The Practice of Pharmacy In earliest times, pharmacy was closely interwoven with medicine to the extent that one person usually carried out both functions. As both professions matured, the need for separate specialties became clear, although it remained equally clear they would need to retain close relations for the greatest benefit to the patient. The physician may prescribe drugs, nurses may administer drugs, but the pharmacist is the member of the health care team whose expertise is in the appropriate use of drugs. The primary role of a pharmacist is to assure that the medications used by the patient are the most effective and are used in the most appropriate manner. This is done in cooperation with the patient and through consultation with other health care professionals.
Pharmacists assume a wide variety of specializations within the health care field.
The majority of licensed pharmacists work in community pharmacies where they have responsibility for the medication and health care needs of the general community. Licensed pharmacists may also work in hospitals, in research and teaching, and in the pharmaceutical industry. Whereas hospital pharmacists are primarily responsible for assuring the appropriate use of medicine by institutionalized patients, research pharmacists are generally involved in the development of new medicines and dosage forms, in the determination of how medicines alleviate disease, and in the assessment of the social and economic factors influencing the use of medicines. As teachers they may be involved in the education of pharmacy students and pharmacy technicians. Industrial pharmacists might work in sales, drug information, regulatory affairs, production, quality control or research within the pharmaceutical industry.