One of the common misconceptions about pharmacists is that they only work in a community
or hospital pharmacy. Once a person has earned his or her pharmacy degree, there are numerous possible career options in a wide range of settings.
Where do pharmacists work?
Pharmacists may work in locations such as community pharmacies, hospitals, academia,
laboratories, corporations, and more:
Clinical pharmacists: Counsel patients, provide direct patient care and work with other healthcare professionals
to optimize care.
Infusion pharmacists: Prepare and administer medications via IVs or injections. They deal primarily with
patients who are stable enough to be released from the hospital, but have diseases
or conditions that require treatment beyond oral drugs.
Remote pharmacists:Review orders, work to enhance patient safety and ensure timely medication management
for mail-order pharmacies, telehealth services and more.
Inpatient pharmacists: Manage patients who are acutely sick in the hospital by dispensing, managing, and
monitoring of medications within the hospital.
Clinical specialists: Provide patient care, focusing on a specific clinical specialty, and are considered
clinical experts in their specialty areas. The specialties include, but not limited
to:
Compounding (prepares customized dosage forms to meet an individual patient’s needs,
such as medications that are not commercially available, medications that are not
stable, or altered commercially available medications)
Geriatrics (senior adults)/long-term care (practice in long-term care facilities,
such as nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities, or as independent consultants
to provide pharmaceutical services)
Regulatory affairs: Concerned with regulatory affairs (i.e. FDA) and population impact of pharmacy law.
Academia: with different backgrounds, such as clinical pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical science,
and economic, social, and administrative sciences, pharmacist faculty will focus on
teaching and developing future pharmacists.
