ABSTRACT
The most familiar division from the point of view of a potential client is that between the community medicine dispensed by general practitioners and the hospital medicine administered by a variety of more specialized professionals. An academic in a medical school commented on the large differential between practicing professionals and those in medical teaching. The unparalleled number of journals devoted to the publication and promulgation of research findings is itself a clear indication of how strongly professional practice is underpinned by systematic empirical enquiry. Pharmacists are at a disadvantage in existing under the shadow of the much more established and august profession of medicine: a number of them will indeed have been unsuccessful applicants to medical schools. The tendency to create large professional firms is more marked than in architecture or law. The former has its main impact on the profession as a collectivity, while the latter has a direct bearing on the day-to-day work of the individual practitioner.
