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Pharmacist Assistant Courses, Training In South Africa:

What Is Pharmacy Retail Management?

The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing medications, and it also includes more modern services related to health care, including clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information.

Pharmacists, therefore, are the experts on drug therapy and are the primary health professionals who optimize medication use to provide patients with positive health outcomes.

An establishment in which pharmacy (in the first sense) is practiced is called a pharmacy, chemist's or (in the United States) drug store. US drug stores commonly sell not only medicines, but also miscellaneous items such as candy (sweets), cosmetics, and magazines, as well as light refreshments or groceries.

The word pharmacy is derived from its root word pharma which was a term used since the 15th-17th centuries. In addition to pharma responsibilities, the pharma offered general medical advice and a range of services that are now performed solely by other specialist practitioners, such as surgery and midwifery. The pharma (as it was referred to) often operated through a retail shop which, in addition to ingredients for medicines, sold tobacco and patent medicines. The pharmas also used many other herbs not listed.

In its investigation of herbal and chemical ingredients, the work of the pharma may be regarded as a precursor of the modern sciences of chemistry and pharmacology, prior to the formulation of the scientific method.

What You Will Learn In This Pharmacy Retail Management Diploma

Medical and pharmacy terms are logical and precise and are derived from relatively few common prefixes, roots and suffixes. Those elements are usually Latin or Greek and an understanding of their meaning will often allow you to make sense of the longest or complex-sounding terms.

Historically, Latin abbreviations have been used for writing prescriptions. The most common of these elements are given in the following pages as well as a summary of the most common Latin terms and abbreviations encountered in prescription writing.

Business Mission and Objectives

Most businesses attempt to answer two questions in order to provide a strong sense of direction and reference points for job satisfaction.

1. What business are we in? The answer to this provides a mission statement.
2. Why are we in business? The answer to this establishes the major objectives to aim for in the pharmacy business.

An example of a typical mission statement of an independently owned pharmacy is given in the following figure:

The Marketing Concept

This concept is critical to the success of modern business organisations - to understand what it means is to first consider some other concepts.

Consumer Behaviour

It is all very well to be consumer or customer orientated. But, unless we understand our consumers' behaviour, we will not know how to satisfy their needs.

We need to learn the following about the customers or consumers:

• Who buys?
• How do they buy?
• When do they buy?
• Where do they buy?
• Why do they buy?

Who Will Benefit From This Pharmacy Retail Management Diploma

or

any student who cannot afford to go to university to study but wants to acquire more knowledge and understanding in this specific working environment and thus making them employable. This course will not allow a student to be registered with the Pharmacy Council of South Africa as a Dispensary Assistant.

What Award Will I Have After I Have Completed My Pharmacy Retail Management Diploma?

Oxbridge Academy also offers the following skills diplomas in the Medical field:

Oxbridge Skills Diploma Dental Practice Assistant (DIP4042-09)
Oxbridge Skills Diploma Medical Practice Assistant (DIP4044-09)
Oxbridge Skills Diploma Veterinary Surgery Assistant (DIP4067-09)

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