Pharmacologist is The concept, definition, required education, admission conditions, job responsibilities and features of the work performed

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Pharmacist or pharmacologist? Or a supervisor? How is it right? Or maybe they are different concepts? In the article we will understand the unity and differences of these speci alties. And also we will analyze in detail who it is - a pharmacologist. Consider the field of activity of a specialist, the features of his education, duties and much more.

Who is this?

Let's start with a definition. A pharmacologist is a medical specialist: a scientist engaged in theoretical research, drug development, formulation and dosage. Consider another popular question. Who is a clinical pharmacologist? This is the name of a specialist who conducts his practice in a medical institution, helping his patients fight diseases and pathologies.

Field of activity - pharmacology. This is the name of the science of medicines, their areas of application, properties and effects (main and side effects) on the human body. It has many subsections and categories: pharmacology,neuropharmacology, pharmacogenetics, psychopharmacology, pharmacogenomics, etc.

So you and I have decided who it is - a pharmacologist. Let's now establish the key differences between him and the clinical specialist, pharmacist and pharmacist.

Pharmacologist: two areas of activity

We continue to analyze the speci alty. The profession of a pharmacologist implies a specialist with a higher medical education. He is directly involved in scientific developments, experiments and research, experiments, testing of developed medicines and preparations. It is the pharmacologist who creates new medicines, draws up instructions for their use - the necessary dosage, treatment regimen, indications, contraindications, and so on.

What about a clinical pharmacologist? This is a practicing doctor with a higher medical education. The place of his activity is clinics, polyclinics. The main task of this specialist is to help other he alth workers in the selection of a suitable drug for the treatment of patients. The second function is to advise patients directly on the properties and dosage of medicines.

Let's move from a pharmacologist to related professions.

Pharmacist

This is a specialist who also has a higher pharmacological education. The training of pharmacists is carried out on the basis of two types of universities - medical and pharmaceutical.

What is the scope of his activities? The pharmacist has the right to manage a pharmacy, as well as to carry out independent pharmaceutical activities. His competenceapplies to the evaluation of medicines, the appointment of the cost of medicines. It is pharmacists who issue licenses to pharmacies.

Let's note an important point. A pharmacist, unlike a clinical pharmacologist, is not a doctor. He does not have the right to carry out medical activities, advise pharmacy customers about the use of certain drugs.

Pharmacist

What is the difference between a pharmacist and a clinical pharmacologist? This specialist has not higher, but secondary medical education. It is the lowest link among all the listed speci alties. In addition, applicants who do not have a medical education at all are also allowed to work in pharmacy stores and kiosks.

The pharmacist is obliged to navigate the range of drugs available to the pharmacy. He must also be able to select an analogue of the required medication for the client, to prepare the medicine according to the prescription prescribed by the doctor.

Similar to a pharmacist, pharmacists do not have the right to practice medicine. And also I can’t advise clients about the intake, dosage of medicines.

Pharmacological education

Pharmacologist - a medical worker with a higher professional education in his field. The training course for such specialists is divided into two stages:

• Initiation into general medical disciplines. These are biochemistry, phthisiology, pathological physiology, pathological anatomy, etc.
• Initiation into specific pharmacologicaldisciplines. These include drug efficacy evaluation, pharmacoeconomics, clinical pharmacology, drug side effects, and more.

The main tasks of a specialist in the workplace

The main job functions of a pharmacologist are as follows:

• Analysis, accounting, systematization of medicines at the disposal of a medical institution.
• Counseling patients and visitors of the clinic who are not undergoing treatment in it. Recommendations for conservative treatment of a narrow specialization, for complications and side effects caused by medication.
• Help fellow physicians design the most effective and safe drug regimen.

