INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACY

INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACY

PHARMACY:

“Pharmacy is the art and science of preparing from natural and synthetic sources suitable and convenient materials for distribution and use in the treatment and prevention of disease; and the provision of drug-related information to the public. It involves the interpretation of prescription orders; the compounding, labeling and dispensing of drugs; drug product selection and drug utilization reviews; patient monitoring; and the provision of cognitive services related to use of medications.”

The word pharmacy is derived from Greek word “pharmakon”, meaning medicine or drug. Then, the pharmacist is ‘the person of drugs’ or ‘the expert on drugs’. He is the only expert on drugs, because expertise regarding drugs requires knowledge in depth in all the aspects of pharmacy as mentioned in the definition of the word pharmacy. It is expected from a pharmacist to have a sound knowledge of the identification, selection, pharmacological action, preservation, combination, analysis and standardization of drugs.

The physician may prescribe a drug and be primarily interested in the effect of those drugs on the patient. The nurse may administer a drug and be concerned with dosage forms and routes of administration. But the pharmacist is the only expert on drugs. It is his legally granted responsibility to handle drugs. It is his professional responsibility to know all about those drugs. The pharmacist alone is in that unique position of embracing complete drug expertise. Pharmacist is educated and licensed to dispense drugs and to provide drug information. They are the most accessible member of today’s health care team, and often are the first source of assistance and advice on many common ailments and health care matters.

EDUCATION:

There is one professional degree in Pharmacy: the doctorate (Pharm D). The Pharm D curriculum usually requires 5-6 years to complete the degree requirements.

Pharmacy curricula are courses in pharmacology, pharmacognosy, medicinal chemistry, physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, pharmacy law, clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutics.

Graduate Education:  Opportunities for students to specialize in certain professional areas have become more available and increasingly popular. Most prominent are hospital/institutional pharmacy, nuclear pharmacy, management, and various research facilities.

A master or PhD degree in pharmacy or a related field is required for research positions, and a Pharm D, MS, or PhD degree is necessary for administrative or faculty position.

PHARMACEUTICS:

“Pharmaceutics is the science of dosage form design.” The word ‘pharmaceutics’ is used in pharmacy to cover many stages in drug development that follow the discovery or synthesis of the drug, its isolation and purification, and testing for pharmacological effects and absence of serious toxicological problems.

Simply, pharmaceutics converts a drug into a medicine.

Drug & Medicine:

A medicine contains a drug. Drug is the pharmacologically active ingredient in a medicine. Other words used for drug are ‘medicinal agent’, ‘active ingredient’ or ‘active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)’.

For example, an aspirin tablet is a medicine which contains the drug aspirin. Paracetamol syrup is a medicine and contains paracetamol drug.

Pharmaceutics can be divided as follows:

1. Physical pharmacy: It involves the study of basic physical chemistry necessary for efficient dosage form design.

2. Biopharmaceutics: It includes the knowledge of how the drug arrives in body after administration.

3. Industrial pharmacy: Manufacturing of medicine.

4. Pharmaceutical microbiology: Involves the avoidance of microorganisms in medicines.