PHARMACY

Pharmacists

Pharmacists

• are medication experts who enhance patient care and promote wellness.

• They use their medication expertise to treat patients, collaborate with other health care professionals, promote population health, and manage pharmacy systems.

Patient Care

• Collect information about a patient's health, social history, and medications including prescriptions, over the counter (OTC) medications, herbal products, and dietary supplements.

Medication Expertise and Population Health

• Use and share expertise about what the body does to a drug and how drugs affect the body

Pharmacy Management

• Develop and maintain pharmacy procedures, protocols, inventories, and disaster response plans to ensure patients have access to the right medications at the right time.

Community Pharmacy

• Also known as a retail pharmacy

• the most well-known type of pharmacy

• It is this type that is most traditionally known as the pharmacist or chemist shop.

• usually works in a store that provides the community with access to the medications they need, as well as advice to promote the safe and effective use of the medicines they provide.

• They can tell their customers what drugs may interact with each other or with alcohol, and help prevent dangerous or troublesome combinations or side-effects of medication.

• Helping patients with the reimbursement of drug expenses, supervising pharmacy technicians and keeping inventory of the drugs stocked also make up part of their duties.

Hospital Pharmacy

• place where the management of medications occurs in a hospital, medical clinic or nursing home

• often works in close collaboration with other health professionals to ensure that the medication regimen for each patient is optimized to achieve the best outcomes.

• They may also be involved with clinical trials, as well as compounding medications for individualized dosing or sterile medications.

• Teaching, administrative functions in the selection, proper storage, distribution and prescription protocols of drugs, education of medical staff in the aspects of selection, administration and monitoring of drug safety, as well as assessing drug levels and drug safety may all be part of their work.

• inpatient or outpatient pharmacists, and may also specialize in one or other area of pharmacotherapy.

Clinical Pharmacy

• exists in a number of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes and other medical centers.

• to ensure the optimal use of medications for the best outcomes through the provision of drug information and monitoring for drug safety and efficacy.

• They can predict drug interactions and so prevent many adverse reactions to medication.

Industrial Pharmacy

• involves the pharmaceutical industry and includes the research, production, packaging, quality control, marketing and sales of pharmaceutical goods.

• An industrial pharmacist may work as a representative for a particular pharmaceutical company to advocate for the use of its products, as well as to inform practitioners about their actions and benefits.

compounding pharmacy

• involves the production and preparation of medicines in new forms. This may include reformulating a powder tablet to a solution, which can assist in the administration of the drug for certain patients.

• may work in a community, clinical or residential-based setting, depending on the purpose of their formulation. They may also dispense ready-made medications in some circumstances.

consulting pharmacy

• a relatively new branch of pharmacy, born in 1990.

• It focuses on the theoretical review of medications rather than dispensing medicines.

• Consultant pharmacists often work in nursing homes or visit patients in-home to provide their services, in order to enable them to use medications most effectively.

ambulatory pharmacy

• provides healthcare services to many patients in rural areas, particularly to geriatric populations.

• These pharmacists help in the management of patients who are at higher risk of drug-related problems or disease complications due to lack of control over the condition.

• a mobile service that can meet patients where they are, and therefore help to reduce the number of hospital visits that their patients require.

• They are often directly or indirectly employees of a managed healthcare organization.

Regulatory Pharmacy

• Also known as government pharmacy

• responsible for creating rules and regulations for the safe use of medicine to promote positive health outcomes. This includes pharmacists working in public health and regulatory health boards, such as the Food and Drug Administration in the Philippines.

Home care pharmacy

• primarily involves the preparation and delivery of injectables to critically ill patients in the home environment.

• This is also sometimes referred to as infusion pharmacy, as only injectable medications are dispensed, and not medication administered in other forms, such as oral or topical.

• They may major in one or the other area of illness, such as infusions for nutritional support, chemotherapy, mental illness or oncology.

Managed care pharmacy

• involves the planning and management of medication in health maintenance organizations, such as hospitals, nursing homes and extended healthcare centers.

Research pharmacy

• Research pharmacists work on developing new drugs and profiling their actions, effectiveness, side-effects and interactions.

Some pharmacists may specialize in a certain area of drug therapy with a master's degree or other continued learning. This helps them to gain proficiency and recognition to practice in specialized fields. This may include areas such as:

• Oncology Pharmacy

• Nuclear Pharmacy

• Geriatric Pharmacy

• Psychopharmacotherapy

• Personal Pharmacy

• Nutritional Support Pharmacy

• Hospice Pharmacy

• Pediatric Pharmacy

• Pharmacy Benefit Manager

• Poison Control Pharmacy

Specializations in Pharmacy

• Pharmacists usually work in clean, well-lighted, and well-ventilated areas that resemble small laboratories.

  • shelves are lined with hundred of different drug products. In addition, some items are refrigerated, and many substances (narcotics, depressants, and stimulants) are kept under lock and key. Pharmacists spend much time on their feet.

• When working with dangerous pharmaceutical products, pharmacists must take the proper safety precautions, such as wearing gloves and masks and working with special protective equipment.

• Because pharmacies in many communities and hospitals are open around the clock, pharmacists in those settings may have to work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

• Consultant pharmacists may travel to nursing homes or other facilities to monitor people's drug therapy.

Work Environment of a Pharmacists

Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy

is a four-year college degree designed for people who want to have a career in the various fields of the pharmaceutical industry.

• The program focuses on the identification, discovery, isolation, synthesis, and formulation of biologically active compounds for clinical use.

• Students are also able to have a wider understanding of the different factors affecting drug behavior in the body.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strand

Students who want to pursue a degree in Pharmacy are encouraged to take the ____________ under the Academic Track. The strand provides the basics of applied mathematics and sciences that will be useful in their college life.

• Define terminologies related to pharmacokinetics

• Present raw data and derive pharmacokinetic models and parameters that explain the pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs in the body

• Understand how the changes in the physiologic state and disease states affect one's drug behavior

• Apply biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics knowledge in the design of rational drug therapy and monitoring

Graduates of BS in Pharmacy are expected to be able to

• Scientific aptitude and verbal skill to read technical materials and advise others

• Good communication and interpersonal skills to educate patients

• Management skills

• Ability to multitask

• Great analytical skills

• Conscientious and pay close attention to detail, because the decisions they make affect human lives

• Ability to learn chemical properties and compounding of drugs

• Desire to help others

Aptitudes needed in pharmacy