Noha Mahmoud Lecturer of Clinical Pharmacy

Course Description This course is one credit hour course given during level 1. It gives idea about pharmacy, pharmacy careers, ethics, practice of community pharmacy, role of pharmacist in industrial, hospital, governmental pharmacy. It also provides idea about the role of pharmacist as clinician, teacher and researcher and development of the profession in Egypt. Course Description

Definitions Pharmacy: Traditionally, pharmacy has been defined as the branch of health sciences dealing with the preparation and dispensing drugs. Today, pharmacy encompasses all aspects of drug preparation and dispensing as well as evaluation of therapeutic effects in patients.

Clinical: Dealing with patients.Pharmacist: One who is licensed to prepare, sell or dispense drugs and compounds and make-up prescription.Prescription:  Is an order for medication issued by a physician, dentist or other licensed medical practitioner.  It designates a specific dosage to be prepared by a pharmacist and administered to a particular patient.

Health care team: Health and social care workers involved with the care of patient e.g., physician, pharmacist and nurse. The golden triad: Physician Physician Patient Patient Pharmacist Nurse Pharmacist Nurse

Clinical Pharmacy:  Is defined as area of pharmacy where pharmacists provide patient care that optimizes medication therapy and promotes health and disease prevention.  This new breed of pharmacists is patient rather than drug product oriented. Clinical pharmacist must have knowledge about disease and therapeutic use of drugs.

Pharmaceutical Sciences:  Are a group of interdisciplinary areas of study involved with the design, action, delivery, disposition, and use of drugs.  There are 4 basic pharmaceutical sciences: 1- Pharmacognosy 2- Pharmaceutical chemistry 3- Pharmacology 4- Pharmaceutics

Pharmacognosy:  This applied biologic science is concerned with the study of drugs of natural origin: their source, isolation and purification as well as the search for new drugs from natural substances.  Historically, the first drugs were all natural in origin but today many medicinal substances are still obtained entirely or in part from natural products or via natural processes such as fermentation.

 The student will become familiar with many drugs of natural origin such as: Digitalis Anise Belladona Cinchona Rauwolfia

Pharmaceutical chemistry:  Many important drugs are chemical compound produced synthetically either entirely or in part.  One of objective of this science is to examine the chemical structure of pharmacologically active substances and explain their synthesis from simpler compounds.

 The pharmacist must be familiar with the relationship of chemical structure to pharmacologic activity.  By this way, the pharmacist can predict therapeutic uses and/or potential side effects in unfamiliar drugs by examining their chemical structures.  Pharmaceutical analysis is an area of chemistry that deals with the problems of assuring the purity and composition of drug products.

Pharmacology:  The worth of a substance as a drug is measured by its therapeutic activity or effect on the body.  This science is helpful in determining possible biologic activity in newly discovered compounds and in measuring the effect of dosage form on drug action.  The practicing pharmacist finds it useful to classify drugs according to their pharmacologic or therapeutic activity and understanding of drug action.

 Pharmacology is also concerned with the interactions among two or more drugs i.e. potentiation, antagonism. toxicology  A branch of pharmacology, toxicology, is the study of symptoms and treatment of ingested poisons.  The course gives idea about hazards of contamination of our food, water and air.  Due to the major role of pharmacists who are playing in poison centers, toxicology course is of increasing importance.

Pharmaceutics:  This area is the most recent to develop as a distinct scientific field.  It is defined as that branch of pharmaceutical sciences which is concerned with optimizing the therapeutic effects of drugs and related substances.  To obtain therapeutic effect requires a system which delivers drug molecule in proper amount to the site of action.

 Optimization of this process means that a minimum amount of drug should be used to provide and maintain a maximum therapeutic effect over a desired time course, with minimal side effect and maximum patient compliance.  Study of pharmacokinetic factors that affect the pharmacological action of drug such as absorption.  A large number of factors may affect the process of drug absorption and whether the drug is a solid or liquid, its solubility in GIT, its rate of breakdown and excretion.

Definition  Natural or synthetic substance which (when taken into a living body) affects its functioning or structure and is used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease or other abnormal condition, for the relief of pain or suffering, or to control or improve any physiologic or pathologic condition.  They may be either single chemical substances or mixtures of principles.

General characteristics of drug: 1) It is used to treat a disease. 2) It is pure and has a defined chemical structure. 3) It has well Known physical, chemical and biologic properties. 4) It can be available from known sources. 5) Any slight change in its chemical structure can cause great changes in the body physiology. 6) Most drugs have adverse reactions in the body.

:Nature and sources of drugs Drugs may be obtained from one of the following sources: Plant sources:  Plant sources: Various parts of plants may be used as sources of drugs, e.g. castor oil (laxative). Animal sources:  Animal sources: Insulin is prepared from the pancreas of different animals, e.g. cattle or pig, while Heparin is obtained from the liver or lung tissue.

Mineral sources:  Mineral sources: Some naturally occurring minerals may be used as drugs, e.g. magnesium sulfate & iodine.  Microorganisms: Fungi and bacteria isolated from soil are important sources of antibiotics, e.g. penicillin.  Synthetic drugs: Many drugs are nowadays being produced in the laboratory of drug factory, e.g. aspirin, acetaminophen and sulfonamides.

 Biotechnology (recombinant DNA): It has been recently introduced which enabled us to prepare many drugs having complex chemical structure, e.g. human insulin & interferon.