Pharmacy Overview and Types

Pharmacy

• Pharmacy is the science and practice focused on developing, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications.
• The goal of pharmacy is to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medications.

Pharmaceutics

• Pharmaceutics is the comprehensive process of transforming a new chemical entity into an approved therapeutic treatment.
• This process aims to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the treatment in the prevention or treatment of disease.

Types of Pharmacy

• Community pharmacy: Pharmacists work directly with patients in a community setting to dispense medications and provide advice.
• Hospital pharmacy: Pharmacists manage medications in a hospital setting, ensuring patient safety and efficient medication use.
• Clinical pharmacy: Pharmacists collaborate with healthcare professionals to ensure the safety and efficacy of medication therapy for individual patients.
• Industrial pharmacy: Pharmacists participate in the research, development, production and manufacturing of medications within pharmaceutical companies.
• Compounding pharmacy: Pharmacists prepare customized medications according to specific patient needs.
• Veterinary pharmacy: Pharmacists dispense medications and provide pharmaceutical care for animals.
• Nuclear pharmacy: Pharmacists prepare and dispense radioactive medications for diagnostic imaging and therapeutic purposes.

Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms

• Based on the route of administration, the most commonly used dosage forms are:
  • Oral: Tablets, capsules, powders, elixirs, solutions, and suspensions.
  • Parenteral: Intramuscular (I.M), intravenous (I.V), and subcutaneous (Subcut).
  • Intra-respiratory: Inhalers.
  • Rectal: Suppositories, enemas, creams, and ointments
  • Topical: Creams, gels, and ointments

Medical Prescription

• A medical prescription is an order issued by a licensed healthcare professional to a pharmacist for a specific treatment for a patient.
• Some prescriptions utilize Roman numerals instead of Arabic numerals.

Prescription Abbreviations

• Multiple abbreviations are used in prescriptions to communicate specific instructions.