Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Pharmacy and pharmacology

RichAr

How can I choose between pharmacy and pharmacology?

Reply 1

½+½

Original post by RichAr

How can I choose between pharmacy and pharmacology?

Do you want to work with patients and advise them on their medicines, or do you want to work in a lab and carry out research?

Reply 2

RichAr

Original post by ½+½

Do you want to work with patients and advise them on their medicines, or do you want to work in a lab and carry out research?

Probably the second one which I assume is pharmacology. But doesn't doing pharmacy have better job opportunities? And does pharmacy include aspects of pharmacology?

Reply 3

thegodofgod

Original post by RichAr

Probably the second one which I assume is pharmacology. But doesn't doing pharmacy have better job opportunities? And does pharmacy include aspects of pharmacology?

Yes, pharmacology is the one where you'll be doing research on drugs and their effects on the body. Pharmacy is more of a healthcare-based profession, where you will be advising patients and interacting with other healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, etc..

You will find, however, that there is a cross-over between pharmacy and pharmacology - a sector of pharmacy known as industrial pharmacy - where you can work as a pharmacist for a pharmaceutical company, such as GSK, AstraZeneca, Novartis, or other companies, and work as a researcher.

Absolutely, pharmacology is one of the major basic science subject areas that are studied in a pharmacy degree - pharmacists need to know the effects of drugs (positive effects, as well as side effects) and how they work in the body.

I would say that pharmacy has better job prospects than pharmacology, simply because pharmacy is a regulated healthcare profession, and also because it has more career sectors: community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, academic pharmacy, and regulatory pharmacy. Pharmacists can work as pharmacologists, but pharmacologists cannot work as pharmacists - you NEED a MPharm (or equivalent) degree in order to call yourself a pharmacist.