Menu Close

What are Specialties in Pharmacy and What Do They Do?

This refers to the unique thematic areas in pharmacy, which entail different aspects such as medication therapy, management, research, innovation and overall patient care.

The upshot is that the specialties require further training beyond the tertiary foundational level of education, which is often the pharmacy bachelor’s degree.

Due to varying contemporary changes, these specialties have evolved in recent times to make sure that all the requirements of clients are adequately and sufficiently met.

The adjustments have been necessary to guarantee that the healthcare system is all-inclusive by resolving all existing complex challenges in community health and its integral elements such as therapy, medication and management.

This article will therefore proceed to highlight and discuss the various specialties in pharmacy citing what they exactly do.

Pharmacy specializing in brand-name medicine

Clinical Pharmacy

This entails personal patient care in hospitals, clinics and other distinct healthcare set-ups. The specialties under this category include the following:

Ambulatory Care Pharmacy

This usually involves outpatient services primarily focusing on addressing chronic diseases and guaranteeing that there is proper and consistent medication adherence practices.

Critical Care Pharmacy 

Just as the name suggests, this entails intervention in the intensive care unit namely ICU to address the concerns of those in critical condition.

Clinical pharmacy involves assessing patients and concerted collaborative efforts with other physicians and health officers to conjure up the best possible treatment plans. This also includes checking the therapy progress and changing the medication where it is deemed vital. Further, this involves advising patients through consistent education on the drugs administered, adverse effects and the essence of sticking to the medicine plans. Clinical pharmacists are also tasked with attending the requisite group meetings and routine practice rounds as expected.

Specialized Patient Care

Specialty areas under this subsection involve the following:

Oncology Pharmacy

This applies to cancer patients and ensures that there is proper chemotherapy management and favorable medication support and care for them.

Pediatric Pharmacy

This concerns children carefully focusing on the most appropriate medication and therapy for them including being wary of their age in dosage administration to ensure proper safety practices.

The roles performed herein include ensuring that there is proper education accorded to caregivers and patients regarding the essence of proper medication administration for effective disease management. They also cooperate with other clinical teams to confirm that the results of drug therapy are maximized.

Academic Pharmacy

It entails research, scholarly work and training in the institutions of pharmacy. The specialties include:

Pharmacology Research

A probe and inquiry is made into the drug processes and pharmacokinetics. 

Pharmacy Practice Research

This includes assessing the results and impact of the medication and deciphering the optimal intervention mechanisms.

The duties herein include enlightening pharmacy students, conducting pharmaceutical science research and guiding and instructing students undertaking projects or those in the infancy stages of career development.

Pharmacy Informatics

The specialty areas include the following:

Clinical Informatics Pharmacist

The idea here is to make sure there is integration of technology with the healthcare knowledge available to ascertain that there is ample health data and information to guide and inform medical decision-making.

Medical Safety Officer

This entails the maximization of technology utilization to ensure that there are secure medication practices.

The roles herein include and are not limited to the development of effective medical decision support mechanisms and analyzing the data emanating thereof to help in proper and safe clinical prescriptions. 

Pharmacy Practice Management

This entails the governance aspect of pharmacies within the precincts of different healthcare entities and organizations. The specialty areas under this substratum include the following:

Health System Pharmacy Administration

This specialization entails proper plotting and superintendence of the chemist operations in different medical centers and healthcare settings.

Managed Care Pharmacy

This involves the supervision and overseeing of drugs in insurance institutions and other healthcare entities including the assessment of the economic virtues and principles as formulated.

The duty of personnel in this specialty consists of guaranteeing conformity with regulatory requirements and various standards as stipulated. The economic aspect is also in this specialty encompassing duties

Related Posts