Busy Pharmacy

The afternoon rush at the pharmacy is like a stampede of hungry house-moms and greedy grannies scouring the aisles in search of every cure humankind has been able to contemplate. You stand in awe and wonder how full their medicine cabinets must be, and then think about your own home, with toothpaste and aspirin sitting very lonely inside your bathroom, probably not even in the cabinet itself, and you wonder if they are both expired yet. The word pharmacy is derived from its root word pharma which was a term used since the 15th–17th centuries. In addition to pharma responsibilities, the pharma offered general medical advice and a range of services that are now performed solely by other specialist practitioners, such as surgery and midwifery. The pharma (as it was referred to) often operated through a retail shop which, in addition to ingredients for medicines, sold tobacco and patent medicines. The pharmas also used many other herbs not listed. Pharmacists are allied health professionals with specialized education and training who perform various roles to ensure optimal health outcomes for their patients through proper medication use. Many pharmacists are also small-business proprietors, owning the pharmacy in which they practice. Since pharmacists know about the chemical synthesis mode of action of a particular drug, and its metabolism and physiological effects on human body in great detail, they play an important role in optimization of a drug treatment for an individual.