Pharmacologist

A medical specialist qualified as a pharmacologist is a theoretical scientist or physician who carries out medical practice. His field of activity is pharmacology – the science of drugs, their properties, the mechanism of action on the human body. The branch of science itself has a significant number of sections, or sub-sectors. These include clinical pharmacology, psychopharmacology, neuropharmacology, pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics, and other sections. A doctor who carries out his activities in medical institutions, helping patients fight diseases, is classified as a clinical pharmacologist.

Pharmacologist, clinical pharmacologist, pharmacist, pharmacist: are there any differences

Quite often, people who are far from medicine mix these four professions together, thinking that all these specialists are selling drugs in a pharmacy, thereby equalizing them. However, this approach is not correct.

So, a pharmacologist is a doctor with a higher medical education who is engaged in scientific development, conducting experiments, testing and research of medicinal substances and preparations. It is this specialist who develops drugs, their formulation and dosage.

Clinical pharmacologist – a doctor with a medical higher education who works in medical institutions – hospitals, clinics. His duty, in general terms, is to assist other specialists in the selection of drugs for specific treatment regimens, as well as to advise patients on the properties and dosage of drugs.

A pharmacist is a specialist with a higher education in this field. Such specialists are trained mainly on the basis of medical and pharmaceutical higher educational institutions. The pharmacist has the right to independently carry out pharmaceutical activities and manage a pharmacy, evaluate medicines, make decisions regarding drug pricing, and also license pharmacies. A pharmacist cannot carry out medical activities or advise pharmacy visitors about possible treatment.

The pharmacist is the lowest link in this system. This employee may have a secondary medical or non-medical education, and must navigate the range of drugs that he sells (and, most often, a pharmacy is a pharmacist’s place of work). In addition, the pharmacist must be able to select an analogue of the drug for the visitor, or prepare a medicine according to a prescription issued by a doctor. It is illegal for pharmacists to advise and practice medicine.

What does a clinical pharmacologist do?

The job responsibilities of this specialist, unlike most of his colleagues, do not directly refer to the admission of patients or their diagnosis. The clinical pharmacologist enters the treatment process after the manifestations of the disease have been studied, the data of the necessary tests have been obtained, the diagnosis has been established and the treatment regimen has been prescribed. And, if a pharmacologist has nothing to do with determining the general direction of therapeutic therapy, then at the stage of selecting drugs, for example, for drug treatment, for surgical intervention, for the implementation of rehabilitation or preventive measures, the help and participation of a pharmacologist is often a necessity. It is this doctor who is actively involved in the treatment of patients by issuing his conclusions on the advisability of using a particular drug, or the need to replace it with an analogue. The doctor monitors the process of using drugs, gives recommendations on how best to introduce them into the body, studies and adjusts the treatment regimen in terms of the compatibility of various active substances, takes measures to prevent the development of side effects, and if to prevent their occurrence failed, participates in the process of their elimination along with the attending specialists.

The work of this doctor in a hospital is especially important, since, unfortunately, not in all countries, state medical institutions have sufficient provision with a drug base. Often, the list of drugs purchased for public hospitals and clinics is very limited, and it is the clinical pharmacologist who initiates the question of adding a particular drug to the procurement list.

The doctor also keeps a record of all medications and statistics on their use, monitors their effectiveness. The pharmacologist may also be responsible for deciding which suppliers to conclude contracts for the supply of medicines.

In addition, the doctor may advise the patient on the use of a particular medication prescribed by the attending physician. The pharmacologist cannot deviate from the prescription prescribed by the specialist, however, he is competent in the selection of analogues of drugs.

Psychic phenomena, body parts and organs treated by a pharmacologist

The doctor takes part in the treatment of patients indirectly, helping the specialists who establish the diagnosis and develop the therapy, to select the necessary dosage of drugs, combinations of substances, the duration of the course of taking medications, or by advising the patients themselves. Moreover, doctors of any specialization, from pediatricians to psychiatrists and surgeons, turn to the help of a pharmacologist in a hospital. In the clinic, a patient with any disease can get an appointment with a pharmacologist. Therefore, it can be argued that the medical activity of a pharmacologist consists in consulting activities on the use of drugs for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases:

• musculoskeletal system;
• of cardio-vascular system;
• brain;
• organs of the gastrointestinal tract;
• liver;
• organs of the respiratory system;
• nervous, immune and endocrine systems;
• genitourinary system;
• head, trunk, limbs;
• of all human systems and organs in the complex.

