Pharmaceutical care is the achievement of positive outcomes from the use of medications that improve patients' quality of life. According to one estimate, pharmacists get more than two billion inquiries per year from their patrons. An increased number of pharmacists now practice in hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, neighborhood health centers, and health maintenance organizations. Another area in which pharmacists practice is the pharmaceutical industry, which produces chemicals, prescription and nonprescription drugs, and other health products. Pharmacists do such things as marketing, research and product development, quality control, sales and administration.
Pharmacists use their backgrounds in a host of federal and state positions.
At the federal level, pharmacists hold staff and supervisory posts in the United States Public Health Service, the Veterans Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and in all branches of the armed services. The need for pharmacists is expected to increase in coming years, due to such factors as population growth, the aging of the population, an increasing demand for pharmacy services, and emphasis on home health care. Changes in prescribing habits of physicians and availability of more potent and complicated medicines have created a need for more clinically oriented pharmacists. Enrollments in pharmacy schools declined between 1975 and 1983, and rose steadily from 1984 through 1995 and have remained stable since then. There are 81 accredited colleges of pharmacy in the United States.