Is Your Future
Dispensable?
Ever Considered A
Career In Pharmacy?
Take a good look at yourself. If a life in
science interests you and you want to
make a contribution to society, then
you could be on the way to becoming a
pharmacist.
The other thing to consider is
what sort of person you are.
Are you good with people? Do
you like them and care about
them? You will need to be if you
are going to deal with patients
on a day-to-day basis, looking
after their health concerns and
perhaps offering a word of
comfort or reassurance.
Or maybe your talent lies in
finding out things, discovering
new ways to tackle the job.
Pharmacists are increasingly
involved in cutting-edge medical
research and there are exciting
new ways of diagnosing and
treating illness on the horizon.
You could be part of those
discoveries.
If the answer is “yes” to these
questions then perhaps it’s worth
your time to look a little more
deeply at pharmacy as a career
choice.
Tell Me About Pharmacy
The role of pharmacists has
expanded extensively in recent
years, making it a hugely varied
profession. Of course, local
pharmacies still thrive and
community pharmacists continue
to supply medicine, counsel
patients on how to use their
medicines properly and help
them get better.
Indispensable
However, in the 21st century,
pharmacy pops up all over
the place. Pharmacists are the
ultimate experts in medicines right
across the board and it would be
a waste not to use that skill widely.
And so you will find pharmacists
at work in discovering new active
ingredients of medicines and
formulating fresh ways in which
they can be used.
Look at any hospital ward and
pharmacists are there as well,
helping patients, doctors and
nurses manage all aspects of
medicine. Pharmacists also play
a large part at a senior level within
the NHS framework, planning
strategies, making the best use of
resources allocated for medicines
and ensuring they are well spent.
Tomorrow’s World
Pharmacists even have a hand in
assessing applications by drug
companies to manufacture new
medicines, helping to protect
public health and maintain
standards. This increasingly
vibrant profession is changing
all the time. For example, there
will be an increasing role to play
in social care. New roles are
evolving constantly.
Where Can Pharmacy Take
Me?
Pharmacy can put you squarely
in the role of a key player in the
future of healthcare worldwide.
But what do pharmacists actually
do? And where do they put their
skills to use? It all depends on
what branch of the profession
you choose.
Community Pharmacist
This is the area of pharmacy you
are probably already familiar with.
We all know what it’s like to be
able to drop in to consult our local
pharmacy about a bad chest
or a rash. Communication skills
are important here as you build
relationships with patients.
As well as dishing out
prescriptions, you’ll be
counselling people on how to use
medicines in safe and appropriate
ways. You might be organising
free delivery for housebound people, or supervising the heroin
substitute methadone and
helping a patient’s recovery from
addiction. If you care about your
fellow human being, you’ll get a
real buzz from solving patients’
problems.
And, of course, there will be
the challenge of financial
management and responsibility
for staff, premises and stock.
You’ll find there are a thousand
ways of being an important part
of your local community and
you will feel as though you are
making a positive contribution
to society. It will give you a
tremendous sense of worth.
Hospital Pharmacist
You’ll be working alongside
specialists, doctors, nurses and
patients in clinical areas. Again,
you’ll need good communication
skills and you’ll be up to speed
on IT.
In hospitals, pharmacists are
really getting to the centre of
things. Robots are already being
used to dispense medicines and
this is freeing up pharmacists to
work with patients on the ward
and becoming members of the
decision-making team across
a whole range of specialisms;
conditions such as diabetes or
heart failure, for example.
When a patient is admitted to
hospital, the pharmacist will take
their medication history and see
the patient everyday, check their
medicines and discuss their
progress with the doctor. When
the patient leaves hospital, the
pharmacist might then liaise with
their GP.
You can choose to take your
skills into management or a
clinical specialism, eventually
becoming a consultant with
similar status to that of a doctor.
For example, you might become
a clinical director, running
the hospital’s pharmacy staff
and managing areas such
as pharmacy, pathology and
radiology.
Industrial Pharmacist
This is where an interest in
research comes in; developing
gene therapy and nanomedicines,
to name just two
exciting new areas of medical
research. Pharmacists are
needed to develop them.
Nano-medicines — the creation
of structures 100 nanometres
(one nanometre is a billionth of
a metre) or smaller in size — are
an exciting new development
in medicine. Scientists predict
that they will soon be applied
to disease treatment, targeting
key biological aspects of
diseases with very low side
effects. Industrial pharmacists
work alongside scientists who
specialise in other areas to
discover new ways of combating
disease and improving
manufacturing and production
techniques. This is the stuff of the
future.
Primary Care Pharmacist
Primary care pharmacists
operate at a senior level in the
healthcare system. They have a
strategic role, making the best
use of resources allocated for
medicines and ensuring they are
well spent. They also analyse
medicines and work closely with
hospitals, GPs, practice nurses
and other community healthcare
professionals.
In recent years there has been
a big shift in focus within the
NHS towards primary care
— preventing people from
becoming ill and encouraging
healthier lifestyles so as to keep
them out of hospital. Prevention
is better than cure and
pharmacists are ideally placed to
play their part.
Regulatory Pharmacy
Regulatory pharmacists work
for government bodies such
as the MHRA set up to help
protect public health. Their job
is to ensure that medicines
submitted by drug companies
are safe before they can be
manufactured and marketed
to the public. You need critical
evaluation skills for this branch of
the profession.
Academic Pharmacy
Whether it’s teaching,
researching, practising or a
mix of all three, academic
pharmacists enjoy exciting
careers in universities and
research institutes.
Teacher practitioners spend on
average around 60% of their time
working in hospital, community
or industrial pharmacy and
the other 40% of the time as a
pharmacy teacher or lecturer.
Alternatively, you might like the
idea of researching a whole
wealth of topics from drug
design through to the provision
of pharmacy services. As a
research pharmacist you will
enjoy a rewarding and satisfying
career, knowing your work is
helping improve countless lives.
Put simply, academic
pharmacists are involved in a
huge variety of exciting roles,
often working on their own
initiative.
What Do Veterinary
Pharmacists Do?
As a pharmacist you can make
a valuable contribution to the
welfare of animals by supplying
a professional service to pet
owners. Since autumn 2005
much more emphasis has been
placed by the government
on involving pharmacy in the
supply of animal medicines and
the dispensing of veterinary
prescriptions.
More than half of the people
who visit a pharmacy own a pet
and many of them do not know
the correct treatments to give to
their cats and dogs for common
problems such as worms and
fleas.
Pharmacists in rural settings
are often involved in helping the
farming industry by supplying
medicines for farm livestock.
Where Can Veterinary
Pharmacy Take Me?
An interest in veterinary
pharmacy can take you into
almost every branch of the
profession.
As a community pharmacist you
will be able to offer advice to
customers about the health of
their pets, whether cats, dogs,
rabbits or even fish.
You may wish to get involved
in the supply of medicines to
livestock farmers for use in
cattle, sheep, pigs or goats.
This is an area of the pharmacy
profession that requires a
high level of business and
selling skills and may be a
challenge that appeals to you.
Veterinary pharmacy can also
take you into teaching, industry
or a government body such
as the Veterinary Medicines
Directorate.
How Do I Get There?
If your interest is in veterinary
pharmacy then find out which
schools of pharmacy provide a
veterinary option by contacting
their admissions departments
and make sure in addition
that you have an element of
veterinary pharmacy in your preregistration
year.
Degree Programmes
There are over 22 UK pharmacy
degrees which are approved
by the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society of Great Britain.
For more information on
studying pharmacy in the
UK contact The Royal
Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain on
www.rsgb.org.uk
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