Pharmacy is a professional scientific discipline concerned with the production, interactions and distributions of drugs. Pharmacists are commonly known to the public as local stores where medicine prescribed by the GP can be collected from, some people even go straight to the pharmacists to get certain medication directly from the pharmacist rather than seeing a GP. Pharmacist’s stores also include other various other mundane items too. My personal perceptions of pharmacies in the UK is that they are simply the store house for various medications, they are part of secondary care so usually require a GP’s prescription. A pharmacy can also be involved in giving consolation to the patient, although they cannot diagnose, they may inform the patient about side effects allowing them to make a better informed decision. Pharmacists also have the knowledge to discern what a healthy dose for a particular medication will be, they use their knowledge of physiology and drug interaction to do this, they also need to use their own judgment as every patient is unique. I believe that although pharmacists need to have the knowledge of the chemistry of how a drug is structured they don’t necessarily need to be able to create drugs themselves as this is the job of chemists and pharmaceutics.
How to become a pharmacist
It is better for students during their GSCE to start preparing for pharmacy if that is what they want to get into, as GSCE results may affect the A levels you undertake. Most schools of pharmacy require a grade B minimum in chemistry and usually over 300 UCAS point in science subjects. Therefore A levels are a huge deciding point for pharmacy. The next step will be to complete an Mpharm course at a selected university which usually lasts 4 years. Once the mpharm course has been completed the student will then need to complete a pre-registration year before they become registered pharmacists and start practicing. In the UK academic standards are set high so that every qualified pharmacist is ready to deal with the pressures of the real world. Many applicant get turned down every year due to poor grades and get offered places in other related courses like pharmaceutical