Job Responsibilities of a Specialist

Now the reader will not get confused in the listed related, but in many ways different professions. Let's move on to the job description of a pharmacologist. First of all, we note the important features of its activities:

• The duties of a specialist do not include direct admission of patients, diagnosis of diseases.
• The pharmacologist enters the therapeutic process only after the symptoms of the disease have been studied, data on analyzes, hardware diagnostics have been obtained, and a preliminary treatment regimen has been drawn up.
• Specialist pharmacologist does not determine the main therapeutic regimen. This is the prerogative of the patient's physician. The help of a pharmacologist is recommended and sometimes even necessary at the stageselection of medicines. Both within the framework of conservative (drug) and surgical treatment. Rehabilitation and prevention also need the assistance of a clinical pharmacologist.
• What is the active participation of a specialist in the treatment of patients? This is the issuance of a responsible conclusion on the advisability of using a particular drug, the need to replace it with an analogue.
• The work of a clinical pharmacologist is also monitoring the intake of medications by the patient, recommendations on how the drug is administered to the body. This also includes the study and adjustment of the treatment regimen according to the compatibility of the active components of the prescribed medications.
• The pharmacologist takes care of measures that will help to avoid or minimize side effects. If they could not be eliminated, then the specialist, together with the attending physician, is working on drawing up a scheme for restoring the patient's he alth.

Basic pharmacology skills

One of the important conditions for hiring a pharmacologist consultant is not only the presence of a higher medical education in his speci alty, but also the possession of basic skills that characterize any doctor. This is the following:

• Providing emergency first aid.
• Methods for examining internal systems and organs.
• Methods of relief of pain in patients.
• Assessing the interaction between different drugs.
• Intensive care skills.
• Providing resuscitationassistance in conditions of natural and man-made disasters, traffic accidents, mass casu alties of citizens.

Specialist's place of work

The range of medical institutions where Russian pharmacologists can work is wide. These are polyclinics and family medicine centers, private clinics and public hospitals. The role of these specialists in the latter institutions is especially important. Unfortunately, Russian hospitals are not always fully provided with a medical base. It is the pharmacologist who can raise the issue of the need to purchase certain types of medicines.

In a hospital or clinic, a specialist must keep a record of all drugs under his jurisdiction, analyze the statistics of their use, as well as the effectiveness of their use. Often, his job responsibilities also include making a fundamental decision - which pharmaceutical companies to cooperate with, from which bases to purchase medicines.

As we have already said, a pharmacologist in a medical institution can also advise patients on the use of certain medications. But with a caveat - his recommendations should be only within the framework of the course of conservative therapy planned by the attending physician.

Interaction with colleagues and patients

Working as a pharmacologist is an indirect participation in the treatment of patients. His colleagues (attending physicians) establish a diagnosis, develop a therapeutic course. A pharmacologist helps to prescribe the correct dosage of drugs, to clarify the direction of activity of existing drugs.components. He can advise on the compatibility of drugs, side effects from their use, the duration of the course, and so on. His job description will also include patient consultations.

Specialists of various profiles turn to a pharmacologist in a hospital, from psychiatrists to surgeons. The same can be said about patients. Those who suffer from a variety of diseases and pathologies come to the consultation with a specialist. From this we can conclude that the field of activity of a specialist is unusually wide.

Advisory area

Let's take a closer look at what diseases or pathologies a pharmacologist can give an effective recommendation. These are dysfunctions and diseases:

• musculoskeletal system;
• brain;
• alimentary tract;
• blood supply and blood vessels;
• respiratory organs;
• liver;
• nervous system;
• endocrine system;
• genitourinary organs;
• immune system;
• other pathologies localized in the trunk, head, limbs;
• common disorders.

When do they turn to a specialist?

Any patient can get a consultation with a clinical pharmacologist. At the same time, he does not have to undergo treatment under the supervision of a doctor of a medical institution. Of course, it is easier for a pharmacologist to work with those patients who have a referral from a doctor in their hands, a prescription with writtenmedicines. In this case, the specialist can adjust the dosage, choose an analogue of the medication.

However, a pharmacologist has no right to draw up a conservative treatment regimen! Therefore, to those undergoing treatment on their own, he only talks about the effect of certain drugs, their dosage. From here, it is best to contact a pharmacologist after diagnosing the disease, prescribing a treatment regimen.

Before visiting a specialist, it is also not necessary to take tests or undergo other research procedures. The pharmacologist also does not refer to the diagnosis. It should be understood that a specialist not only cannot prescribe treatment, but also does not bear any responsibility for consultations that are not within his competence.

Pharmacologist is an interesting and responsible speci alty, the "big brother" of a pharmacist and a pharmacist. A specialist can work both in a scientific, experimental institution (work on new drugs, treatment regimens, conduct relevant research and experiments), and in a medical organization (advise patients and doctors within the prescribed drug treatment regimen).