The importance of Pharmacists

Chemistry teacher Ryan Jones talks about the importance of Pharmacists during a pandemic and the education and training that you can follow to become a Pharmacist.

Pharmacists provide a critical service, particularly at this time when the NHS has been faced with the additional challenge of Covid-19. They are frontline medical staff who are able to diagnose, prescribe and treat people. Also their role is crucial for the development and roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The vaccination programme

A lot of people who have studied pharmaceuticals have been working on the vaccine for Oxford University and Pfizer to help the vaccine to be developed so quickly. They’ve been able to use different research from the MRSA vaccine and the SARs vaccine to come up with an immunisation programme for a virus that’s only been around for about a year, which is a medical marvel!

For Stage 2 and Stage 3 of vaccination approval they do live trials, some get the vaccine, some get the placebo. During the trials you need to have not just the scientists and the medically trained staff on standby, you also have pharmacists guiding the team because they are the ones that are trained to deal with the drug itself. The doctor is able to prescribe it, but they may not understand the effects of the drug. Whereas the pharmacist is there to recognise symptoms and say whether it is something to do with the drug, or if it is something else. You have to have a pharmacist in overall control of every team to make sure that the volunteers are safe throughout that trial.

Pharmacists are currently heading up Covid test centres and they are trained to give injections for the Covid-19 vaccination programme in areas which don’t have GP services, including very remote areas. In addition to Covid vaccines, pharmacists have continued to give flu vaccinations, which have helped to reduce hospital admissions.

Providing medical advice and treatment

In addition to their role in the vaccination process, Pharmacists are also able to quickly diagnose things that aren’t emergencies, which many people may turn to their GP for. They can prescribe for common conditions in children such as chickenpox over the counter so it’s quicker for you as a patient, but also it takes a lot of strain off the doctor’s surgeries and hospitals.

As well as seeing people in-person, the pharmacists offer telephone consultations and they are using Microsoft Teams to talk about symptoms and to make a diagnosis. If someone doesn’t wish to do a video call, they can send photographs to show conditions such as skin rashes.

There’s a growing number of integrated pharmacies in hospitals and GP surgeries, so receptionists may refer the patient to see a pharmacist instead of the GP. Something that is quite serious can be treated by a pharmacist quite quickly and it saves you waiting weeks for an appointment.

Pharmacists are trained in chemistry, which means that they use a range of techniques such as mass spectrometry, infrared and MMR, which are all different methods of diagnosing different ailments. They are qualified to do different rapid tests, or skin tests to find out what is causing an irritation such as a bacteria or a virus and are able to provide the correct medicine.

 Study

To become a pharmacist, students would need to do an MPharm (a degree with an integrated masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences), which is accredited by the Pharmaceutical Council. Students then go to complete a yearlong practical placement after their degree and pass a registration exam that allows them to prescribe and diagnose.

Most universities require you to have A-Levels in Chemistry as your main subject plus two others from Biology, Physics or Maths and at least five GCSEs including English, Maths and Double Science. You can also have an equivalent such as a BTEC in Applied Science. Usually universities are looking for BBB to AAA or similar and the average is normally an ABB.

If students have not chosen these subjects, but they finish college with A-levels, or equivalent in a science related subject then they can do a foundation year in Pharmaceutical Science before their MPharm.

As long as a student has the drive to study, there are so many different access courses, so even if you haven’t done the traditional route (Chemistry, Biology and another subject) there are always Access Degrees or Foundation Degrees.

Studying Pharmaceutical Science can lead to jobs in community pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, research science and medical science. You can also become a clinical researcher, you can go into medical sales, become a pharmacologist or you could go into product development to create medicines.

Students who are unsure about what area of medicine that they would like to go into can do a Biomedical Science Degree, and some of the courses offer a placement year with Public Health England. A Biomedical Science can lead to a range of different careers including medicine, veterinary science, nursing, midwifery and dentistry.

They can then choose to go onto an Accelerated Degree at the university that leads them into the particular field that they want to go into.