In Denmark (including

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

and

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

), pharmaconomists ( da, farmakonom) are experts in pharmaceuticals ( da, lægemiddelkyndig) who have trained with a 3-year tertiary degree. Pharmaconomy ( da, farmakonomi) describes either their professional practice or their training courses.

Work

The majority of the Danish pharmaconomists work at community pharmacies ( chemists' shops or drug stores) and at hospital pharmacies and

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

s. Some pharmaconomists work within the

chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. ...

, the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

and in medical or clinical laboratories. Other pharmaconomists teach pharmacy students and pharmaconomy students at

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

s or

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...

, such as at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences or at the Pharmakon—Danish College of Pharmacy Practice. Pharmaconomists are also employed by the Danish Ministry of Interior and Health,

Danish Medicines Agency The Danish Medicines Agency (Lægemiddelstyrelsen) is an agency under the Danish Ministry of Health and Prevention. The purpose of the agency is to ensure that medicinal products used in Denmark are of satisfactory quality, are safe to use and tha ...

and Danish Association of Pharmacies. Some pharmaconomists do work as pharmaceutical consultants.

Education

The 3 year higher education corresponds to 180 ECTS points (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System).

Pharmakon—Danish College of Pharmacy Practice

During his or her

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

programme at Pharmakon—Danish College of Pharmacy Practice, the pharmaconomist student studies

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

and

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage ...

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

pharmaconomy In Denmark (including Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian ...

pharmacy practice Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

pharmaceutics Pharmaceutics is the discipline of pharmacy that deals with the process of turning a new chemical entity (NCE) or old drugs into a medication to be used safely and effectively by patients. It is also called the science of dosage form design. The ...

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating e ...

pharmacognosy Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal plants and other natural substances as sources of drugs. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological properties of dru ...

clinical pharmacy 230px, A hospital pharmacist is checking a liquid solution. Clinical pharmacy is the branch of pharmacy in which clinical pharmacists provide direct patient care that optimizes the use of medication and promotes health, wellness, and disease pr ...

pharmacotherapy Pharmacotherapy is therapy using pharmaceutical drugs, as distinguished from therapy using surgery (surgical therapy), radiation (radiation therapy), movement (physical therapy), or other modes. Among physicians, sometimes the term ''medical ther ...

pharmaceutical sciences Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

pharmaceutical chemistry Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developmen ...

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar work ...

cytology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, an ...

diagnosis Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine "cause and effect". In systems engin ...

medical prescription A prescription, often abbreviated or Rx, is a formal communication from a physician or other registered health-care professional to a pharmacist, authorizing them to dispense a specific prescription drug for a specific patient. Historicall ...

, pharmacy law,

medical sociology Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions; the production of knowledge and selection of methods, the actions and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural (rather than cl ...

patient safety Patient safety is a discipline that emphasizes safety in health care through the prevention, reduction, reporting and analysis of error and other types of unnecessary harm that often lead to adverse patient events. The frequency and magnitude of ...

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pr ...

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial p ...

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...

information technology (IT) Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived f ...

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

, quality assurance (QA),

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

What is the difference between a ''pharmaconomist'' and a ''pharmacist''?

There are two different professional groups with pharmaceutical education in Denmark: * Pharmaconomists (with a 3-year higher tertiary education) *

Pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

s (with a 5-year higher tertiary education) Due to his or her higher education as a

health profession The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences are those sciences which focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple aca ...

al, the pharmaconomist has by law the same

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

competence in all Danish pharmacies as a pharmacist — i.e. for example to dispense and check medical prescriptions, to counsel and advise

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other heal ...

customer In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea - obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchan ...

s about the use of medicine/pharmaceuticals and to dispense, sell and provide

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...

about medical prescriptions and about prescription medicine and over-the-counter medicine (OTC). The pharmaconomist also undertakes specialist and

managerial Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

operation of pharmacies and undertakes managerial

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...

service. The only difference by law is that only a pharmacist may ''own'' a Danish pharmacy — i.e. become a pharmacy owner. Like pharmacists, pharmaconomists can work as pharmacy managers and HR managers (or as chief pharmaconomists).

Trade union

The

Danish Association of Pharmaconomists The Danish Association of Pharmaconomists ( da, Farmakonomforeningen) is the trade union that represents pharmaconomists (experts in pharmaceuticals) and pharmaconomist students in Denmark (including Greenland and Faroe Islands). The Danish Ass ...

is a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

who represents about 5,700 pharmaconomists in Denmark (i.e. 98% of all Danish pharmaconomists).

Translation into other languages

The Danish title ''farmakonom'' (pharmaconomist) comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

"pharmakon" (meaning "pharmaceuticals") and "nom" (meaning "expert in"). In Denmark a pharmaconomist is also referred to as ''lægemiddelkyndig'' (expert in pharmaceuticals). ''Lægemiddelkyndig'' comes from the Danish "lægemiddel" (meaning "pharmaceuticals") and "kyndig" (meaning "expert in"). * The

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

"pharmaconomist" in other

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s: ** English: ''pharmaconomist'' (

plural The plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the ...

: ''pharmaconomists'') ** Danish: ''farmakonom'' (plural: ''farmakonomer'') ** Faroese: ''farmakonomur'' (plural: ''farmakonomar'') ** French: ''pharmaconome'' (plural: ''pharmaconomes'') ** German: ''Pharmakonom'' (plural: ''Pharmakonomen'') ** Greenlandic: ''farmakonomit'' (plural: ''farmakonominullu'') ** Italian: ''farmaconomista'' (plural: ''farmaconomisti'') ** Spanish: ''farmaconomista'' (plural: ''farmaconomistas'') ** Swedish: ''farmakonom'' (plural: ''farmakonomer'') * The title "expert in pharmaceuticals" in other languages: ** English: ''expert in pharmaceuticals'' (plural: ''experts in pharmaceuticals'') ** Danish: ''lægemiddelkyndig'' (plural: ''lægemiddelkyndige'') ** French: ''expert en medicaments'' (plural: ''experts en medicaments'') ** German: ''Arzneimittelexperte'' (plural: ''Arzneimittelexperten'') ** Italian: ''esperto in farmaci'' (plural: ''esperti in farmaci'') ** Spanish: ''experto en fármacos'' (plural: ''expertos en fármacos'') ** Swedish: ''läkemedelsexpert'' (plural: ''läkemedelsexperter'') *The

academic discipline An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

of "pharmaconomy" in other languages: ** English: ''pharmaconomy'' ** Danish: ''farmakonomi'' ** German: ''Pharmakonomie'' ** French: ''pharmaconomie'' ** Italian: ''farmaconomia'' ** Spanish: ''farmaconomía'' ** Swedish: ''farmakonomi''

Sources and external links

*
Pharmakon—Danish College of Pharmacy Practice
' *
The Danish Association of Pharmaconomists
' *
The Danish Pharmaceutical Association
' *
Official Curriculum of the Danish Education of Pharmaconomists (September 2007)
' *
Official Executive Order on the Education of Pharmaconomists (June 2007)
' *
Information about pharmaconomists
' {{Pharmacy Pharmaceutical industry Education in Denmark Pharmacy in Denmark Pharmaconomists