This document outlines the responsibilities and tasks of pharmacists in community and hospital settings. In community pharmacy, pharmacists compound, price, and fill prescriptions, provide drug information to patients and medical professionals, and manage the retail operations. In hospital pharmacy, pharmacists distribute medications via floor stock or unit dose systems, prepare IV medications, provide clinical services like drug consultation and information, and assist with purchasing, inventory control, and committees. The key roles of pharmacists are ensuring safe medication use and providing medication expertise.

1. Pharmaceutical Practice
Community and Hospital
settings

2. Pharmaceutical Responsibilities
and Tasks
 Modern pharmacist needs to obtain basic proficiencies:7 major
functional areas
 Taking custody of drugs, premises and leadership
 Compound and dispense drugs, and advise patients on proper
use and handling of prescribed medication
 Advise and counsel patients use OTCs and Other health aids
 Serve as a drug information specialist
 Evaluate and select drugs and dosage forms for health
practitioners
 Monitor patients drug therapy
 Evaluate and advise the public on personal and environmental
health problems
 Others depending on areas of practice

3. Community pharmacy
 Function at retail level
Duties:
 Compounding, pricing, filling and safeguarding prescriptions.
 Registering all narcotics dispensed
 Keeping dept in good order
 Checking and marking incoming drugs and merchandise
 Information retrieval and dissemination
 Furnishing information to medical professionals on request
 Supervising, promotion, advertising and in-store display
 Selecting, training and supervision of employees
 Purchasing and stock control( annual, semi-annual, quarterly and daily
 Records keeping, executing financial controls
 Checking and improving the general condition and appearance of the store
 Take direct telephone orders from doctors and local clinics
 Give direct self medication advise
 Preparing and keeping daily, weekly and monthly statements

4. Hospital pharmacy
 Duties:
 A. Drug distribution:
 1.Floor stock and unit dose systems.
• i. Floor stock/crash cart (FS/CC)
 Dosage forms on hand for use by nursing staff, usually all forms
of medication in hospital
 Predetermined list (crash cart) with others on request by
nursing staff if they received orders from physicians’ orders
Drawbacks:
 No opportunity to review orders
 No chance to review patient medication profile to monitor
therapy
 Can be modified to issues of reviewing medication profile

5. Hospital pharmacy Cont
 ii. Unit dose distribution system (UDDS) is superior
 Developed to reduce medication errors, guaranties medication
reviews and individual patient dispensing; largely replace the
floor stock.
 Two main components: a) all orders are reviewed either in the
care area or in the pharmacy. b) Medication are dispensed as
Unit Dose or unit of use in an individually labeled container for
each patient. Typically a 24 hr medication is sent eg three caps
of amoxicillin 500mg for an 8 hourly administration.
 Advantages: pharmacist review, reduce medication errors, cut
pharmacy cost.
 Drawbacks: delays in initiating medication orders, doses
missed, and pharmacy labor costs are higher.

6. Practice areas
 2. IV admixture programs: follow closely with
the implementation of UDDS.
 In some hospitals nursing staff are responsible
 Need sterile area and advance training, in
addition incorporated in pharmacy curriculum
 Includes preparation of total parenteral
preparations (TPN) and potentially toxic
products( e.g. antineoplastic agents)

7. Practice areas
 B. Clinical functions
 1. Therapeutic consultation, most important service by the hospital
pharmacist.
 a) involvement in acute care patient receiving multiple drug therapy;
complex regimens
 b) other functions: selecting an antimicrobial therapy regimen or TPN
formula, monitoring the pharmacokinetic aspects, assessing for drug
interaction and adverse effects.
 2. Drug information centers, operated by pharmacist mostly in
specialist and teaching hospitals.
 Information resources: Textbooks, journals, online data bases
 May make the drug information resource be accessible by the
hospital’s healthcare professionals in and outside the hospital
 3. Other clinical functions: In-service and patient education programs

8. Practice areas
 C. Miscellaneous functions:
 1. Purchasing (emergency) from manufacturer or drug
wholesaler
 2. Inventory control: annual, semi annual, or quarterly physical
inventories.
 Committee work: pharmacy and therapeutic committee as
secretary, oversees the use of medications, sets the agenda,
determines which drugs should the hospital carry on formulary.,
oversees investigational drugs and hazardous waste handling,
infection control, quality assurance.
 Community outreach such as hypertension, cholesterol and
blood sugar screening, substance abuse prevention program