PHARMACY AND PHARMACISTS

Pharmacy has been defined as a profession concerned with the art and science of preparing drugs and suitable synthetic sources and convenient materials. Pharmacy also deals with the distribution and use of drugs in both treatment and prevention of disease. It embraces a knowledge of the identification, selection, pharmacologic action, preservation, combination, analysis, and standardization of drugs and medicines. Likewise, it includes proper and safe distribution and use of drugs - whether dispensed on the prescription of licensed physician, dentist, or veterinarian - or, in those instances where it may be legally done, dispensed, or even sold directly to the consumer.

The worls pharmacy, in fact,is derived from the Greek word "pharmacon", meaning medicine or drug. A pharmacist, then, is the person of drugs, or the expert on drugs. He is the only expert on drugs, for expertise regarding drug requires knowledge in depth in all the facets of pharmacy as outlned in the definition of the term pharmacy above.

The physician, dentist, and veterinarian may prescribe drugs and be primarily interested in the effect of those drugs on the patient, their therapeutic value, and toxicology. The nurse may administer the drug and be concerned with dosage forms, routes of administration, and toxic manifestations. But the pharmacist is the only expert on drugs. It is his professional responsibility to know all about the drugs. No educational program other that in pharmacy provides the background to understand completely all there is to understand about drugs. Thus, pharmacist are in that unique position of embaracing complete drug expertise.

Remington (1985), Pharmaceutical Sciences

Mack Publishing Company, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042