Scope of Pharmacy

What is Pharmacy?

It is defined in the dictionary as:

• The art, practice, or profesion of preparing, preserving, compounfing, and dispensing medical drugs.
• A health profession that links the health services with the chemical science, in charge of ensuring safe and effective use of pharmaeutical drugs (Lovett, 2014).
• The scope of pharmacy practice involves interpreting prescription orders; compounding, labeling, and dispensing of drugs and devices; drug prouct selection, and drug utilization reviews; patient monitoring and intervantion; and providing services related to the use of meddications and devices. It has shifted from product to patient oriented. It evolved from traditional dispensing nature to clinical pharmacy services and pharmaceutical care with medication therapy management recently emerging in practice.
• A place where medicines are compounded or dispensed; A drugstore.

Drugs

Bassed on the Philippine Pharmacy Act (RA10918), drugs refer to:

1. Any article recognized in he official
   • United States Pharmacopeia (USP) / National Formulary (NF)
   • Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States of America
   • Philippine Pharmacopeia (PP)
   • Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF)
   • British Pharmacopeia
   • European Pharmacopeia
   • Japanese Pharmacopeia, and
   • Any official compendium or any supplement to them.
2. Any article intnded for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or preention of disease in humans or animals.
3. Any article, other than food, intended to afffect the structure or any function of the human body or animals
4. Any article intended for use, as a component of articles specified in clauses (1), (2), or (3), not including devices or their components, parts, and accessories; and
5. Herbal or traditional drugs as defined in RA 9502

Herbal or Traditional Drugs

As defined in the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 (RA 9502), herbal or traditional drugs are arrticcles of plant or animal origin used in folk medicine which are:

• Recognized in the PNDF
• Intedded for use in the treatment or cure of mitigation of disease symptoms, injury, or body defects in humans.
• Other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function off the human body.
• In finished or ready-to-use dosage form; and
• Intended for use as a component o any of the articles specified in clauses $\text{i}$, $\text{ii}$, $\text{iii}$, and $\text{iv}$.

Licensed Pharmacicts Scope of Practice

This section is exclusive only to licensed pharmacists, under RA 10918, the followig are the activies;

A person is deemedd to be practicing pharmacy within the meaning of this Act, when with or without a fee , salary, percentage or other rewards, paid or given directly or indiretly

• Prepare; compound or manifature, preserve, store, distribute, procure, sell, or dispense, or both, any pharmaceutical product or its raw materials; or
• Render services, such as clinical pharmacy services, drug information services, regulatory services, pharmaceutical marketing, medication management, or whenever the expertise and technical knowledge of the pharmacist is required; or
• Engage in teaching scientific, technical, or professional pharmacy courses in a school or college of pharmacy; or
• Dispense pharmaceutical products in situation where supervision of dispensing pharmaceutical products is required; or
• Provide other services where pharmaceutical knowledge is required

Career Oportunities

The Philippine Practice Standards for Pharmacists or PhPSP (2015), developed by the PPhA, inc, identified five major areas of pharmacy practice, which are:

• Academic Pharmacy
• Regulatory Pharmacy
• Manufacturing Pharmacy
• Community, Hospital, and Institutional Pharmacy
• Public Health Pharmacy
• Clinical Pharmacy

Academic Pharmacy

For pharmacists with advanced degrees in relevant fields to pharmacy may enter the academe and engage in the teaching of pharmacy courses.

For pharmacists that enter the academe are essential figures in the process of preparing pharmacy students to become professionals by serving as educators; Academic pharmacy involves the use of effective teaching methods and training programs that fall under the scope of pharmacy.

Academic Pharmacy primarily encourages students to conduct and engage in research and development, and create innovations in the field of pharmacy and overall create an improvement in the practice of pharmacy.

Academic Pharmacy are for those individuals who wish to be involved in the preparattion of the next generation of pharmacists and to encourage innovation within the field.

Regulatory Pharmacy

The primary roles of pharmacists as Regulatory Affairs Officers are liasing and consulting with regulatory authorities regarding regulatory legislation and guidelines relating to pharmaceutical products.

Regulatory pharmacists are the ones responsible for providing input on the proper regulation to manufacturers as well as planning, undertaking, and overseeing produt trials and regulatory inspections; obtaining marketing permissions and ensuring quality standards of finished products.

Regulatory pharmacy are for those that want to ensure proper and moral practices in the manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceutical products.

Manufacturing Pharmacy

Community, Hospital, and Institutional Pharmacy

Pharmacists under this distinction are engaged more in the retail pharmacy practices and have roles in providing direct patient care in their specific settings.

Community Pharmacy, or commonly known as drugstore. A drugstore is an establishment where medicines, health products, and medical supplies can be bought and sold directly to th directly to the general public. Pharmacists under the distinction of Community Pharmacy counsel and instruct their customers/patients on the rational use of the pharmaceutica products given.

Hospital Pharmacy is a hospital division that provides the medicine and medical supplies within the hospital premises. Pharmacists under this distinction mostly interact with physicians, nurses, patients, and other hospital personnel.

Institutional Pharmacy are retail pharmacies that are locatiedd within institutions, organization and/or corporations that provie a range of pharmaeutical services exclusively to employees and/or qualified dependents. An institutional pharmacist has similar responsibilities with a community pharmacist.

Overall, the roles and duties of the sub-distinctions under Community, Hospital, and Instituional Pharmacy are the same, what differentiates them are their respective contexts and locales.

Public Health Pharmacy

Public Health Pharmacy shares some similarities with Regulatory Pharmacy and Hospital, Community, and Institutional Pharmacy.

Public Health Pharmacy practice the provision of services in relation to policy development, practice, proffessional regulation and delivery of medicine-based interventions to a large group of people or a community.

Public Health Pharmact encompasses groups that conduct vaccination programs, emergency health preparedness and response, and disease management.

Clinical Pharmacy

Clinical Pharmacy is a health science disciplline in which pharmacist provide patient care that optimizes medication therapy and promotes health, wellness, and disease prevention. Clinical Pharmacists often work closely to doctors and nurses within wards, as well as perform rounds with them.

Clinical Pharmacy involves providing drug information, maintain patients’ histories, monitor drug therapy, and advise patients on drug use, side effects, and drug interactions.