An overview of clinical pharmacy and clinical pharmacology

The relationship between clinical pharmacy and clinical pharmacology can best be assessed by looking at the three major responsibilities of these related professional disciplines--research, education, and patient care. Clinical pharmacologists will continue to dominate clinical research, but clinical pharmacists will continue to expand their contributions in all types of research. Clinical pharmacists are beginning to assume responsibility for providing training in rational therapeutics to medical students and house staff and, because of their greater numbers, probably will ultimately have a greater influence than clinical pharmacologists in this area. Similarly, clinical pharmacists appear to have greater influence on day-to-day patient care than clinical pharmacologists. Successful pursuit of all of these activities by clinical pharmacists assumes a continuing supply of well-trained practitioners. However, many pharmacy schools do not provide adequate classroom and bedside training. This is an unfortunate trend that seems to be accelerating as many schools convert from baccalaureate to doctoral entry degree programs without adequate clinical faculty and teaching hospital facilities.