A pharmacologist is The concept, definition, necessary education, conditions for admission, job responsibilities and features of the work performed

Pharmacist or pharmacologist? Or a pharmacist? How right? Or maybe these are different concepts? In the article we will understand the unity and differences of these specialties. And also we will analyze in detail who this pharmacologist is. Consider the scope of the specialist, especially his education, responsibilities and much more.

Who is it?

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

The company's activity is pharmacology. This is the name of the science of drugs, their fields of application, properties and effects (mainly and secondary) on the human body. It has many subsections and categories: pharmacology, neuropharmacology, pharmacogenetics, psychopharmacology, pharmacogenomics and more.

So we have decided who this is a pharmacologist. Let us now establish the key differences between him and the clinical specialist, pharmacist and pharmacist.

Pharmacologist: two areas of activity

We continue to analyze the specialty. A pharmacologist profession means a specialist with a higher medical education. He is directly involved in scientific development, conducting experiments and research, experiments, testing developed drugs 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.

But what about a clinical pharmacologist? This is a medical practitioner with a higher medical education. His place of activity is clinics, polyclinics. The main task of this specialist is to help other health care providers in selecting the appropriate medication for the treatment of patients. The second function is to directly advise patients on the properties and dosage of medications.

From a pharmacologist we turn to related professions.

Pharmacist

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

What is the scope of his business? The pharmacist has the right to manage the pharmacy, as well as to independent pharmaceutical activities. Its competence extends to the evaluation of medicines, the prescription of the cost of drugs. It is the pharmacists who issue licenses to pharmacies.

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, to advise pharmacy clients about the use of certain drugs.

Pharmacist

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

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

Like a pharmacist, pharmacists are not allowed to carry out medical activities. And also I can not advise clients about the reception, dosage of medications.

Pharmacological education

A pharmacologist is a medical professional who has 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 and so on.
• Initiation into specific pharmacological disciplines. These include the evaluation of the effectiveness of drugs, pharmacoeconomics, clinical pharmacology, side effects of medications and more.

  

The main tasks of a specialist in the workplace

The main working functions of a pharmacologist are the following:

• Analysis, accounting, systematization of medicines at the disposal of a medical institution.
• Advising patients and visitors to the clinic who are not undergoing treatment. Recommendations regarding conservative therapy of narrow specialization, with complications and side effects caused by taking medications.
• Helping fellow doctors to create the most effective and safe medication regimen.

Specialist duties

Now the reader will not get confused in the listed related, but in many different professions. We pass to the job description of the pharmacologist. First of all, we note the important features of his activities:

• The duties of a specialist do not include direct admission of patients, diagnosis of diseases.
• A 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.
• The specialist pharmacologist does not determine the main therapeutic regimen. This is the prerogative of the attending physician of the patient. The help of a pharmacologist is recommended and, sometimes, even necessary at the stage of selection of medicines. Both in the framework of conservative (drug) and surgical treatment. Rehabilitation and prevention also need the assistance of a clinical pharmacologist.
• What is the specialist’s active participation in treating patients? This is the issuance of a responsible conclusion about the advisability of using a particular medicine, the need to replace it with an analog.
• The work of a clinical pharmacologist is also monitoring the administration of medications by the patient, recommendations on how to enter the drug into the body. Also, this 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 a scheme for restoring the patient’s health.

  

Basic pharmacologist skills

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

• The provision of first emergency medical care.
• Methods of examination of internal systems and organs.
• Methods of relief of pain in patients.
• Evaluation of the interaction between different drugs.
• Intensive care skills.
• Rendering resuscitation assistance in the conditions of natural and man-made disasters, road traffic accidents, mass casualties of citizens.

Place of work specialist

The range of medical institutions where Russian pharmacologists can work is wide. These are polyclinics and family medicine centers, private clinics and state hospitals. Particularly important is the role of these professionals in recent institutions. Unfortunately, Russian hospitals are not always fully provided with a medical base. It is a 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 the drugs subordinate to him, analyze the statistics of their use, as well as the effectiveness of the application. Often his job responsibilities include making a fundamental decision - with which pharmacological companies it is worth cooperating, on what bases to buy medicines.

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

Interaction with colleagues and patients

Work 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 the active components. He can advise on the compatibility of drugs, side effects from their use, duration of the course and so on. His job descriptions will also include patient consultation.

Specialists of the most diverse fields, from psychiatrists to surgeons, turn to a pharmacologist in a hospital. The same can be said of patients. At the consultation with a specialist are suffering from a variety of diseases and pathologies. From this we can conclude that the field of activity of the specialist is unusually wide.

Advisory Area

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

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

  

In what cases do they turn to a specialist?

Any patient can be consulted by a clinical pharmacologist. However, he does not have to undergo treatment under the supervision of a doctor in a medical institution. Of course, it’s easier for a pharmacologist to work with those patients who have a doctor’s direction in their hands, a prescription with prescribed medicines. A specialist in this case can adjust the dosage, choose an analogue of the medication.

However, the pharmacologist is not entitled to draw up a conservative treatment regimen! Therefore, undergoing treatment on his 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 direct for diagnosis. It should be understood that the specialist not only cannot prescribe treatment, but also does not bear any responsibility for consultations that are not within his competence.

A pharmacologist is an interesting and responsible specialty, the "elder brother" of a pharmacist and pharmacist. A specialist can work both in a scientific, experimental institution (to work on new medicines, treatment regimens, conduct relevant research and experiments), and in a medical organization (to advise patients and doctors as part of the prescribed drug treatment regimen).