Community Pharmacists
With around 70% of pharmacists working in the community, in premises on local high streets all over the country, this is by far the biggest speciality group. A community pharmacist works according to legal and ethical guidelines to ensure the correct and safe supply of medical products to the general public. They are involved in maintaining and improving people’s health by providing advice and information as well as supplying prescription medicines. Community pharmacists will also sell over-the-counter medical products and instruct patients on the use of medicines and medical appliances. Some pharmacists will also offer specialist health checks, such as blood pressure monitoring and diabetes screening, run stop smoking clinics, weight reduction programmes and are able to prescribe as well as dispense medicines.
Other services which community pharmacies may provide include:
- Prescription dispensing
- Quality health advice, such as help with quitting smoking and losing weight
- Advice about, and treatment of, minor ailments and conditions without prescription
- Safe disposal of unwanted medicines
- Advice on where to go for further care and treatment
- Treatment of long-term conditions, such as diabetes, heart problems and asthma
- Supervising and administering the correct dosage of prescribed medicines
- Providing emergency contraception
- Diabetes testing
- Needle and syringe exchange for substance abusers
- Providing very specialist medicines including oral chemotherapy tablets
- An at home oxygen therapy service for the terminally ill
- Support and advice for those in care homes
Hospital pharmacists
Around 20% of pharmacists work in hospitals and play an essential role in patient care. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, they manage case loads and provide treatment programmes for all hospital patients. They specialise in a wide variety of clinical areas such as respiratory medicine, cardiology, infectious diseases, paediatrics and critical care.
Hospital pharmacists are experts in the field of medicines and are not only responsible for the dispensing of prescriptions but also the purchase, manufacture and quality testing of all medicines used in a hospital. They are members of a healthcare team and work closely with medical and nursing staff to ensure patients receive the best treatment. They also provide help and advice to patients in all aspects of their medicines.
The role of the hospital pharmacist can extend outside the hospital with responsibility for medicines in health centres, nursing homes, hospices and general practitioners’ (GP) surgeries. Typical work activities may include:
- Checking prescriptions to ensure that there are no errors and that they are appropriate and safe for the individual patient
- Providing advice on the dosage of medicines and the most appropriate form of medication, for example tablet, injection, ointment or inhaler
- Participating in ward rounds, taking patient drug histories and involvement in decision-making on appropriate treatments
- Discussing treatments with patients’ relatives, community pharmacists and general practitioners
- Ensuring medicines are stored appropriately and securely
- Supervising the work of less experienced and less qualified staff
- Answering questions about medicines from within the hospital, other hospitals and the general public
- Keeping up to date with, and contributing to, research and development
- Writing guidelines for drug use within the hospital and implementing hospital regulations
- Providing information on expenditure on drugs
- Preparing and quality-checking sterile medications, for example intravenous medications
- Setting up and supervising clinical trials.
More experienced pharmacists may be involved in teaching, both within the pharmacy department and other areas within the hospital.
Academic Pharmacists
Typically academic pharmacists combine teaching or research with practising as a pharmacist. Academic pharmacists work in universities, research institutes and a variety of other organisations.
Industrial Pharmacist
Industrial pharmacists work alongside scientists in the pharmaceutical industry who specialise in other areas to discover new ways of combating disease and improving manufacturing and production techniques. Pharmaceutical company employees are engaged in a wide variety of tasks. Our scientists work at the cutting edge of science and technology, using and developing state-of-the-art techniques to provide the medicines of the future. When a successful product has been identified we need people who can design and carry out its production cost-effectively and on a large scale. Good communication skills enable our marketing and sales staff to bring our success to the attention of the medical profession. Information technology and management skills are needed across the range of company activities.
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