What Is Pharmacy And Who Is A Pharmacist

In this blog, I have mentioned pharmacy and pharmacist a whole lot of time. They mean a lot to me. That is why I decided to define what each term means.

Pharmacist induction into the profession

There are so many occasions we interchange the words pharmacy and pharmacist. They don't mean the same thing.

Difference Between Pharmacy And Pharmacist

Pharmacy

When we talk about pharmacy, we talk about a profession. It covers education, practice and the way of life of a group of people.

The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing of medications, and it also includes more modern services related to health care, including clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information.

Pharmacist

Pharmacists are healthcare professionals trained in the science of pharmacy. They are capable of dispensing medicinal drugs for various medical needs as well as providing the much needed pharmaceutical care to patients and other clients.

They work in various fields. They also work with other healthcare providers.

What Is Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the science and act concerned with the preparation and standardization of drugs. It's scope includes the cultivation of plants that are used as drugs, the synthesis of chemical compounds of medicinal value and the analysis of metal agents.

It is also defined as a clinical health science that links Medical science with chemistry. It involves the discovery production safe and efficient use disposal and controlled medications and drugs. It is this science that embraces knowledge of drugs with special reference to the mechanism of their action in the treatment of disease in pharmacology.

Who Is A Pharmacist

A pharmacist is a person who studies pharmacy. They are responsible for the preparation of the dosage forms of drugs such as tablets capsules sterile solutions for injections. The compound physician dentist and veterinary doctors prescriptions for drugs.

History Of Pharmacy

Let us take a little peep into the history of the pharmacy profession. It can be said that the pharmacy profession is as old as man when disease began. But the first pharmacist was Hygeia who was duty-bound to compound remedies for the Greek legend Asclepius. Bowl of Hygeia is the symbol of the pharmacy profession.

In Egypt physician priests are divided into two. There are those that go to houses and the others stay at the temple. It was not until in the middle ages in Europe that there was a distinction between physician and herbalist. And it was not until 1683 that the law recognised the duty of the pharmacies as a specialty by the city council of Bruges.

Read More: The History Of Pharmacy In Nigeria

Pharmacy Education

The first formal education was in the United States of America (USA) in 1821 and is known as Philadelphia college of Pharmacy and science. Modern day pharmacy began after World war 2. That was when so many drugs were discovered. With that came a new form of education. It eventually led to several adjustments to curriculums of pharmacy education. After several years of adjustment the program ran for five years for a bachelor of pharmacy (B Pharm) or six years for a doctor of pharmacy (Pharm D) degree.

First and second-year pharmacy education embraces the general education subjects like mathematics, physics , chemistry , biology English and general studies. These expand to concentrate more and form about 6 departments. The departments are pharmaceutics and industrial pharmacy, pharmaceutical microbiology, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacy administration and clinical pharmacy and pharmacology.

Read More: Courses Under Faculty Of Pharmacy School In Nigeria

After the first degree in pharmacy, the pharmacist has to undergo a one year internship training in an approved institution as a pupil or intern pharmacist. The pharmacist must write a professional examination called the pre-registration examination for pharmacist abbreviated as PEP and pass to be eligible for registration as a full time pharmacist. After that, the pharmacist can be registered with the drug pharmacy regulatory bodies such as pharmacists council of Nigeria (PCN).

Read Also: Pharmacist Registration In Nigeria

Pharmacy Organisation

There are professional organisations that are responsible for guiding the conduct of pharmacists within and outside Nigeria. The body in Nigeria is called the pharmaceutical society of Nigeria (PSN). There are other bodies under PSN that are responsible for the management of pharmacists under them. In the international scene, the international pharmacy federation (FIP) is the body in charge. All pharmacists in countries under the United Nations (UN) are under the world health organisation (WHO).

Read Also: List Of Pharmacy Associations In Nigeria

Area Of Specialization

Any pharmacy degree holder can practice in any of the areas of specialisation of pharmacy. They include education, consultant, clinical, ambulatory, regulation, hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, etc.

Read Also: Pharmacy related courses

Pharmacy education does not end with the first degree. A pharmacist can decide further academically by studying any approved courses at master's-level and PhD. They are research, clinical pharmacy, ambulatory, etc. Some of the new aspects of pharmacy that are becoming more popular than the other career aspects are pharmacoinformatics, pharmacodynamic, pharmacoeconomics, cardiovascular, infectious disease, oncology, pharmacotherapy, nuclear, nutrition, geriatric, psychiatry, toxicology, etc. A person that studied other courses and did these courses in master and PhD pharmacy is not a pharmacist and can never be called a pharmacist.