Pharmacy (from the Greek φάρμακον = drug) is the profession of compounding and dispensing medication. More recently, the term has come to include other services related to patient care including clinical practice, medication review, drug information, etc. Some of these new roles are now mandated by law in various legislatures. Pharmacists, therefore, are the primary health professionals who optimise medication management to produce positive health-outcomes.

The symbols most commonly associated with pharmacy are the mortar and pestle and the ℞ (recipere) character. Pharmacy organisations often employ other elements such as the Bowl of Hygeia, conical measures, and caduceuses in their logos. Other symbols are common in different countries such as the green Greek cross in France, and the Gaper in The Netherlands.

Disciplines

The field of Pharmacy can generally be divided into three main disciplines:

• Pharmaceutics
• Pharmaceutical chemistry (often Medicinal chemistry)
• Pharmacy practice

The boundaries between these disciplines and indeed 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.

Pharmacists

Main article: Pharmacist

Pharmacists are highly-trained and skilled healthcare professionals who perform various roles to ensure optimal health outcomes for their patients. Pharmacists are also often small-business owners, owning the pharmacy in which they practise. This unique dichotomy is often the subject of debate within the profession - in part due to the perception of pharmacists as "common shopkeepers" by many in the community.

Separation of prescribing from dispensing

In most jurisdictions, pharmacists are regulated separately from physicians. That is, the legislation stipulates that the practice of prescribing must be separate from the practice of dispensing. These jurisdictions also usually specify that only pharmacists may supply scheduled pharmaceuticals to the public.

In the minority of jurisdictions, doctors are allowed to dispense drugs themselves and the practice of pharmacy is integrated with that of the physician.

Community Pharmacy

A pharmacy (commonly the chemist; or drugstore in the U.S.; or Apothecary, historically) is the place where most pharmacists practise the profession of pharmacy. It is community pharmacy where the dichotomy of the profession exists - health professionals who are also retailers.

Community pharmacies usually consist of a retail storefront, with a dispensary where medications are stored and dispensed. The dispensary is subject to pharmacy legislation; with requirements for storage conditions, compulsory texts, equipment, etc., specified in legislation. Where it was once that case that pharmacists stayed within the dispensary compounded/dispensed medications; there has been an increasing trend towards the use of trained dispensary technicians while the pharmacist spends more time communicating with patients.

There is a requirement that all pharmacies must have a pharmacist on-duty at all times it is open. In many jurisdictions it is also a requirement that the owner of a pharmacy must be a registered pharmacist. This latter requirement has been revoked in many jurisdictions, such that many retailers (including grocery stores and mass merchandisers) now include a pharmacy as department of their store.

Hospital Pharmacy

In much the same way that hospital pharmacists have different roles to community pharmacists, hospital pharmacies have different roles to community pharmacies. Pharmacists in hospital pharmacies often have more complex clinical medication management issues whereas pharmacists in community pharmacies often have more complex business and customer relations issues.

Unlike community pharmacies, which are usually independently-owned, hospital pharmacies are usually a department of the hospital where it is located. Hospital pharmacies usually stock a larger range of medications, including more specialised medications, than would be feasible in the community. Traditionally, hospital pharmacies have also prepared various injectable preparations such as saline, total parenteral nutrition (TPN), and other drug infusions; but there has been a trend to outsource these functions to specialised pharmaceutical companies.

External links

Professional Organisations

• American Pharmacists Association (APhA) (http://www.aphanet.org)
• American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) (http://www.ashp.org)
• Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) (http://www.psa.org.au)
• Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand (PSNZ) (http://www.psnz.org.nz)
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) (http://www.rpsgb.org.uk)
• Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) (http://www.shpa.org.au)

Regulatory

• National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (http://www.nabp.net)
• Pharmacy Board of New South Wales (http://www.pbnsw.org.au)

History and traditions

• RPSGB Museum Information Sheets (http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/members/museum/mussheet.htm) Illustrated information sheets on objects in the history of pharmacy.

Other

• Pharmweb (http://www.pharmweb.net) An online resource for pharmacists.
• Pharmacist.com (http://www.pharmacist.com) Portal site for pharmacists and pharmacy students.
• The Virtual Library of Pharmacy (http://www.pharmacy.org/) Extensive index of pharmacy-related resources, including information on careers in pharmacy, pharmacy schools, pharmaceuticaul companies, associations and conferences.
• Chemical Biology - The Virtual Library of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (http://www.biochemweb.org/chemical.shtml) Resource devoted to drug discovery and chemical and pharmacological approaches to biology, biomedicine and biotechnology.