Disciplines

The field of pharmacy can generally be divided into three primary disciplines:

Pharmaceutics and pharmacognosy
Pharmacy practice
Pharmacy Practice Research
Often, collaborative teams from various disciplines (pharmacists and other scientists) work together toward the introduction of new therapeutics and methods for patient care. However, pharmacy is not a basic or biomedical science in its typical form. It is also distinct from Medicinal Chemistry, which is a branch of synthetic chemistry combining pharmacology, organic chemistry, and chemical biology.

Pharmacology is sometimes confused as a discipline of pharmacy. Both disciplines are distinct. Although pharmacology is essential to the study of pharmacy, it is not specific to pharmacy. Those who wish to practice both pharmacy (patient oriented) and pharmacology (a biomedical science requiring the scientific method) receive separate training and degrees unique to either discipline.

Pharmacoinformatics is considered another new discipline, for systematic drug discovery and development with efficiency and safety.