The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7312 p221
14 August 2004

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· Statins
· Enhanced services
· Shipman inquiry
· Dispensing errors
· Language skills
· Pharmacy education
· Tablet identification
· TCM
· The Charter

Letters to the Editor

Pharmacy education

Do you want medicines developed by a bunch of arbitrary scientists?

From Ms E. Harrop, MRPharmS

Being “someone who works in a research and development laboratory”, I would like to respond to Ms Wakeling’s letter (PJ, 31 July, p148) about training of pharmacists. The question keeps arising — what is a pharmacist? There are some who like to believe that only those pharmacists who dispense prescriptions or wander around hospitals in white coats are worthy of using the title. Perhaps this is their lack of understanding of the different opportunities available or the wide range of ways in which their colleagues contribute outside the stereotypical roles.

The current pharmacy course is an eclectic mix of a variety of different sciences and disciplines, which covers the whole sphere of drug delivery and development, and gives a pharmacist a unique position among graduates, to be able to converse confidently with a wide range of scientists and health care professionals including pharmacologists, toxicologists, chemists, nurses, microbiologists, senior consultants — the list goes on. Although I do not legally need to be a pharmacist to do my job I have found it brings a range of experience that, far from being a hindrance, is actually a great asset.

I think it is short-sighted to suggest that pharmacists are not required to be involved in the development process. Would you really want your medicines of tomorrow developed by a bunch of arbitrary scientists or would you prefer these advances to be made with the help of pharmacists, who have trained in the whole pharmaceutical process but bring with them their experiences of patient care and end user knowledge? I know which I would rather have.

Elaine Harrop
Cropston, Leicester

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