If you plan to be a Pharmacist, you will dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health care practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. Pharmacists advise health care practitioners on the selection, dosages, interactions, and side effects of medications. Pharmacists must understand the use, composition, and clinical effects of drugs. Compounding is only a small part of a Pharmacist's practice, because most medicines are produced by pharmaceutical companies in a standard dosage form.
Retail Pharmacists:
counsel patients and answer questions about prescription drugs, such as possible adverse reactions or interactions
provide information about over-the-counter drugs, durable medical equipment, and home health care supplies
provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure
Hospital or Clinical Pharmacists:
dispense medications
advise the medical staff on the selection and effect of drugs
assess, plan, and monitor drug regimes
counsel patients on the use of drugs while in the hospital and on their use at home when they are discharged
evaluate drug use patterns and outcomes for patients in hospitals
Pharmacists maintain confidential computerized records of patients' drug therapies to ensure that harmful drug interactions do not occur. Some Pharmacists specialize in specific drug therapy areas, such as psychiatric disorders, intravenous nutrition support, oncology, nuclear pharmacy, and pharmacotherapy.
If you choose to be a pharmacist, you should:
have scientific aptitude and good communication skills
desire to help others
be conscientious and pay close attention to detail, because the decisions they make affect lives | 
