There are six fields of pharmacy that you can choose from as your major. You can pick from these specializations:
Hospital Pharmacy
Hospitals are not just for doctors and nurses. In hospital pharmacy, you will manage medications in hospitals, clinics or nursing homes by dispensing and preparing medication. If you choose to work in the hospital environment, you’ll be tasked in making ward rounds, aid in procuring medication, and participate in testing quality of medication. As a hospital pharmacist, you can either choose to specialize in pharmacotherapy, which is the treatment of a disease with medication, or you can be an inpatient or outpatient pharmacist.
Home Care Pharmacy
You will be in charge of preparing and delivering injectables to patients in their homes. Home care pharmacy is also known as infusion pharmacy as this field only involves the dispensation of injectable medication without oral or topical medications. There are also many career options in this field. You can specialize in other areas of infusion pharmacy such as nutritional support, oncology, chemotherapy, or mental illness.
Ambulatory Care Pharmacy
Patients in secluded areas such as the elderly often have limited access to medicine and healthcare services. In ambulatory pharmacy, you will be on the move to visit patients in rural areas. This is a mobile service that helps patients wherever they are without having them make frequent hospital visits on their own. This service is usually managed by a hospital or healthcare organization.
Community Pharmacy
Community pharmacy or retail pharmacy is very common. In fact, you would have been to one of these retail pharmacies at least once in your life. As a community pharmacist, you will dispense medication in retail stores like Guardian and Watsons. Besides providing the community with the medication they need, a community pharmacist also supervises pharmacy technicians and observes the drug inventory.
Industrial Pharmacy
You will be involved in the production of drugs and medication for pharmaceutical companies. Industrial pharmacy plays a huge role in ensuring the quality and safety of the medication produced. This means that you will participate in the process of research, quality control, production, packaging, as well as the marketing of the medication. You can also opt to represent a pharmaceutical company to spread awareness about the functions and benefits of a certain medical product.
Academic Pharmacy
You can teach Pharmacy too! Share your passion and inspire the younger generation to take on the challenge in Pharmacy as you teach this course in an educational institute. With a PhD in this field, you can teach, conduct research, and even assess the findings of clinical studies.