A pharmacist is a health care professional who prepares, formulates, preserves, controls, dispenses medications, and offers know-how in the safe and proper use of medicines in order to achieve maximum benefit, minimal side effects, and to avoid drug interactions. They also serve as primary care providers in the community. Pharmacists undergo university or graduate-level education to understand the biochemical mechanisms and actions of drugs, drug uses, therapeutic roles, side effects, potential drug interactions, and monitoring parameters. This is mated to anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology.

Pharmacists interpret and communicate this specialized knowledge to patients, physicians, and other health care providers.

The most common pharmacist positions are that of a community pharmacist (also referred to as a retail pharmacist, first-line pharmacist, or dispensing chemist), or a hospital pharmacist, where they instruct and counsel on the proper use and adverse effects of medically prescribed drugs and medicines. In most countries, the profession is subject to professional regulation.

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Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Internet. Accessed on December 1, 2022. Available at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacist