Professional Pharmacy

Community / Retail Pharmacy

A pharmacy where pharmacists store, prepare, and dispense medicinal preparations and/or prescriptions for a local patient population in accordance with federal and state law; counsel patients and caregivers (sometimes independent of the dispensing process); administer vaccinations; and provide other professional services associated with pharmaceutical care such as health screenings, consultative services with other health care providers, collaborative practice, disease state management, and education classes.

Pharmaceutics

An individual licensed by the appropriate state regulatory agency to engage in the practice of pharmacy. The practice of pharmacy includes, but is not limited to, assessment, interpretation, evaluation, and implementation, initiation, monitoring or modification of medication and or medical orders; the compounding or dispensing of medication and or medical orders; participation in drug and device procurement, storage, and selection; drug administration; drug regimen reviews; drug or drug-related research; provision of patient education and the provision of those acts or services necessary to provide medication therapy management services in all areas of patient care.

Compounding Pharmacy

A pharmacy that specializes in the preparation of components into a drug preparation as the result of a Practitioner's Prescription Drug Order or initiative based on the Practitioner/Patient/Pharmacist relationship in the course of professional practice. A compounding pharmacy utilizes specialized equipment and specially designed facilities necessary to meet the legal and quality requirements of its scope of compounding practice.

Specialty Pharmacy

A pharmacy that dispenses generally low volume and high cost medicinal preparations to patients who are undergoing intensive therapies for illnesses that are generally chronic, complex and potentially life threatening. Often these therapies require specialized delivery and administration.