Alaina Mckenzie Williams
February 18th, 2014
Clinical Class 2nd &3rd
One that is put into the pharmacy as a career or even a clinical student will witness and learn many medical terms, diagnoses, and procedures. There will be many new medical terms that one will hopefully to know while being in a pharmacy. For example, the terms outpatient pharmacy, protocol, pharmacy clerk, pharmacy technician, and apothecary will be very commonly used terms in a pharmacy. Outpatient pharmacy simply means a pharmacy is in a outpatient hospital setting. Protocol is another common term used; Protocol means there are certain rules set by the pharmacy or hospital, maybe even an insurance company for a patient’s medications/treatments. Now, the term pharmacy clerk will be a very common word used in a pharmacy because it a position or job title within a pharmacy. A pharmacy clerk is a person working in a pharmacy that assist the certified pharmacist at the front, such as where a patient is checking out; basically this job is a pharmacy assistant. What is the job of a pharmacy technician then? Good question. A pharmacy technician has many more responsibilities than a pharmacy clerk. A pharmacy technician is a person who assists the pharmacist by staying organized and keeping all the medication in the right areas and containers. Last but not least, have you ever heard of the term apothecary? One might here this word in a pharmacy and have no idea what it means. The word apothecary means pharmacist in latin.
Next, people and patients come to pharmacies for medications. A doctor must prescribe the medications that come from a pharmacy unless the medication is “over the counter”. Within a pharmacy, like a stated before, one will hear many diagnoses or illnesses that a customer/patient will have, so the people working in the pharmacy must be well-educated about these illnesses. People/patients that come might obtain a UTI,
References: Rx.List. The Internet Drug Interest. Drug Medical Dictionary. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.rxlist.com/drug-medical-dictionary/article.htm Regents BenifitRx. Pharmacy Help. (2007) Retrieved from http://www.regencerx.com/resources/glossary/ Wyoming Department of Health.Commit to your Health.(2009). Retrieved from http://www.health.wyo.gov/healthcarefin/pharmacy/Acronyms.html