| The education and training
of pharmacists should be based on their attainment of
educational objectives that correspond to the professional
tasks relevant to the country concerned and to their
roles, functions and responsibilities in health teams.
The learning experiences, and the methods of evaluating
the knowledge, skill and attitudes involved in satisfactory
practice performance, must be relevant to the components
of professional competence. The design and management
of the curriculum should apply the curricular principles
of continuity sequence and integration so that students
may a progressively master the necessary professional
skills at the expected levels of performance, by their
repeated performance at increasingly complex levels.
To maintain the relevance of undergraduate education
to changing patterns of practice, curricula should be
kept under regular review by academic pharmacists, together
with pharmacists from all aspects of practice and other
concerned parties, such as health administrators and
specialists in curriculum management and evaluation.
In common with most health professional education
pharmacy education programmes while often indicating
the relevance of topics to practice need to do more
towards helping students achieve competence in the application
of knowledge in practice; this would involve the linking
of knowledge's, skill and attitudes in professional
problem solving.
Course in pharmacy law, ethics and practices make
a vital contribution to the role of pharmacists in the
rational use of drugs and in the prevention and management
of drug abuse.
Traditionally, pharmaceutical courses have been divided
into four subject areas namely pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical
chemistry, pharmacognosy and pharmacology and schools
of pharmacy have been organized accordingly. However,
the academic foundation for pharmacy practices demands
and integrated approach to the teaching of those four
traditional subjects. This can be encouraged by designing
the course to include the three elements of pharmaceutical
science described below. This would mean the integration
of substantial parts of the teaching in each of the
three subject areas with corresponding parts in the
others. By doing so, schools of pharmacy would enable
students to a ppreciate more readily the relevance of
the pharmaceutical sciences to the practice of pharmacy.
Chemical and Physical
Properties of Drugs
The structure and properties of chemical substances
of natural and synthetic origin used in medicine, their
relevant stereo? chemistry and biological activities
relevant physico ?chemical aspects, including chemical
kinetics and thermodynamics; quality control by physical,,
chemical and biological techniques.
Pharmaceutical Aspects
of Medicines
Physical and physicochemical properties of substances
used in medicine and their application in the formulation
and production of medicinal products; the influence
of formulation on the biological availability of substances;
the evaluation of products and pharmaceutical processes
with particular reference to uniformity, quality and
stability of products; the principals of sterilisation
and of aseptic procedures; immunological products microbiological
aspects of the contamination and preservation of pharmaceutical
products; radio ?pharmaceutical surgical dressings;
the dispensing and storage of medicines.
The Action and Uses of
Drugs and Medicines
Human and mammalian physiology and biochemistry as a
basis for the understanding of the pharmacology of drugs.
It should include experimental pharmacology and biological
methods of measurement of activity; chemical, physical,
biochemical and biological aspects of the action of
drugs in man and animals; plant biology in relation
to natural sources of drugs and medicines and in relation
to pesticides; microbiology in relation to immunology,
disease and chemotherapy; the presentation, use and
adverse reactions of drugs and medicines, including
some opportunities to observe and study the clinical
effects of drugs on diseases an understanding of the
principals of disease processes; medical terminology;
sources of information on drugs and medicines.
The emphasis placed on the topics included in these
three elements of the degree course will vary with educational
needs, objectives, resources, and developments in health
care, but the three elements should receive approximately
the same emphasis. However, the growing importance of
the pharmacists role in promoting the rational use of
drugs by patients and in advising other health processionals
must be reflected in the teaching of pathology and therapeutics
related to both community and hospital pharmacy.
A fourth element in the pharmacy course should deal
with national legislation related to pharmacy, and introduce
the subject of international control mechanisms. A specialised
part of the course should be devoted to professional
ethics, which should at the same time permeate the entire
course. While the entire course should be seen to be
relevant to practices there should be two units or modules
devoted to the rational use of drugs and the prevention
of misuse and abuse, and to the application of pharmaceutical
sciences to aspects of practice.
Additionally pharmacy students should be made aware
of their countries general health policies and strategies,
particularly for the control of their principal public
health problems such as malaria leprosy tuberculosis
and AIDS and for the care of mothers and children, including
family planning.
In relation to all aspects of the pharmacy programs
there should be a module dealing with the general principles
of the rational use of drugs. This should be introduced
early in the undergraduate programs and should be designed
to introduce early in the undergraduate program and
should be designed to introduce students to the basic
competencies ? the clusters of knowledge, attitudes
and skills for performing the pharmacist's several role
related to the rational use of drugs, including advising
physicians and patients, monitoring of prescribing reporting
of adverse drug reactions, advising on drug interactions
in relation to individual patients and within national
schemes and the training of other health professionals.
These basic competencies should be gradually expanded
and strengthened throughout the remainder of the course.
Independent reviews of pharmacy in recent years, including
the Nuffield Foundation inquiry into pharmacy in the
United Kingdom (2) have highlighted the advisory role
of the pharmacist vis?avis health professionals and
patients. Many schools have introduced course on interpersonal
and communication skills. All schools need to introduce
modules dealing with the principles of communication
written and oral and providing for learning and evaluation
methods by which students may acquire and develop these
skills
An understanding of national pharmaceutical legislation
and of its underlying philosophy will continue to be
an important objective of pharmacy programs. In the
context of international control, all students should
learn the concept of and appreciate the reasons for
international control mechanisms.
More important, however, undergraduate education must
at all times inculcate high standards of professional
conduct. This will ensure that pharmacists can supplement
the minimum legal requirements by standards of conducts
which ensure that the greatest possible help and protection
is given to the public in relation to the supply and
use of drugs.
A satisfactory standard of pharmaceutical education
which is a prerequisite for a satisfactory pharmaceutical
service to satisfy legitimate public needs, depends
upon a sufficiency of suitably qualified academic staff,
and an adequate provision of equipment, text books and
other learning materials. Government strategies should
provide for, and give priority to, these resources,
as they are the foundation of the pharmacist's contribution
to the cost?effective use of quality medicines.
The pharmacy council, pharmacy board, or the registration
authority, should be involved in establishing acceptable
minimum standards for the structure, facilities and
curricula of schools of pharmacy.
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