The Pharmacy as a Discipline: A Homogenous Mixture of Science and Art

Pharmacy to the ordinary lay person may not seem fulfilling and promising, and in fact may even connote a negative view. To the Filipino people, pharmacist are "glorified salespeople" thinking that it does not require a 4-year BS degree to work in the exciting and varied practice of Pharmacy. The public's view of a pharmacist is a lowly profession who count pills in the counter, transacts in the cash registry and dispenses drugs, a job that does not require intellectual thinking to begin with. A job that could be done by any body trained in the corners of a drugstore (not necessarily a pharmacist) or even worse by an artificial intelligence such as advance dispensing machines.

But have you been informed that there is something more to than just dispensing? You may be surprised to know that a pharmacist can already administer vaccine  and/or participate in immunization programs, family planning activities, smoking cessation program, patient drug counselling and many more. Much less, prepare an ointment, cream, lotion or dermatological preparations following compendial formulations (i.e. United States Pharmacopeia, National Formulary, British Pharmacopeia, Japanese Pharmacopeia.) . Are you also aware that a pharmacist is responsible in weighing, mixing and formulating capsules, tablets, suppositories, syrups, suspensions, liniments, solutions and many more. The legal framework of such activities is found on RA 10918, An Act Regulating and Modernizing the Practice of Pharmacy in the Philippines, approved as a law in July 2016. 

The theories, concepts, principles and laws learned in the curriculum constitutes the Science of Pharmacy. Calculations involving pH buffer solutions, dosing, expressions of concentrations, potencies and strength, dissolution rate, elimination constant, body surface area, particle sizes and mathematical modeling are all contributory to ensuring safety, efficacy and purity of drugs. To the ordinary citizen who looks down on a pharmacist, these and others are difficult courses to take. A semester in Physical Pharmacy, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, Pathophysiology, Clinical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences are limiting factors to graduation. These are not ordinary semestral courses to traverse; sleepless nights, study habits and a positive predisposition awaits in the essential struggle of passing. A pharmacists who met the minimum competency standard know how to apply the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, able to solve incompatibility issues during compounding, able to recognize adverse effects and drug-drug interactions, and able to utilize the foundation knowledge in ensuring therapeutic outcomes in clinical phamaceutical care.

On one hand, arts is a requisite to the effective compounding (small-scale production) and manufacture (large-scale in bulk weight or volume) of drugs, in the correct delivery of drug information relaying subtle and relevant data needs of customers/patients/clients, interpersonal communication skills, effective advocacy of public health and consumer rights and safety among other things. The act of trituration, particle size reduction, maceration, percolation, spectific gravity determination, titration, therapeutic communication techniques require precision and degree of artistic design. The ability to think outside conventional knowledge, use of imaginative skills to solve real-world problems is part of pharmacy practice. For instance, the use of rose oil instead of eucalyptus oil may be preferred in a preparation for its calming, aromatic property provided that it is compatible with other excipients in the formulation. 

In conclusion, Pharmacy is a multi-faceted interdisciplinary degree that blends science and art in a geometric dilution fashion. Being drug experts, pharmacists possess vast potential that needs to be tapped. The unique body of knowledge puts them in a the right position to advance health care in a nation with scarce healthcare workforce. There is so much more to the usual, current practice. To the K-12 students considering a career in Pharmacy: This may be a rewarding and exciting field.