Noha Mahmoud
Lecturer of
Clinical Pharmacy
CourseDescription
Description
Course
 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.
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
Patient
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
pharmacologic activity.
structure
to
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.
 A branch of pharmacology, toxicology, is the
study of symptoms and treatment of ingested
poisons.
The
course gives idea about hazards
contamination of our food , water and air.
of
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:
Various parts of plants may be used as sources of
drugs, e.g. castor oil (laxative).
 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:
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.