The Role of the Pharmacist
A pharmacist is a highly-trained healthcare professional who prepares and dispenses medicines. Many pharmacists are also small-business owners, owning the pharmacy in which they practice. They act as an intermediary between patients and other healthcare providers to ensure that proper medical therapy is chosen and implemented in the best way possible.
Pharmacists are represented at the national level by professional organisations such as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) or the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). They are trained in:
- anatomy
- biochemistry
- chemistry
- compounding medications
- drug interactions
- hepatology
- kinetics
- medication management
- medicine monitoring
- microbiology
- nephrology
- pharmaceutical chemistry
- pharmaceutics
- pharmacognosy
- pharmacology
- pharmacy law
- pharmacy practice
- physiology
In their traditional role, pharmacists typically take a request (in the form of medical prescription) from the doctor or health care provider and distribute the drug to patients, advising them on any possible harmful interactions or side effects and the appropriate use of the product. In this role, pharmacists monitor the health and progress of patients to ensure the safe and efficient use of the drug. Although most medicines are produced by pharmaceutical companies in a standard form of delivery and dosage, in some cases, pharmacists may practice compounding (mixing the ingredients to form medications).
In much of the UK and the British Commonwealth, pharmacists are often referred to as dispensing chemists, as pharmacists were originally required to complete an undergraduate degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PhC) and were known as 'Pharmaceutical Chemists'.
Pharmacists also take part in disease-state management, where they interpret medical laboratory results or monitor and optimise drug therapy - in collaboration with doctors and/or other health professionals.
Day to Day Roles
Pharmacists are often the first point-of-contact for patients with health enquiries, and they may have an important role in the assessing medication management in patients, and in referring patients to physicians. Other roles include:
- advice and treatment of common ailments
- clinical medication management
- compounding medicines
- counselling and advice on optimal use of medicines
- dosing drugs in renal and hepatic failure
- education of physicians and other health care providers on medications and their proper use
- general health advice and monitoring
- limited prescribing of medications in collaboration with other health care professionals
- monitoring of treatment regimens
- oversight of dispensing medicines on prescription
- pharmacokinetic evaluation
- providing pharmaceutical information
- providing specific education to patients about disease states and medications
- provision of non-prescription medicines
- referrals to other health professionals if necessary
- reviewing medication regimens
- specialised monitoring of disease states
Areas of Specialisation
Pharmacists may have many areas of specialisation and are a critical source of medical knowledge in hospitals, clinics, medical laboratories and community pharmacies. They may also take positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in research and development institutions or pharmaceutical education. Specialties include:
- Academic pharmacist
- Clinical pharmacist (consisting of many subspecialties such as Paediatrics or Haematology)
- Community pharmacist
- Compounding pharmacist
- Consultant pharmacist
- Drug information pharmacist
- Home health pharmacist
- Hospital pharmacist
- Industrial pharmacist
- Locum Pharmacist
- Military Pharmacist
- Nuclear Pharmacist
- Oncology Pharmacist
- Regulatory-affairs pharmacist
- Veterinary pharmacist
Pharmaceutical Care
One important role taken on by pharmacists is pharmaceutical care, which involves taking direct responsibility for patients and their medications, disease states, and the management of each in order to improve the outcome for each individual patient. Pharmaceutical care has many benefits such as:
- Strong pharmacist-patient relationship
- Decreased medication errors
- Better chronic disease state management
- Increased patient compliance in medication regimen
