Pharmacy - Now and Then

By Uzma Dur Re Sameen

The pharmacy profession as we know it now, went through a lot of phases to emerge as a separate science. From being a part of medicine in the third half of the 19th century to a specialized field working for the better health care of mankind. Before pharmacists, there were apothecaries (people who dispensed the Materia medica to physicians, surgeons as well as patient).
The disease has always been a part of man’s life and earlies studies show the use of clay, leaves and spiritual ways to treat them, the use of instincts, observations and experience along with charms and incantations which was more psychological than scientific was the way diseases were healed.

ANCIENT NATIONS AND PHARMACY

Mesopotamia and Egypt: 

They were the first to write medical formulas and instructions on clay tablets. Babylon (Mesopotamia) provided the earliest known practice of running an apothecary(pharmacy).

China: 

They had Pun Tsao or great herbal ( pharmacopoeia published around 1600 BC).
They believed in the disease being a result of an imbalance in forces acting on humans, thus produced herbal drugs with spiritual effects.

Greece: 

They started with superstitions which later turned into intellectual use of drugs. Asclepios was believed to impact healing by touching one with his staff or serpent and his daughter Hygeia was associated with prevention of sickness.

Middle east:

In Baghdad, the first pharmacy was established in 754 during the Islamic golden age. By the 9th century , these pharmacies were state-regulated.

India :

The earliest known compilation of medicinal substances in Indian traditional medicine dates to the 3rd or 4th century AD, attributed to susruta who was a doctor and a pharmacist.

Evolution of apothecaries in England: 

Over the 16th and 17th century the art of apothecary was developing in Britain, in 1617 apothecaries were granted a royal charter which separated them from grocers. After passing of the apothecary act of 1815, a line was drawn between pharmacy and medicine. Pharmacy got more recognition with the formation of pharmaceutical society of great Britain and pharmacy act 1852 and 1868 which recognized the chemists and allowed them to be registered.

Formation of American Pharmaceutical Association : 

Retail pharmacies started in the United States in 1729, with the first one founded in Philadelphia. The first pharmacy attached to a hospital also came about in Philadelphia shortly after, in 1752. Moving into the 20th century, after World War II, pharmaceutical manufacturing took on a modern, industrialized form in the United States. Electronic prescribing systems began in 1990,used to automate the prescribing, supply and administration of medicines in hospitals.

MODERN PHARMACY  

The trend of modern pharmacy is patient oriented and no longer product based. With pharmacies being very common in today’s world, a lot of innovations are underway.one of which is ATM pharmacy through which patients can get medication counselling from tele pharmacists however the distance and the medication is robotically dispensed and labeled. It also reduces patient's waiting time and patient load of hospitals
Smart packaging is a blister pack containing a microchip that can monitor when doses are popped out of the package and transmit the data to a mobile phone app.
Another digital health technology is at-home medication dispenser that lets the pharmacist know if the patient is taking their prescribed medicine and also resolves any medication related problems of them.
Innovations like electronic prescribing (ECPS) makes it easier to track prescriptions and stop any error that can harm the patient.

Retail pharmacies now provide virtual waiting rooms to allow patients to check in and enter the queue without having to speak to an administrator. They also use electronic medical record (EMR) software to ease the burden on administration.
Pharmacy has evolved greatly as a separate science working for the betterment of patient health from ancient times to this day. Around the globe, advancements are being made to eventually provide the best health care keeping at pace with the requirement of today’s world.