Taking a Look at Pharmacists

Often medicines were made from herbs, spices and resins. The medicine was applied in drinks, pills, washes, baths, rubs, poultices, purges and ointments. Which sometimes themselves contained fatal ingredients.

Throughout history, humans have used herbs and other objects of nature to create medicine. The first acknowledged mention of apothecaries was in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Bible it states that, “ and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.” Exodus 30:35. Even before CE (common era), apothecaries were an important part of early society. The practice of making organic medicine from herbs was also present during the Roman empire. Since the Renaissance took a lot of inspiration from old Rome, they carried on the Roman traditions of medicine made of natural ingredients. During the Renaissance, students who wanted to enter the field of apothecary would be trained as apprentices. This meant that they would be learning from a skilled employer, earning low wages for a certain amount of time. In the 1500’s, the art of the apothecary was starting to be taught in universities as

Also, our notion of pharmacies is mostly based upon the apothecary from whom it evolved. The Apothecary primarily made and dispensed medicines. Shops could be found in most cities. Prescriptions were made up under the orders of a physician. We would not have a pharmacy, as we know it today without the Middle aged method.

10. Describe the social and consumer safety circumstances that led to the passage of each

There were many interesting trades presented on this website. One of these trades that interested me the most was apothecary. Apothecary in the colonial era was a druggist who had a similar roles to what a doctor does today. They didn’t just provide medical treatment, or prescribe drugs but also performed surgeries as well. Reading more about this trade, I discovered that some apothecaries even trained to become man-midwives. Before reading this article, I had the assumption that the majority of mid-wives were female, and that most men didn’t handle child birth in that time era. Furthermore, some of the ingredients used in colonial remedies, that is still found in modern medicine. Some include, but are limited to; chalk for heartburn (Tums), calamine for skin irritations (Aveeno lotions) and many more. Like many drug stores today, apothecaries also sold household items and not just drugs.

During the 18th Century, medicines were considered a trial and error methodology. If chemists were mixing concoctions in their man made labs, doctors theorized the treatment of a particular diagnosis. In the journal Two Centuries of American Medicine written in 1976, authors Bordley and Saunders wrote “Tinctures, poultices, soups, and teas were made with water- or alcohol-based extracts of freshly ground or dried

Hippocrates, a physician of Greece believed in scientific reasoning and the power of natural healing his belief continued until the 19th century (2300 years). During the second century Galan, another Greek physician was the first to promote the key to healing and soon every health problem were fit into a classification (as it is today). His ways were strict and only doctors had access to the healing knowledge. During the dark ages natural healing was embraced once more. The Arabs brought alchemy and pharmacy into Western medicine. They introduced new ointments elixirs, pills, suppositories, carcinogenics, and inhalations to the masses in the 12th century herbal pharmacies were common in every neighborhood. In the 16th century Paracelsus taught that alchemy and chemistry were a way to unlock the secrets of nature. Both the alchemist of his day, and the chemists of our day, adhere to the beliefs

Apothecary sets were used to carry medicine and items used to combine medicines. The most common medicines that would be found in the sets included morphine, ammonia, Epsom salts, citric acid, chloroform, and opium. Since a lot of medicines were not

Native Americans who occupied the land before the arrival of the Europeans possessed a vast knowledge of botanical medicines that intrigued the newcomers. The natives mixed roots, herbs, and plants to cure various medical maladies. Healing for the natives were not just herbal remedies,

What does it take to be a pharmacist? Pharmacy involves more than just handing out drugs, otherwise anyone could do it. “A pharmacist is a health professional who follows instruction from physicians regarding the amount of education to distribute” (“Pharmacy requirements”). The pharmacy profession requires a lot of education, demands patience and attentive work, provides good pay, and offers a satisfying job.

Medicine has come a long way from the Greek period. Theories composed of the four elements were used to explain the sick phenomenon that happens to our bodies. Many of the those theories are not relevant as of now. Medicine and remedies has begun with the Earth, providing all types of compounds and

”To seek to ease pain is natural” (Silverburg, 16). Since the beginning of time mankind has struggle with disease, wound, and death; thus men try to find relief in those pain kindle the flame towards medication. Countless civilization tries their hand at medication, China and Greece both sought to find way in ending disease and sickness, however most people at the time believed disease and pain are cause by gods or other mythological being and superstition. This concept of thinking remained unchanged until 460 B.C.E in Athens Greece when Hippocrates came in and introduces the notion of modern medicine and treatment. Hippocrates broke many groundbreaking achievement in regarding medicine such as the brain controlling thoughts and emotion but what he was remember for is taking out the superstition aspect in medicine and treatment by many people and taking a scientific and logical approach (Downey, 2).

My idea of pharmacy and medicine, prior to my experience, meshed together and to me they were synonymous terms. My experience at the Pharmacy Museum really helped me make the distinction between medicine and pharmacy. Initially, I believed that the history of pharmacy and medicine were one thing. At the museum, I learned that the history of medicine could be dated much further back compared to the practice of pharmacy. This is essentially due to the fact that medicine has a much more general and broad definition related to health care, while pharmacy is a much more specific discipline and tightly-defined profession having more to do with drug therapy. My conception that pharmacy and medicine was relatively of modern origin is, in one aspect, wrong because medicine has had quite an old history. In another sense, I was right because the practice of pharmacy truly

Today in the 21st century the roles of pharmacist have expanded tremendously. Before pharmacist had the role of solely dispensing drugs. Pharmacists were limited to only being regulatory or clinical pharmacist. Back then they were called medical purveyors who were much like today’s regulatory pharmacist and hospital pharmacist who are similar to hospital pharmacist. Now pharmacists carry many roles in healthcare. Pharmacist can play roles in public health, community, health systems, state, and federal government.

This career goes unnoticed because many do not see the importance of it. Without this field, the balance in the medical community would be disrupted due to patients not receiving their medication to sustain their life. Although this career may seem easy, there are important characteristics one must hold in order to be a successful pharmacist.