Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, and giving out medications. It aims to make sure that medicines are used safely, work well, and are affordable. Pharmacy links health sciences with pharmaceutical sciences and natural sciences. Today, most drugs are made by pharmaceutical companies, so pharmacy work is more focused on helping patients.

Pharmacists are experts in how medicines work and help make sure patients use their medications correctly. They give advice about medicines, check that they are safe and effective, and sometimes even give injections or immunizations. In some places, like Canada and Australia, pharmacists can also write prescriptions or change them as needed.

A place where pharmacy work happens is called a pharmacy in the United States or a chemist in Great Britain. These places usually sell medicines, but they can also sell other items like candies, cosmetics, office supplies, toys, hair care products, and magazines. Long ago, the work of the apothecary helped start the modern sciences of chemistry and pharmacology.

Disciplines

Pharmacy has many different areas of study and work. Some of these areas include:

• Pharmacy Practice (pharmacist)
• Pharmaceutics (drug development, drug discovery) and Computational Pharmaceutics
• Medicinal Chemistry (drug design) and Pharmacognosy
• Pharmacology (includes pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics)
• Pharmacoinformatics
• Pharmacogenomics

People who work in these areas often team up to create new medicines and find better ways to help patients. Pharmacy is its own field, but it works closely with other sciences like biochemistry.

Pharmacology is sometimes seen as a separate area from pharmacy, even though knowing about it is important for pharmacists. People who want to work in both areas get special training for each.

Pharmacoinformatics is a newer area that helps make drug discovery and development safer and more efficient.

Pharmacogenomics studies how genes affect how patients react to medicines, including allergies and how their bodies process drugs.

Professionals

The World Health Organization says there are at least 2.6 million people who work with medicines around the world.

Pharmacists

Main article: Pharmacist

See also: List of pharmacy associations

Pharmacists are special healthcare professionals who study medicines a lot. They help make sure people use medicines safely and in the best way. Sometimes, pharmacists even own their own pharmacies. Because they know so much about how medicines work in our bodies, they help doctors and patients choose the right treatments.

Pharmacists have groups that represent them all over the world, like the International Pharmaceutical Federation. In different countries, there are groups such as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in the UK and the American Pharmacists Association in the United States. These groups help make sure pharmacists follow good rules and standards.

Pharmacy support staff

Pharmacy technicians

Pharmacy technicians help pharmacists and other health workers by giving out medicines and medical tools to patients and explaining how to use them. They also handle paperwork, like checking that the right medicines are sent and paid for.

Rules require a pharmacist to watch over some of the work that pharmacy technicians do. Most work in community pharmacies. In hospital pharmacies, some senior pharmacy technicians manage the pharmacy, letting pharmacists spend more time helping patients and doing research. In the UK, pharmacy technicians are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), which oversees pharmacists, technicians, and pharmacy places.

In the US, pharmacy technicians work under pharmacists. They can do many tasks, but usually cannot give advice to patients about how to use their medicines. Some states have rules about how many technicians can work for each pharmacist.

Dispensing assistants

Dispensing assistants, often called "dispensers," work in community pharmacies and do many of the same jobs as pharmacy technicians. They help prepare and label medicines for patients, always under a pharmacist’s supervision.

Healthcare assistants/medicines counter assistants

In the UK, this group can sell some medicines to people without a prescription. However, they cannot prepare medicines that need a prescription for patients.

History

Main articles: History of pharmacy and List of pharmacists

The earliest known list of medicines was the Sushruta Samhita, an Indian Ayurvedic treatise from the 6th century BC. Even older records from Sumer include clay tablets with medicine recipes.

Ancient Egypt had many written records of medicines, like the Ebers Papyrus from 1550 BC.

In Ancient Greece, people studied plants for their healing powers. Pedanius Dioscorides wrote a famous book about medicines that was used for many years.

Pharmacy in China began with a book called Shennong Bencao Jing, written around the 1st century AD.

In Japan, people who prepared medicines were very important. They had special places in society and were respected.

The first pharmacies, or shops selling medicines, opened in Baghdad in 754. These shops were carefully watched over by leaders.

Some pharmacies in Europe have been open since medieval times. In Florence, Italy, a pharmacy dates back to 1221. In Trier (Germany), a pharmacy has been open since 1241. In Dubrovnik (Croatia), a pharmacy from 1317 is still in use. In Tallinn (Estonia), a pharmacy has existed since at least 1422. The Esteve Pharmacy in Llívia, Catalan enclave near Puigcerdà, is a museum with old medicine jars and books.

Practice areas

Pharmacists work in many different places, such as community pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, and research facilities. They may specialize in certain areas of medicine.

Community pharmacy

See also: Community pharmacy and Pharmacy automation

A pharmacy, sometimes called a chemist in Australia, New Zealand, and the British Isles, or a drugstore in North America, is where most pharmacists work. It is a place where medications are stored and given out to people. Community pharmacies usually have a shop front with a place to dispense medicines.

Hospital pharmacy

Main article: Hospital pharmacy

Hospitals have pharmacies that are different from community pharmacies. Hospital pharmacists may handle more complex medication issues and often get extra training after pharmacy school. They can specialize in areas like heart disease, infections, or children’s medicine. Hospital pharmacies keep a wider range of medicines, including special ones that are only used in hospitals.

Clinical pharmacy

Main article: Clinical pharmacy

Pharmacists help patients by making sure they use their medicines correctly. Clinical pharmacists work in hospitals and clinics, working with doctors to care for patients. They help create plans for medicine use and check for any problems with the medicines.

Ambulatory care pharmacy

Ambulatory care pharmacy is a newer area where pharmacists work in clinics to help manage long-term health problems. They often see patients during visits instead of just giving out medicines.

