Development of a community pharmacy program in Iran with a focus on Logbook application

OBJECTIVE: Community pharmacy educational program needs to be completed because of gradual transition in pharmacist responsibilities from traditional roles such as dispensing and compounding medications to give professional patient-based care. To further develop the community pharmacy program, this study was designed to involve Logbook in pharmacy training courses. METHODS: For this study, at first, Logbook for community pharmacy practice was designed to develop educational program of this course in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Thereafter, in a 6-month prospective study, this Logbook was incorporated to the pharmacy practice course of Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) educational program, and students’ feedbacks were gained after final examination to improve the Logbook accordingly. Students described their opinions about different sections of this program as unnecessary, necessary, and necessary with revision. FINDINGS: A total of 65 PharmD students were included in this study. More than 90% of the students gave complete answers to the evaluation of this pharmacy training program. The results showed that more than 70% of students considered this program of pharmacy training was necessary (with or without revisions) in PharmD courses. They recommended more time to be included for prescription reading and analyses during these courses. CONCLUSION: Developing pharmacy training program by using Logbook which was presented in this study was considered necessary and efficient for PharmD students. However, it is a prototype system, and we are committed to using initial students and preceptors’ feedbacks to improve Logbook in future courses.