The profession of pharmacy is considered the mother of the health sciences, as ancient scholars were well-versed in it, and the pharmacist at that time was the one who identified diseases and discovered and synthesized medicines. The most famous of these scholars were Al-Razi, Jabir Ibn Hayyan and Ibn Sina. The profession has clearly developed until it has reached what it is now. It has transformed from the pharmacist being the one who dispenses the prescription and ensures the safety of drug contraindications and their compatibility with the diagnosis of the disease to the new model of the pharmacy profession, which is participation with the integrated health team (doctor and nursing staff) in patient care and participation in the treatment plan and intervention. In order to ensure the correctness of the patient’s treatment plan in accordance with his age, diseases he has, medications he takes, and other important factors. This does not ignore the other aspects of the pharmacist’s profession, such as exploring, formulating, and manufacturing medicines, whether from plant, biological, or other sources. Here comes the role of laboratories and the research conducted in them for the purpose of discovery. Research may be outside laboratories, whether by searching for medicinal plants where they are found, or searching for some of the organisms that are Source of medicines. All this development is due to the development of science and education itself and the new trend in teaching what is known as the Doctor of Pharmacy program.
The idea of transforming pharmacy from a regular profession to this new concept, known as Doctor of Pharmacy, arose at the beginning of the sixties (1960) in the United States of America, where at that time all colleges in America were studying the concept of pharmaceutical sciences and did not focus in an integrated manner on the role of the pharmacist in caring for the patient’s health, so The concept was initially transformed by some colleges and health care units for the patient at that time so that the concept would be larger and more comprehensive. From that date, American universities began to gradually shift and change faculties from Pharmaceutical Sciences to Doctor of Pharmacy. The difference between the two specializations, as mentioned previously, is that the concept of Doctor of Pharmacy is that the pharmacist has an important role in the patient’s health care from beginning to end, and his role is not limited to To dispense and prepare medications and verify their suitability for the patient, in addition to other additions that will be mentioned later.
The Doctor of Pharmacy program and the first study plan for the College of Pharmacy were approved by the University of Hail Council at the second University Council meeting for the year 1432/1433 AH, and were later approved by the Council of Higher Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 10/14/1433 AH. The study plan for the program was reviewed and updated within the continuous improvement plan, and was approved by the College Council at its second meeting for the year 1438/1439 AH, and approved by the University Council after that (No. 39 - 05/06/38).
The Doctor of Medicine program teaches, prepares, and prepares pharmacists to practice the profession of pharmacy in various health care fields, including working in hospitals, specialized health centers, and specialized clinics, whether governmental or community, as well as pharmaceutical companies and factories, and other fields. In addition, preparing pharmacists to complete their postgraduate studies in the same field. Therefore, this was taken into account in the study plan for the Doctor of Pharmacy program, and part of the old system was changed to fit the new concept and the needs necessary for practicing the profession. The duration of study is six years, during which some basic sciences are taught in the preparatory year, such as biology, chemistry, physics, statistics, and the English language, for admission to study at the college. When a student enters college, he begins studying the basic sciences of the pharmacy profession in the first two years, such as pharmaceutical materials, drugs, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry. In the fourth and fifth years, subjects related to the clinical field, or what is known as clinical, are taught to enable the student to learn about all the important clinical areas of patient care. In the sixth and final year, which is known as the internship year, the student performs training and application work for what he or she has studied in hospitals, factories, or Other areas of work.
The future of the pharmacy profession:
The pharmacy profession is considered one of the health professions that is rapidly developing and changing to higher levels, especially with the scientific and technical progress that greatly helps. Based on studies, the demand for graduates of doctor of pharmacist programs will increase significantly in the coming years for many reasons, including the development of the quality of medicines and the increase in their number on the market, which leads to the need to consult pharmacists on an ongoing basis, the increase in the number of elderly people with chronic diseases, and the transformation of the pharmacy profession from the traditional profession. Old to a profession with a more comprehensive job description. On the other hand, the presence of information technology has recently become one of the aids to the development of the pharmacy profession, as its use has become clear in areas of the profession such as electronic dispensing through a system in which there are no paper prescriptions, the presence of assistive hand-held devices during field visits to patients, also in preparing medicines and solutions, and it is expected To have more scope in the near future.