the direct supervision of a licensed pharmacist
• Taking telephonic prescriptions from the prescriber, and calling the prescriber to clarify prescriptions or facilitate medication changes, where allowed by state regulation
• Maintaining the highest level of self-awareness and providing in-the-moment coaching, training, and mentoring to pharmacy team members while sharing best practices
• Completing basic inventory activities, as permitted by law, and as directed by the pharmacy leadership team, such as accurately putting away medication deliveries and completing cycle counts, returns-to-stocks, waiting bin inventories, etc.
• Contributing to a high-performing team, embracing a growth mindset, and being receptive to feedback; actively seeking opportunities to expand clinical and technical knowledge needed to better assist patients
• Remaining flexible for both scheduling and business needs, while contributing to a safe, inclusive, and engaging team dynamic; voluntarily traveling to stores in the market to work shifts as needed by the business
• Understanding and complying with all relevant federal, state, and local laws, regulations, professional standards, and ethical principles. Complying with CVS policies and procedures to ensure patient safety, compliance with controlled substance dispensing and recordkeeping, and to protect patient privacy and security
• Delivering additional patient health care services (e.g., immunizations, point-of-care testing, and voluntarily staffing offsite clinics), where allowable by law and supported by required training and certification

Where permissible, the 3rd year Pharmacy Intern may also support immunizations, which includes the following responsibilities:

• Completing additional licensure and training requirements, in compliance with state Board of Pharmacy regulations, to obtain Technician Immunizer status to support preparing and administering vaccines
• Educating patients about the importance of vaccines and referring patients to the Pharmacist-on-duty for vaccination questions
• Monitoring for, and responding to, adverse reactions; reporting adverse reaction events per public health requirements
• Reviewing and collecting patient information; tracking and documenting for each applicable patient

Required Qualifications:

• Accepted into, or actively enrolled in, an ACPE accredited college or school of pharmacy
• Must possess, or be in the process of obtaining, valid intern and/or technician licensure as required

Essential Functions:

• Regular and predictable attendance, including nights and weekends
• Ability to complete required training within designated timeframe
• Attention and Focus:
  • Ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time
  • Ability to pivot quickly from one task to another to meet patient and business needs
  • Ability to confirm prescription information and label accuracy, ensuring patient safety
• Customer Service and Team Orientation:
  • Actively look for ways to help people, and do so in a friendly manner
  • Notice and understand patients’ reactions, and respond appropriately
• Communication Skills:
  • Use and understand verbal and written communication to interact with patients and colleagues
  • Utilize active listening by giving full attention to what others are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times
• Mathematical Reasoning:
  • Ability to use math to solve a problem, such as determining the total number of tablets to dispense, day’s supply, and/or number of full bottles and additional bottles needed to fill a prescription
• Problem Resolution:
  • Identifying challenging patient or colleague interactions and choosing the best course of action when faced multiple options
• Physical Demands:
  • Be mobile and remain upright for extended periods of time
  • Lift, scan, and bag items
  • Reach overhead; stretch or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs to grasp items
  • Move fingers repetitively; picking, pinching, typing, or otherwise working primarily with fingers rather than whole hand or arm
  • Extend hand(s) and arm(s) multiple directions to place, move, or lift items
  • Control precision; quickly adjust machines to exact positions
  • Stoop to a considerable degree, requiring full use of the lower extremities and back muscles to move items between low and high positions, including bending spine at the waist
  • Close visual acuity to perform activities such as: transcribing, viewing a computer terminal, reading, visual inspection involving small parts
  • Occasionally lift of up to 20 lbs and/or exert up to 20 lbs. of force; Frequently lift of up to 10 lbs and/or exert up to 10 lbs. of force; Consistently lift and/or exert a negligible amount of force to move objects.
  • Express or exchange ideas by means of spoken word where detailed or important spoken instructions must be conveyed accurately
  • ; Have the ability to receive detailed information through oral communication
• Any additional tasks as directed by Supervisor or Manager

Preferred Qualifications:

• 1+ years of related work experience in pharmacy, retail, medical, or customer service setting
• Ability to become immunization certified: Once state regulations are met, pharmacy interns should be striving to provide patient immunizations as this is an essential pharmacist function
• Ability to work in home store, and across the market in other locations, to meet business needs
• Proficiency in Microsoft Suite (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.)

Pay Range

The typical pay range for this role is:

$20.00 - $23.75

Whether in our pharmacies or through our health service offerings, we are pioneering a bold new approach to total health care. As health care innovators, we are making quality care affordable, accessible, simple and seamless. We await your fresh ideas, new perspectives, and the unique contributions you will make to our organization.

Great benefits for great people

We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.

This part‑time position is eligible for a range of benefits and programs that support the physical, emotional, and financial well‑being of colleagues. Depending on hours worked and eligibility, the benefits for this position include dental, vision, wellness resources, employee discounts, access to certain voluntary benefits, and other programs.

Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on: 09/30/2026

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.