March 11, 2021 — If we’re going to discuss healthcare, it’s like diving deep into a vast endless ocean of topics, disciplines, professions, and knowledge. But before we go further, we need to clear things up a little bit. We all might see or read “health care” with two words and “healthcare” with one word scattered all over the internet. This can cause some confusion for us. 

Definition of Healthcare

Simply put, this definition comes from Dr. Waldman of the blog Medical Malprocess. “Health care—two words—refers to provider actions. Healthcare—one word—is a system. We need the second to have the first: healthcare is the specific thing that people do, like seeing a patient or prescribing medication. Healthcare is an industry that encompasses the system through which people receive the healthcare they need.

Pharmacy in Healthcare

As we already know, various disciplines support the healthcare system, contributing significantly to its growth. Specifically, one of these disciplines is pharmacy. “Pharmacy” comes from “pharma,” which is the science and practice of drug production and use. To be more specific, pharmacy is a clinical health science that links medical science with chemistry, and it is charged with the discovery, production, disposal, safe and effective use, and control of medications and drugs. Pharmacists are responsible for the preparation of the dosage forms of drugs, such as tablets, capsules, and sterile solutions for injection.

History of Pharmacy

Pharmacy is an ancient discipline, the art of healing as old as time. One can trace a brief history of pharmacy worldwide, beginning with the Greek mythology of Hygieia. She is known as an apothecary or pharmacist of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Hygieia’s duty is compounding Asclepius’s remedies. From ancient Greek to clay tablets, records of prescriptions for medicine that was found in the 4th millennium BC in Sumeria. All the way to India in the form of the Sushruta Samhita, an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery.

The Important Role of Pharmacy

As discussed above, pharmacy holds a critical role in the healthcare system. Pharmacy’s existence is to support and sustain the healthcare system. This includes providing clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information. We can further elaborate on the vital role of pharmacy as follows:

1. Processing of Prescriptions

The pharmacist verifies the legality, safety, and appropriateness of the prescription order and checks the patient medication record before dispensing the prescription.

2. Care of patients or clinical pharmacy

The pharmacist seeks to collect and integrate information about the patient’s drug history, clarify the patient’s understanding of the intended dosage regimen and method of administration, and advise the patient of drug-related precautions. 

3. Monitoring of drug utilization

The pharmacist can participate in arrangements for monitoring the utilization of drugs, such as practice research projects, and schemes to analyze prescriptions for the monitoring of adverse drug reactions. 

4. Extemporaneous preparation and small-scale manufacture of medicines

Pharmacists everywhere continue to prepare medicines in the pharmacy. This enables them to adapt the formulation of a medicine to the needs of an individual patient. 

5. Traditional and alternative medicines

In some countries, pharmacists supply traditional medicines and dispense homeopathic prescriptions.

6. Responding to symptoms of minor ailments

The pharmacist receives requests from members of the public for advice on a variety of symptoms and, when indicated, refers the inquiries to a medical practitioner. 

7. Informing health care professionals and the public

The pharmacist can compile and maintain information on all medicines, particularly those newly introduced.

8. Health promotion

The pharmacist can take part in health promotion campaigns, locally and nationally, on a wide range of health-related topics, and particularly on drug-related topics, for example, rational use of drugs, alcohol abuse, tobacco use, discouragement of drug use during pregnancy, organic solvent abuse, and poison prevention. 

9. Domiciliary services

In a number of countries, the pharmacist provides an advisory as well as a supply service to residential homes for the elderly and other long-term patients.

So, now that you know a little bit better how important pharmacy’s role is in healthcare, you probably might consider yourself to be a pharmacist. Not only is it a noble job, but it also has a promising future career path.