Jane Fern's Pharmacists Guide
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
What are Pharmacists?
Pharmacists are health care professionals who are trained and licensed to take requests for medicines, dispense various medicinal drugs, and give out advices on how to properly intake medicinal drugs. The primary task of pharmacists is to ensure the safe and effective use of medicinal drugs. As such, the service of pharmacists in many clinics, hospitals, and community pharmacies throughout the world are indispensable. Find out more about pharmacists and their job by reading the articles on this site.
Wikipedia defines Pharmacists as health professionals who practice the science of pharmacy. In their traditional role, pharmacists typically take a request for medicines from a prescribing health care provider in the form of a medical prescription, evaluate the appropriateness of the prescription, dispense the medication to the patient and counsel them on the proper use and adverse effects of that medication. In this role pharmacists act as a learned intermediary between physicians and patients and thus ensure the safe and effective use of medications. Pharmacists also participate in disease-state management, where they optimize and monitor drug therapy or interpret medical laboratory results – in collaboration with physicians and/or other health professionals. Advances into prescribing medication and in providing public health advices and services are occurring in Britain as well as the United States. Pharmacists have many areas of expertise and are a critical source of medical knowledge in clinics, hospitals, medical laboratory and community pharmacies throughout the world. Pharmacists also hold positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in pharmaceutical education and research and development institutions.
In much of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth pharmacists are customarily sometimes referred to as chemist (or dispensing chemists),[1] a usage which can, especially without a context relating to the sale or supply of medicines, cause confusion with scientists in the field of chemistry. This term is a historical one, since some pharmacists passed an examination in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PhC) set by the then Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1852 and these were known as "Pharmaceutical Chemists". This title is protected by the Medicines Act 1968 section 78.
The 1852 Pharmacy Act, June 30 established a Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists in Great Britain , restricted to those who had taken the Society’s exams. However, the Act did not restrict the practice of pharmacy to examined and registered people, nor provide a legal definition for the trade and practice of pharmacy. This was first done by the Pharmacy Act of 1868.[2]
In the near future it is proposed by the Draft Pharmacy Order 2009 that the title "pharmacist" be restricted to those who register with a new Regulatory body the General Pharmaceutical Council due to the established to take this role over from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of GB in 2010.
Wikipedia defines Pharmacists as health professionals who practice the science of pharmacy. In their traditional role, pharmacists typically take a request for medicines from a prescribing health care provider in the form of a medical prescription, evaluate the appropriateness of the prescription, dispense the medication to the patient and counsel them on the proper use and adverse effects of that medication. In this role pharmacists act as a learned intermediary between physicians and patients and thus ensure the safe and effective use of medications. Pharmacists also participate in disease-state management, where they optimize and monitor drug therapy or interpret medical laboratory results – in collaboration with physicians and/or other health professionals. Advances into prescribing medication and in providing public health advices and services are occurring in Britain as well as the United States. Pharmacists have many areas of expertise and are a critical source of medical knowledge in clinics, hospitals, medical laboratory and community pharmacies throughout the world. Pharmacists also hold positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in pharmaceutical education and research and development institutions.
In much of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth pharmacists are customarily sometimes referred to as chemist (or dispensing chemists),[1] a usage which can, especially without a context relating to the sale or supply of medicines, cause confusion with scientists in the field of chemistry. This term is a historical one, since some pharmacists passed an examination in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PhC) set by the then Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1852 and these were known as "Pharmaceutical Chemists". This title is protected by the Medicines Act 1968 section 78.
The 1852 Pharmacy Act, June 30 established a Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists in Great Britain , restricted to those who had taken the Society’s exams. However, the Act did not restrict the practice of pharmacy to examined and registered people, nor provide a legal definition for the trade and practice of pharmacy. This was first done by the Pharmacy Act of 1868.[2]
In the near future it is proposed by the Draft Pharmacy Order 2009 that the title "pharmacist" be restricted to those who register with a new Regulatory body the General Pharmaceutical Council due to the established to take this role over from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of GB in 2010.
Labels: health care professionals, health professionals, pharmacists
Monday, September 28, 2009
A Simple Definition of Pharmacy
The mortar and pestle, an internationally recognized symbol to represent the pharmacy profession.What is Pharmacy?
Pharmacy is the art and science of preparing and dispensing medications, and the provision of drug and health information to the public. Pharmacists are vital members of healthcare teams. They work with patients to determine their medication needs and the care required to best meet these needs. This is called “pharmaceutical care”, the goal of which is to improve an individual patient’s quality of life. Source: University of Saskatchewan, Canada http://explore.usask.ca/programs/nondirect/ph/
Wikipedia defines pharmacy as the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences, and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of medication.
The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing medications, and it also includes more modern services related to patient care, including clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information. Pharmacists, therefore, are the experts on drug therapy and are the primary health professionals who optimize medication use to provide patients with positive health outcomes. Pharmacy is also the term for an establishment where pharmacy (in the first sense) is practice (synonym: drugstore). The first pharmacy in Europe (still working) was opened in 1241 in Trier, Germany.
The word pharmacy is derived from its root word pharma which was a term used since the 1400–1600s. In addition to pharma responsibilities, the pharma offered general medical advice and a range of services that are now performed solely by other specialist practitioners, such as surgery and midwifery. The pharma (as it was referred to) often operated through a retail shop which, in addition to ingredients for medicines, sold tobacco and patent medicines. The pharmas also used many other herbs not listed.
In its investigation of herbal and chemical ingredients, the work of the pharma may be regarded as a precursor of the modern sciences of chemistry and pharmacology, prior to the formulation of the scientific method.
The field of Pharmacy can generally be divided into three primary disciplines:
* Pharmaceutics
* Medicinal chemistry and Pharmacognosy
* Pharmacy practice
The boundaries between these disciplines and with other sciences, such as biochemistry, are not always clear-cut; and often, collaborative teams from various disciplines research together.
Pharmacology is sometimes considered a fourth discipline of pharmacy. Although pharmacology is essential to the study of pharmacy, it is not specific to pharmacy. Therefore it is usually considered to be a field of the broader sciences.
Other specializations in pharmacy practice recognized by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties include: cardiovascular, infectious disease, oncology, pharmacotherapy, nuclear, nutrition, and psychiatry. The Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy certifies pharmacists in geriatric pharmacy practice. The American Board of Applied Toxicology certifies pharmacists and other medical professionals in applied toxicology.
Source: Wikipedia
Labels: health care professionals, medicinal drugs, pharmacies, pharmacists
