INTRODUCTION

TO COMMUNITY
PHARMACY
BY: MAM NOSHEEN MUSTAFA
 HISTORY
Ancient ages:
 Sumerian pharmacological tablet So far, it is the first pharmacy recorded
document discovered. It contains prescriptions for diseases and descriptions of
drugs. Recipes included both internal and external preparations.
Important people of the Ancient Era:
 Hippocrates: Greek physician and pharmacist. Father of Medicine. Introduced
scientific thoughts and principles and described hundreds of drugs
 Theophrastus: Father of botany Experimented with many types of plants as
medications many types of plants as medications
 THE FIRST OFFICIAL
PHARMACOPOEIA
 The idea of a pharmacopoeia with official status, to be followed by all
apothecaries, originated in Florence.
 The Nuovo Receptario, originally written in Italian, was published and became
the legal standard for the city- state in 1498.
 The first "United States Pharmacopoeia" (1820) was the work of the medical
profession. It was the first book of drug standards from a professional source to
have achieved a nation's acceptance
FIRST HOSPITAL IN COLONIAL AMERICA
Colonial America's first hospital (Pennsylvania) was established in Philadelphia in
1751; the first Hospital Pharmacy began operations there in 1752. First Hospital
Pharmacist was Jonathan Roberts
THE FATHER OF AMERICAN PHARMACY
William Procter, graduated from The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1837;
operated a retail pharmacy; served the College as Professor of Pharmacy for 20
years. 
 Pharmacists are among the community's finest educated people.
 When today’s community pharmacist fills a prescription written by a physician,
he provides a professional service incorporating the benefits of the work of
pharmacists in all branches of the profession - education, research, development,
standards, production, and distribution.
 Pharmacy's professional stature will continue to grow in the future as this great
heritage and tradition of service is passed on from preceptor to apprentice, from
teacher to student, from father to son.
 COMMUNITY PHARMACY

 A community pharmacy is a pharmacy that deals directly with

people in the local area. It has responsibilities including
compounding, counseling, checking and dispensing of prescription
drugs to the patients with care, accuracy, and legality.
 Community pharmacy means any place under the direct supervision
of a pharmacist where the practice of pharmacy occurs or where
prescription orders are compounded and dispensed other than a
hospital pharmacy or a limited service pharmacy.
 SCOPE OF PHARMACY

 In processing prescriptions- The pharmacist verifies the legality, safety and

appropriateness of the prescription order, checks the patient medication record
before dispensing the prescription, ensures that the quantities of medication are
dispensed accurately, and decides whether the medication should be handed to the
patient, with appropriate counseling, by a pharmacist.
 Clinical pharmacy- The pharmacist seeks to collect and integrate information
about the patient’s drug history, dosage regimen.
 Patient care- patient drug history, mode of administration, precautions, advices
 Drug monitoring- to analyze prescriptions for the monitoring of adverse drug reactions
 Extemporaneous preparation- pharmacists engage in the small- scale preparation of medicines.
 Checking symptoms of minor aliments- pharmacist can supply a non-prescription medicine,
with advice to consult a medical practitioner if the symptoms persist for more than a few days.
Alternatively, the pharmacist may give advice without supplying medicine. 
 Health care professionals- provide the information as necessary to other health care
professionals and to patients, and use it in promoting the rational use of drugs, by providing
advice and explanations to physicians and to members of the public.
 Counselor- the pharmacist provides an advisory as well as a supply service to residential homes
for the elderly, and other long-term patients. In some countries, policies are being developed
under which pharmacists will visit certain categories of house-bound patients to provide the
counselling service that the patients would have received had they been able to visit the pharmacy
 In prophylaxis and health promotion- The pharmacist can take part in health promotion
campaigns, locally and nationally, on a wide range of health- related topics, and particularly on
drug-related topics
 Dispensing prescriptions/ Appropriate filling of prescriptions -Reviewing the
prescription for correctly spell, label, interactions, right drugs etc.
 Rational use of drugs– The irrational use of medicines is a major problem
worldwide. WHO estimates that more than half of all medicines are prescribed,
dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients fail to take them
correctly. The overuse, underuse or misuse of medicines results in wastage of
scarce resources and widespread health hazards. Patients often come with the
belief that there is "a pill for every ill“