Community Pharmacy Practices

The majority of pharmacists practice their profession in retail community pharmacies, known commonly as 'the chemists' in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, or 'the drugstore' in North America. Community pharmacies typically consist of a retail shop with an adjoining dispensary where drugs are stored and dispensed. In addition to medicines and prescriptions, many sell a diverse arrangement of additional household items such as cosmetics, toiletries,  confectionary and snack foods.

All pharmacies are required to have a pharmacist on-duty at all times when open. Although it was once the case that pharmacists always stayed within the dispensary compounding or dispensing medications, there has been a recent trend towards the use of trained pharmacy technicians to assist in the dispensing of medications, whilst the pharmacist spends time communicating with patients when required.