Compounding pharmacy/industrial pharmacy

Main article: Compounding

Compounding means making medicines in special forms that are different from the usual ones. This can help patients who can’t take medicines in the regular way, like if they are allergic or have trouble swallowing. Compounding pharmacies make custom medicines for these patients.

Consultant pharmacy

Main article: Consultant pharmacist

Consultant pharmacists focus on checking patients’ medicine plans instead of giving out medicines. They often work in nursing homes but are also working in other places. They help make sure older patients who take many medicines are getting the right ones.

Membership pharmacy

The Membership Pharmacy Model is a new way of running a pharmacy. Instead of making money mostly from selling medicines, it charges members a regular fee. This helps focus on making sure patients get their medicines and stay healthy, rather than just filling as many prescriptions as possible.

Veterinary pharmacy

Main article: Veterinary pharmacy

Veterinary pharmacies supply medicines for animals. They have different medicines and follow different rules than pharmacies for people.

Nuclear pharmacy

Main article: Nuclear pharmacy

Nuclear pharmacy involves preparing radioactive materials for medical tests and treatments. These pharmacists get special training to handle these materials and usually do not see patients directly.

Military pharmacy

Military pharmacy is different from regular pharmacy because military pharmacy technicians do some tasks that would not be allowed in civilian pharmacies. In the military, these technicians can prepare and give out medicines under certain conditions.

Pharmacy informatics

Pharmacy informatics combines pharmacy practice with information technology. These pharmacists work on developing and improving systems to manage medicine information, helping to make sure patient information is shared correctly between different parts of healthcare.

Specialty pharmacy

Main article: Specialty pharmacy

Specialty pharmacies supply expensive medicines for serious conditions like cancer or arthritis. They provide special storage, monitoring, and help with getting these medicines for patients. This area of pharmacy is growing quickly because many new medicines are for these special needs.

Pharmaceutical sciences

"Pharmaceutical research" redirects here. For the journal, see Pharmaceutical Research (journal).

Pharmaceutical sciences study how medicines are made, how they work in the body, and how they can help people. They use ideas from many subjects like chemistry, biology, and physics to understand drugs.

There are four main areas in pharmaceutical sciences:

• Pharmacology: learning how drugs affect the body.
  • Pharmacodynamics: studying what a drug does to the body.
  • Pharmacokinetics: studying what the body does to a drug.
  • Pharmaceutical toxicology: studying harmful effects of drugs.
  • Pharmacogenomics: studying how genes affect how drugs work.
• Pharmaceutical chemistry: designing and making new drugs.
• Pharmaceutics: creating ways to deliver drugs effectively.
• Pharmacognosy: studying medicines from plants and nature.

As science grows, new areas of study keep being added. These areas often share ideas, helping scientists understand drugs better.

Pharmacocybernetics is a new field that uses computer and internet technologies to help improve how patients use their medicines.

Society and culture

Etymology

The word pharmacy comes from old French, which means a substance that can act like medicine. It traces back to Latin and ancient Greek, where it also meant a drug or medicine.

Separation of prescribing and dispensing

Main article: Separation of prescribing and dispensing

In medicine, sometimes the doctor who writes a prescription is different from the pharmacist who gives out the medicine. In many Western countries, doctors and pharmacists have always been separate jobs. But in some Asian countries, doctors also give out medicines. People argue whether keeping these jobs separate or combining them is better, as both sides believe it can reduce unnecessary treatments and save money.

Environmental impacts

In 2022, a group of countries suggested that pharmaceutical companies should collect and destroy unused or old medicines. This is to prevent medicines from being misused, to stop harmful bacteria from developing, and to avoid wasting money. They found that medicines were showing up in rivers around the world. They recommend separating medicines from regular trash and setting up places to give away medicines that are close to their expiration date. Some countries like France, Spain, and Portugal are already doing this.

The future of pharmacy

In the future, pharmacists will play a bigger role in healthcare. Instead of just giving out medicines, they will help patients understand their medications better and check to make sure they are taking the right ones. This helps patients stay healthier and saves money. This change is already happening in some places. In Australia, pharmacists get paid by the government for checking patients’ medicines at home. In Canada, some pharmacists can write prescriptions, and others review medicines for patients. In the United Kingdom, pharmacists with extra training can also write prescriptions and get paid for reviewing how patients use their medicines. In the United States, pharmacists need a special degree to practice and some do extra training to help patients even more. Pharmacies will also help patients remember to take their medicines regularly, which can greatly improve health for people with long-term illnesses.

Pharmacy journals

The following is a list of journals related to pharmaceutical sciences.

List of pharmaceutical sciences journals

Symbols

The symbols linked to pharmacy include the mortar and pestle in North America and the ℞ or "Rx" character for medical prescriptions. In many countries such as France, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and India, a green cross is used. The Bowl of Hygieia is mainly seen in the Netherlands but can appear with other symbols too. Other symbols include conical measures and caduceuses in logos in the US. In Germany and Austria, a red stylized letter A is used, coming from the German word for pharmacy, "Apotheke". The show globe was used in the US until the early 1900s, and the Gaper in the Netherlands is now rare.

The Rod of Asclepius is widely known as a symbol of medicine. The green cross is also an AIGA symbol for First Aid. In Europe (except Germany and Austria) and India, the green cross and the Bowl of Hygieia are used together. A simple green Greek cross is common in Europe and India, often shown as a bright neon sign. The red "A" sign stands for "Apotheke" in Germany. A similar red "A" is used in Austria. The mortar and pestle is a symbol in the United States and Canada. A hanging Show globe was once used in the United States. The Gaper was formerly used in the Netherlands. The prescription symbol comes from the Latin word recipe, meaning "take thou". The Bowl of Hygieia is another symbol used in pharmacy.