Profession Pharmacist

The Pharmagora exhibition will open its doors to pharmacists from 29 to 30 March 2013. In the run-up to this event, we have decided to devote a double article to these professionals, whom we work with regularly.

In the eyes of the State, the pharmacist is a health professional who flirts closely with the world of hospitals, industries and laboratories, even if it is true that he or she is most often found in pharmacies.

The pharmacist is above all there to deliver and explain the treatment prescribed by the doctor. In the event of an error in the dispensing of medicines, the pharmacist is liable. Thanks to his knowledge of medicines, he is fully competent to check the consistency of doctors' prescriptions. He can therefore advise and direct the patient without a prescription to the most appropriate medicine(s) to treat him.

The pharmacist specialising in biological analysis works in a laboratory. Accompanied by technicians and biologists, they carry out all kinds of tests (blood analysis, bacterial research, etc.). As a pharmacist-biologist, he/she works in hospitals and provides nurses with treatments and materials for patients. They are primarily responsible for the preparation and control of medicines.

The pharmacist may also be involved in the development of new medicines, in running a manufacturing workshop or in supervising quality control. These functions can also be carried out in the cosmetics, veterinary drugs and food industries.

In the case of France, the pharmacist is governed, regardless of his or her specialisation, by very demanding health legislation that strongly favours the patient. As a result, they must respect a strict code of ethics and submit to the controls of the health authorities.

This legislation governs his activity when he is present in companies that sell medicines, in pharmacies, in health establishment pharmacies and in laboratories. To be more precise, the pharmacist is bound by a duty of personal practice, i.e. he is obliged to carry out the professional acts of preparation himself or to supervise the execution carefully if it is carried out by another.

I therefore invite you to read the code of ethics for pharmacists corresponding to articles R4235-1 to R.4235-77 of the Public Health Code, which clearly defines the pharmacist's duties towards patients.

He must exercise his profession with respect for life and the human being without discrimination. He participates in the improvement of the health conditions of patients by contributing to the fight against drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, doping and collaborates with the competent authorities. He may therefore refuse to supply a patient with a medicine if the patient's health so requires. Of course, he will have to provide the patient with an explanation for his refusal. If the medicine is prescribed on a prescription, the pharmacist must inform the prescriber of his refusal and mention it on the prescription. The pharmacist-biologist may also refuse to carry out a sample or analysis on the grounds that it is in the patient's interest or that the request is unlawful.