Pharmacist:
Pharmacists are responsible for the preparation and dispensing of medications to patients according to written orders from physicians, dentists, and other health care professionals. Pharmacists also inform and caution patients about the proper use of medications, possible side effects or adverse reactions, and interactions between different drugs. They assist patients in choosing nonprescription medications such as vitamins, headache or pain remedies, and cough syrups. The pharmacist must be knowledgeable about the latest medications for treating diseases.
There are many career options for pharmacy personnel. They may work in community
pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes, government agencies, or the pharmaceutical
industry
Length of Training/Requirements
The doctor of pharmacy degree requires at least six years of study beyond high
school. The curriculum usually consists of anatomy, physiology, microbiology,
biochemistry, pharmacology, pathophysiology, pharmacy calculations, pharmaceutics,
medicinal chemistry, professional communications, pharmacy management, pharmacy
law, quality assurance, and clinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacotherapy, and
clinical clerkships.
(From Florida Health Careers; http://www.flahec.org)
Careers in Pharmacy: The Pfizer Guide to Careers in Pharmacy- This 171 page guide in pdf format is a must-have guide that profiles the life and work of pharmacists in the field.
Educational Programs in Florida
PharmD Degree
Florida A&M
University
Nova Southeastern University
University of Florida
Palm Beach Atlantic University
The PCAT exam is required for most schools. To accommodate the additional number of individuals registering for the PCAT, for the 2007-2008 cycle it will be given 4 times a year: June, August, October and January. Changes to the PCAT include: reducing the number of multiple-choice items, adding a second Writing subtest, increasing the number of probability and statistics items, and including a greater number of items on genetics in the Biology subtest. The two Writing scores will be reported as Conventions of Language and Problem Solving.
Information regarding the PCAT exam
Professional Associations
American College of Clinical Pharmacy
American Pharmaceutical Association
American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists
Florida Pharmacy Association
Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists
This site is a listing of all Colleges of Pharmacy by state.
Click HERE for a flow chart which shows you what you will need in order to apply to PharmD programs.
For a comparison of UF and Nova's PharmD requirements, click HERE.
These are the required courses at UF
These are the required courses at Nova Southeastern University:
General Biology- 3 semester hours
Anatomy & Physiology- 3 semester hours
General Biology or Anatomy & Physiology* - 4 semester hours
*These 4 semester hours are in addition to the 3 semester hours of General
Biology and 3 semester hours of Anatomy and Physiology required and must include
1 semester hour laboratory
General chemistry, including laboratory - 8 semester hours
Organic chemistry, including laboratory - 8 semester hours
Calculus (for science majors) - 3 semester hours
Statistics - 3 semester hours
Humanities - 3 semester hours
Social/Behavioral sciences - 3 semester hours
English - 6 semester hours
Speech - 3 semester hours
Macroeconomics - 3 semester hours
Microeconomics - 3 semester hours
Social/Behavioral sciences/Humanities
Students must have a t least 3 semester hours of Social/Behavioral Sciences
and at least 3 semester hours of Humanities. The remaining 9 semester hours
can be in either discipline.
(They strongly recomend that courses taken outside of these requirements be in biochemistry and physiology).