Career Options in Pharmacy

Pharmacy can be described as the science that handles research, manufacture, and authorization of different medication. It is a great combination of chemical science, health science, and direct patient care.

A pharmacist is said to be a person who has studied and is trained in pharmacy, and is considered to be an expert health professional. They have a wide variety of career options. They can establish their own drugstore or work in an industry. Here are some of the career options you can consider.

Pharmacists who work in a hospital guide the physicians with the composition, dosage, effects, and side effects of the medications. They advise patients about the medication they are undergoing. They can guide the doctor with the appropriate drugs for a specific patient. He is the best person to recommend medication that will help a patient recover soon.

Pharmacists not only guide the physicians but also all other hospital staff including nurses and other members. Since they are well aware about the composition of the drugs, they know what medication should be prescribed for a patient. They also advise nurses on the dosage pattern.

In addition, they make physicians aware of the consequences or certain possible side effects and help the hospital staff with queries. They are considered to be the most important members of the hospital teams that treat the patients.

Pharmacists interested in marketing, can opt for a career that involves launching and promoting a product. It involves sales and management skills, required to ensure timely delivery and completion of client requirements. Usually, a postgraduate degree is required to work in this industry.

It involves guiding the students, making them aware of the career options, and preparing for them a bigger role outside the school. Here, one gets to learn more with simultaneous teaching and learning. It can also be a great way to shape the careers of young pharmacists. To be a faculty of a pharmacy school or college, a PhD is usually preferred.

Community pharmacy can be defined as private business owned by a group of pharmacists. It may vary with different communities, including distribution of drugs, guiding the patients with prescribed and non-prescribed drugs, and overall healthcare of the patients. Here, they provide services at the homes of patients and work for community services.

They guide patients with all the required information on the drugs and also prescribe proper medication for specific health problems. In short, community pharmacy is a group of pharmacists that provide services to physicians and patients.

It is the most common career option chosen by many people of this field. Retail pharmacists are licensed distributors of various medications. It has a great economic/business potential, but requires a lot of efforts as most of the drugstores need to be open all the time.

Retail pharmacy is nothing but selling medication to the masses and to physicians. They need to maintain a track of the medicines sold, maintain accounts, and order medicines. Thus, business and management skills are also required to succeed in this field. These days online pharmacies are popular, where you can purchase medicines using Internet.

Any career in pharmacy involves great efforts to be successful. Getting a degree from a renowned pharmacy school or college can help a student get the best career that he/she would like to opt for. Pharmacy, with its wide variety of career options, has a great future and is said to be one of the highly growing employment and self-employment areas.