OBJECTIVE

 To identify and explain various fields of practice of

Pharmacy
 To elaborate on the significance of pharmacy in
ensuring quality products and medication safety.
Why Pharmacy?
 A well-rounded career
 A vital part of the health care team
 Outstanding career opportunities
 Excellent earning potential
 A trusted profession
Goals of
Pharmaceutical Care
 Cure disease
 Eliminate or reduce symptoms
 Stop or slow a disease
 Prevent disease
 Diagnose disease
 Change physiological processes to
improve the health of a patient with
minimal risk
What Do Pharmacists Do?
 Educate patients about prescription and
over-the-counter medications
 Advise other health care professionals on
drug decisions for patients
 Provide expertise about the composition of
drugs, including chemical, biological,
and physical properties, as well as on use
 Ensure drug purity and strength
 Ensure drugs do not interact in a harmful way
 PHARMACISTS
are
Drug Information Experts

No one knows more about

medications than
pharmacists
 Pharmacy Career Options
 Academic Pharmacy  Pharmaceutical Industry
 Community Pharmacy  Trade & Professional
 Government Agencies Associations
 Hospice & Home Care  Uniformed (Public Health)
 Hospital & Institutional Service
Practice
 Independent Ownership
 Long-term Care
 Consulting Pharmacy
 Managed Care Pharmacy
 Medical & Scientific
Publishing
Academic Pharmacists

 Academic pharmacists
teach and do research
in colleges and schools
of pharmacy.
Ambulatory Pharmacist
 Ambulatory
Pharmacists
accommodate
decreases in patient
hospital visits and
inpatient days.
 They manage
patients at risk for or
experiencing drug-
related problems
(e.g. noncompliance,
adverse drug
reactions) and those
with uncontrolled
disease
(hypertension,
diabetes, asthma).
Community/Retail
Pharmacists

 give advice to customers

on how to use prescribed
medicines and will
highlight when certain
medicines should not be
used in conjunction with
alcohol or other types of
medication.
 Retail pharmacists advise
customers about
prescription and over-the-
counter drugs, and their
possible side effects and
interactions.
CLINICAL PHARMACIST
 are a valuable resource in
providing drug information as
well as monitoring drug
interactions and drug therapy.
 Clinical pharmacists work
anywhere from hospitals to
nursing homes to home health
care settings. They are
focused mainly on the patient
and his or her medication,
ensuring the medication is used
appropriately to optimize
treatment.
Government Pharmacists

 At the state and local

level they are employed
by regulatory, health
and social service
agencies
Home Care Pharmacists

 also known as home

infusion pharmacy, mainly
prepares injectables and
delivers them to patients
who are critically ill at
home. Home Care
Pharmacists do not
dispense oral or external-
use medications. They will
often receives orders from
doctors but still needs to
communicate with nurses
and the patient to ensure
proper drug administration
HOSPITAL PHARMACY
 in hospitals, clinics, or nursing
homes and advise the medical staff
on the selection and effect of
drugs.
 They may perform administrative
duties, teach in schools of nursing,
and work in patient care areas as
members of a medical team. They
also may be engaged in the
monitoring of drug levels and filling
orders for medications.
 There are 2 types of hospital
pharmacists: inpatient and
outpatient pharmacy
 Inpatient Pharmacists - This mainly
provides medication and prepares
injectables for patients staying in
the hospital. Pharmacy personnel
mainly communicate with doctors
and nurses because their patients
do not "physically" bring in their
prescription
 Outpatient pharmacist - This is
similar to a retail pharmacy but in a
hospital setting. It mainly provides
service to patients who can
"physically" bring in their
prescription to pharmacy.
 Industrial Pharmacists
 RESEARCH
 Pharmacists in the
pharmaceutical
industry may
advance in
marketing, sales,
research, quality
control, production,
packaging, or other
areas.
 PRODUCTION  QUALITY CONTROL/
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Managed Care Pharmacist

 Managed care
pharmacists work for
Health Maintenance
Organizations (HMOs),
helping to plan and
manage prescription
drug use.
 APM SCHEME
 Nuclear Pharmacist
 a specialty area of pharmacy
practice dedicated to the
compounding and dispensing
of radioactive materials for
use in nuclear medicine
procedures
Radiopharmacists
Research Pharmacists

 ALL FIELDS OF
PHARMACY
Shortage of Pharmacists
 HRSA Reports nationwide
shortage of pharmacists
throughout U.S. various
industries.
 Shortage expected to last in
the foreseeable future.
 Why?:
 Increase in number of new
prescription medicines
 Growing elderly population
 Greater demand for patient care
 Growth in community pharmacy
Job Outlook
 Nationwide Shortage = High Demand
 Pharmacy students can expect multiple
job offers at graduation
 Median salary in 2000 = $78,624
*According to DrugTopics.com

 Regional mobility - Demand for

pharmacists is widespread in U.S.
 Opportunities to work in wide variety of
health care and industry settings
Should YOU Be a Pharmacist?
DO YOU LIKE...
 Chemistry, Biology, and Math?
 To Help People?
 To Solve Problems and Puzzles?

ARE YOU...
 Dependable? Organized?
 Detail-Oriented?
 Able to Communicate Well with Others?

If you answered YES, consider pharmacy as a career!

Michael Ma

 what did you find surprising when you entered

the pharmacy profession?
 The most surprising thing was "respect." People think
that all pharmacists do is to dispense drugs that the
doctors prescribe. So I thought I didn't have much
say on which drugs are better suited to give to the
patients, but in actuality, I do. The doctors are very
open and willing to accept my ideas and my opinions.
If I think a certain drug is better for the patient than
the one they prescribed, they usually will take my
word for it. So you "shouldn't let anybody tell you that
you don't know anything" because I did go to school
for four years for a reason and I do have the
foundation and knowledge. At the same time, just
because we are pharmacists, we don't know
everything there is to know about every single drug
that is out on the market. Everyday, there are always
new drugs being discovered, created, and approved.
This is the reason why we have books to help us