It is an incredibly exciting time to pursue a career in pharmacy and pharmacy graduates have a wide range of career opportunities available to them. As you read through the various career opportunities for pharmacists, take your time and study the various options before you, find areas that interest you and challenge your skill and abilities.
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Hospital Pharmacy
As members of the health care team composed of physicians and nurses, among others, institutional pharmacists have an opportunity for direct involvement with patient care. The knowledge and clinical skills that contemporary pharmacist possesses make this individual an authoritative source of drug information for physicians, nurses, and patients.
In addition to direct patient care involvement, pharmacists in hospitals are responsible for systems which control drug distribution and are designed to assure that each patient receives the appropriate medication in the correct form and dosage, and at the correct time. Hospital pharmacists maintain records of each patient, using them not only to fill medication orders but also to screen for drug allergies and adverse drug effects.
Also because of the diversity of activities involved in pharmacy departments, there is also demand for management expertise, including finance and budgeting, personnel administration, system development and planning.
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Community Pharmacy/ Retail Pharmacy
This is a more familiar practice setting for the pharmacists and people probably visit the community pharmacy more often than they do other health care team. Pharmacists talk to people whether they are healthy and when they are sick.
Pharmacists are playing an increasing role in the “wellness” movement, especially through counselling about preventive medicine. Pharmacist serve patients and the community by providing information and advice on health, providing medications and associated services, and by referring patients to other sources of help and care, such as physicians, when necessary.
Pharmacists, in and out of the community pharmacy, must be knowledgeable about the composition of drugs, their physicochemical properties, their manufacturer and uses, as well as how products are tested for purity and strength. More and more prescribers rely on pharmacists for information about various drugs, their availability, and their activity.
Thus, a community pharmacist must keep abreast of new knowledge through continuing education in order to provide current drug information.
Industrial Pharmacy
The pharmaceutical industry produces active drug substances, chemicals, prescription and non-prescription drugs, and all other health products. Pharmacists do such things as marketing, research and product development, quality control, sales and administration.
Many pharmacists go on to obtain postgraduate degrees in this field. Pharmacists with an interest in sales and administration can combine this with their technical background in pharmacy by serving as medical representatives. They explain the uses and merits of the products their firms manufacture.
Experienced and successful medical service representatives with administrative abilities often rise to supervisory or executive posts in the pharmaceutical industry.
Veterinary Pharmacy
The Pharmacist towing this line is focused on the treatment given to animals. A veterinary pharmacist should have a grounded knowledge of the basic care given to animals. He should be able to provide the necessary medication to animals and livestock.
Such individual is to take note of the animals in the environment so that you provide the proper services. It is also important to be knowledgeable about antidotes in case of bites and other sores.
This field is also a voice in giving advice to regulatory boards and other bodies involved in veterinary drug production.
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Social/Administrative Pharmacy
This practice involves research and analysis in various areas of the health sector including how to improve public health care, making necessary drugs available and affordable among others. Information gathered and the analysis made is important to the enhancement of pharmaceutical procedures. This helps various organizations take positive steps to serve the society better.
A sound background is advisable in this field as well as a post-graduate.
Pharmacy Journalism
This is an adventurous field for the pharmacist who is looking for a not-so-ordinary job. This area involves being inquisitive and having a spark for writing.
With your wealth of knowledge in the pharmaceutical field, you could educate your readers through your work. You can become a journalist for a pharmaceutical journal or you can opt to be a freelance writer.
There are new platforms seeking medical information where you can share your expertise. There are quarterly pharmaceutical journals, columns in newspapers and other media.
A lot of people started out as columnist and rose to become correspondents for major news channels ad global magazines. It’s also a good idea to learn on hand at a magazine office just to know if you are really comfortable in this field.
The Academia
Pharmacists here are interested in training the next generation of pharmacists. They are involved with teaching, research, public service and patient care. Others serve as consultants for local, state, national and international organizations.
Becoming a member of the faculty at a college of pharmacy usually requires a Ph. D. Degree or at least a Masters degree. The pharmaceutical scientists in other departments other than clinical pharmacy are mainly concerned with research that includes sophisticated instrumentation, analytical methods, and animal models that study all aspects of drugs and drug products.
However, in clinical pharmacy, social, economic and behavioural science research often uses survey methods and statistical analyses to solve complex problems of drug utilisation management, health care delivery, marketing, management, and other practice issues.
Do you have any other areas that interest you? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
This article titled Career Opportunities for Pharmacists discussed the various career options for pharmacists. They may choose from a variety of job options in many different work settings.
