Pharmacist Jobs

Pharmacy Education

A pharmacist is a medical professional who dispenses drugs to patients according to a prescription ordered by a physician or other clinician. Pharmacist jobs professional have a knowledge of the chemistry of various drugs and how they react in humans, and also how drugs interact with each other. Pharmacists must accurately measure and package medicine, ensuring its dosage and safety to be administered properly to a patient. While the pharmacist does not typically select or prescribe the medication, the pharmacist educates the patient on how to take the medication and what reactions or problems to be avoided.

It can be said that the pharmacy education in India is the result of efforts of Prof. M L Schroff. He was instrumental in starting a regular B.Pharm course of three years in 1937. Today, pharmacy education has experienced a phenomenal growth with 450 degree colleges training more than 25,000 students at B.Pharm level.

There is a severe shortage of qualified and competent faculty in the pharmacy colleges in the country. Also, there is a mismatch between knowledge and skills received by pharmacy graduates and the job requirements. In the distribution of pharmacy colleges in the country is causing regional imbalances and inter-state migration of students. To add to the trouble, the pharmacy colleges in the rural and remote areas are not so popular. Apart, students graduated from several pharmacy colleges in the country are unable to work in a team and lacks inter disciplinary knowledge, enough practical orientation and oral and written skills. There is a dual control of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to lead the pharmacy education in the country.

Pharmacists graduating from college today are required to have a PharmD, or doctorate of Pharmacy degree. College students can start a four year pharmacy program after successfully completing two years of undergraduate coursework and earning a passing score on the PCAT (Pharmacy college admission test). Coursework in pharmacy and pre-pharmacy includes chemistry, physics, biology, anatomy, and physiology.
Additionally, PharmD students must complete a series of rotations in a variety of clinical and pharmaceutical settings. The length and quantity of rotations varies, but the average PharmD program requires 7-10 rotaions, each of which is 4 to 6 weeks in length.

The main courses in Pharmacy are the 2 years Diploma in Pharmacy (D.Pharm).
Types Of Courses In Pharmacy
1.Bachelor in pharmacy (B Pharma)
Duration:4 years
2.Degree in pharmacy (D Pharma)
Duration:2 years
3.Master in pharmacy (M Pharma)
Duration:2 years
4.MBA in pharmacy
Duration:2 years
5.PhD in pharmac
6.Clinical research

A pharmacist should be exposed to such aspects in the academics that he can be in any one of the following professional categories of jobs:
1.Chemist and druggist engaged in selling of medicines.
2.Manager and administrator of pharmaceuticals services working for various regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical systems.
3.Academicians (teachers of pharmacy).
4.Specialist in research and development (research of new drug molecules, biotechnological investigations etc).
5.Community and hospital pharmacists with specialized knowledge in drug usage, side effects, contra indications, incompatibilities, storage conditions of drugs, dosage regimen etc.
6.Occupational specialist (industrial pharmacist engaged in pharmaceutical technology) which performs manufacture of various dosage forms, analysis and quality control, clinical trials, post marketing surveillance, patent applications, drug registrations.