Diseases, injuries and disorders treated by a pharmacologist

It should be understood that the activity of this specialist is not treatment, but counseling patients on the use of already prescribed drugs. The pharmacologist cannot replace the treating specialist or be responsible for the correctness of the prescribed drug therapy regimen. His powers include prescribing the dosage of the prescribed drug, adjusting the treatment only in terms of determining the required amount of the drug used. The doctor can determine and select analogues of already prescribed drugs. Also, his competence includes monitoring the patient’s condition while taking medication, which is especially important in inpatient treatment.

When should you contact a pharmacologist?

Anyone can get an appointment and consultation with a doctor at any time, and it is not necessary to be treated by a specialist. If the patient already has a prescription from the attending physician, the pharmacologist has the right to select analogues of the prescribed drugs and advise on the required dosage of a particular drug. However, if the patient does not have a referral and anamnesis from the attending physician, the pharmacologist does not have the right to independently determine the drug therapy regimen. In this case, he can only explain to the person who turned to him what effect this or that remedy can have, and in what dosages it is usually used. In any case, it is more advisable to go to a pharmacologist, having already passed the stage of diagnosing and prescribing treatment from a therapist or a narrow specialist, and not to self-medicate in the hope that the pharmacologist will tell you which drug can eliminate the symptoms that torment a person.

What methods of medical practice does a specialist use?

The doctor is usually treated by people with an already established diagnosis and a specific treatment regimen. Even if this is not the case, the pharmacologist cannot arbitrarily engage in the diagnosis and development of therapeutic therapy. Therefore, preparing for a visit to this specialist, you do not need to take any tests and undergo special examinations. The doctor himself also does not prescribe any diagnostic measures and does not establish any therapeutic therapy, does not decide on the placement of the patient in a hospital or the need for surgical intervention. In fact, this doctor is a consultant in the field of drug use.

Despite this, the pharmacologist must have the same basic skills as his colleagues:

• methods of examination of internal organs;
• primary care methods;
• pain relief techniques;
• methods for assessing the interaction of medicinal substances;
• skills in intensive care and resuscitation in case of accidents, disasters and mass casualties of the population.

Tips from a pharmacologist: how to be treated so as not to harm your health

The main rule that doctors usually focus on is that you should not self-medicate. When a person, coming to a pharmacy, tries to get advice from a pharmacist, how to treat a sore throat, rash or fever, he simply complicates the work of the doctor, to whom he ends up anyway. And even worse, when pharmacists or pharmacists give such consultations – these specialists do not bear any responsibility for the health of the one who turns to them, and cannot recommend any treatment to the sick person. However, when a similar situation occurs in a pharmacologist’s office, it can also have unpredictable consequences.

When the diagnosis is determined and the direction for treatment is already in the hands of the patient, self-adjustment of the dosing regimen and medication intake is also undesirable – it is for these purposes that you should contact a pharmacologist.

A doctor-pharmacologist is a physician with an appropriate higher education who studies both general medical disciplines (for example, phthisiology, pathological anatomy, pathological physiology, biochemistry) and special pharmacological sciences (side effects of drugs, pharmacoeconomics, methods for evaluating the effectiveness of drugs, general issues of clinical pharmacology, etc.).

The list of main powers of a pharmacologist includes analytical work with the appointment of specific drugs with a narrow therapeutic effect, advising patients on drug therapy, including those who are suspected of having complications of pharmacotherapy, as well as helping other medical professionals in determining the drug treatment regimen in complex cases. For example, it happens that a patient is diagnosed with several diseases of various organs and systems, for each of which the corresponding doctor has determined a list of drugs for treatment. Having on hand two or more lists of drugs belonging to different groups of drugs, a person needs to understand whether they can be combined with each other, whether there are any features of their combined use. In this case, firstly, compatibility issues should be clarified with the treating specialists themselves, and secondly, visit a pharmacologist and get appropriate advice.