7

PART 2

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. .................................................................................

Authors

Naoko Arakawa, Research Associate, FIP Collaborating Centre, University College London, School of Pharmacy, UK, naoko. arakawa.11@ucl.ac.uk; Joana Carrasqueira, FIP Collaborating Centre, University College London, School of Pharmacy, UK, joanacarrasqueira17@gmail.com; Chris John, Workforce Development Support Lead, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Great Britain, christopher.john@rpharms.com.

Summary

The roles and responsibility of pharmacists have been evolving to encompass patient-oriented services, and therefore pharmacy and pharmaceutical education should be designed and transformed accordingly. Higher education institutions (HEIs) in health care professions play an important role in preparing students with specific skills and knowledge as well as instilling into them the value of self-directed lifelong learning (LLL), leading to system-based and competency-driven education reforms. Students must be provided with suitable conditions to practice and develop their skills so they are able to face a new competitive and demanding market.

Educational quality must be assured in order to meet

given health needs to prepare graduates to meet social expectations and to appropriately train them for the wide range of future pharmacy careers.

In an era when decisions are taken on a global scale, it becomes even more important for pharmacy students to engage in international opportunities that will contribute to social and institutional cooperation. It is highly recommended to promote collaborations between professional representing bodies in order to enhance students leadership skills.

Global Pharmacy Education

The roles and responsibilities of pharmacists have been evolving from product-oriented to patient-oriented service provision in the last two decades[1-3]. A foundation of professional education and training is a key factor in order for health care professionals to develop the capability to improve therapeutic outcomes, enhance patients quality of life and help people to stay healthy, as well as advance science and practice[4]. For pharmacy, too, contemporary forms of initial education and training are vital for the profession to meet the increasingly complex health care demands of populations in any country[5, 6]. The complex and varied health care demands are pointed out in the collaboration between the Harvard School of Public Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank[7].

The main concerns relating to health care by 2020 will centre on ischemic heart disease, depression directly associated with an ageing population, the rise of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and tobacco-related mortality and morbidity[7].

Pharmacists are often seen as the most accessible health care provider to the population and one of the most trusted when it comes to advice about medicines, yet the pharmacy profession faces many challenges, especially in community pharmacy [8].

Pharmacy and pharmaceutical education has to be designed so it can deliver the skills needed by students to work in different pharmaceutical settings once qualified, e.g. community pharmacy, hospital, research and development, regulatory affairs, industry and academia[5]. There are many gaps to be filled in pharmacy and pharmaceutical education worldwide and in order to mitigate these issues, a joint collaboration between the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), WHO and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established and the Pharmacy Education Taskforce created (see Part 5 of this report).

Pharmacists are confronted with a diverse range of situations on a daily basis that require a combination of scientific knowledge, communication and problem-solving skills, caring attitudes and ethical values. Hence, undergraduate students must be taught with new methodologies to help them adapt to real life problems in a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary way [9].

Pharmacy and pharmaceutical education globally continues to face many issues - including rapid expansion in the number of schools of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences in some countries - that challenge the quality of teaching and learning at a time when there are limited resources to meet these challenges [5]. The paradigm in education has shifted accordingly. This challenge and shift will be explored by considering the role of higher education, curricula trends and quality assurance.