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Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan

Objectives & Background: Good curriculum is reflected as the backbone for standard universities to develop competitive professionals having great potential. Pharmacy education in Pakistan has gone through the same developmental stages as in other countries, but is still striving for improvement....

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Autores principales: Malhi, Saima Mahmood, Raza, Hassan, Ajmal, Kiran, Shamim, Sumbul, Ata, Saniya, Farooq, Salman, Sharib, Syed Muhammad, Muntaha, Sidrat-ul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622358/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28970458
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy5030046
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author Malhi, Saima Mahmood
Raza, Hassan
Ajmal, Kiran
Shamim, Sumbul
Ata, Saniya
Farooq, Salman
Sharib, Syed Muhammad
Muntaha, Sidrat-ul
author_facet Malhi, Saima Mahmood
Raza, Hassan
Ajmal, Kiran
Shamim, Sumbul
Ata, Saniya
Farooq, Salman
Sharib, Syed Muhammad
Muntaha, Sidrat-ul
author_sort Malhi, Saima Mahmood
collection PubMed
description Objectives & Background: Good curriculum is reflected as the backbone for standard universities to develop competitive professionals having great potential. Pharmacy education in Pakistan has gone through the same developmental stages as in other countries, but is still striving for improvement. In the present study, we want (i) to know the opinion on whether the current pharmacy curriculum requires any improvement in order to meet the training needs of pharmacy professionals regarding clinical knowledge and pharmacy practice; and (ii) to present some humble suggestions to decision-making authorities in order to improve it with respect to patient-focused programs (PFP). Methods: The study was conducted in two sessions. In first session, a questionnaire was distributed to pharmacy students of eight public/private sector universities of Karachi (N = 354) offering Pharm. D degrees. The second session dealt with the pharmacy teachers, deans, and practicing pharmacists in health care facilities (who are in any ways also related to academia), in order to take their opinions on and suggestions for the development of a better Pharm. D curriculum (N = 135). Results: Our results showed that 75.2% of respondents agree that the Pharm. D curriculum does not meet the international standards of practice, and 88.4% of respondents support the addition of more clinical aspects than industrial ones, as Pharm. D could be both clinically and industrially oriented, according to the needs of the Pakistani people. Furthermore, 80.2% of respondents are of the view that an apprenticeship should be included in last two years, while 88.4% demand a ‘paid residency program’ to facilitate the hospital, clinical and compounding areas of pharmacy. In addition, we also received a number of verbal suggestions for improving the Pharm. D curriculum being followed in Pakistan. Discussion & Conclusions: We conclude that our Pharm. D curriculum needs additions in terms of clinical practice by providing residencies and electives in health care settings. Accordingly, the need for a clinically oriented curriculum is highlighted in Pakistan, keeping in mind the continuing importance of the industrial viewpoint. Various studies have criticized the pharmacy curriculum in Pakistan in the past. Conversely, we suggest some changes in the curriculum, as change is always needed for a better tomorrow.
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spelling pubmed-56223582017-10-04 Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan Malhi, Saima Mahmood Raza, Hassan Ajmal, Kiran Shamim, Sumbul Ata, Saniya Farooq, Salman Sharib, Syed Muhammad Muntaha, Sidrat-ul Pharmacy (Basel) Article Objectives & Background: Good curriculum is reflected as the backbone for standard universities to develop competitive professionals having great potential. Pharmacy education in Pakistan has gone through the same developmental stages as in other countries, but is still striving for improvement. In the present study, we want (i) to know the opinion on whether the current pharmacy curriculum requires any improvement in order to meet the training needs of pharmacy professionals regarding clinical knowledge and pharmacy practice; and (ii) to present some humble suggestions to decision-making authorities in order to improve it with respect to patient-focused programs (PFP). Methods: The study was conducted in two sessions. In first session, a questionnaire was distributed to pharmacy students of eight public/private sector universities of Karachi (N = 354) offering Pharm. D degrees. The second session dealt with the pharmacy teachers, deans, and practicing pharmacists in health care facilities (who are in any ways also related to academia), in order to take their opinions on and suggestions for the development of a better Pharm. D curriculum (N = 135). Results: Our results showed that 75.2% of respondents agree that the Pharm. D curriculum does not meet the international standards of practice, and 88.4% of respondents support the addition of more clinical aspects than industrial ones, as Pharm. D could be both clinically and industrially oriented, according to the needs of the Pakistani people. Furthermore, 80.2% of respondents are of the view that an apprenticeship should be included in last two years, while 88.4% demand a ‘paid residency program’ to facilitate the hospital, clinical and compounding areas of pharmacy. In addition, we also received a number of verbal suggestions for improving the Pharm. D curriculum being followed in Pakistan. Discussion & Conclusions: We conclude that our Pharm. D curriculum needs additions in terms of clinical practice by providing residencies and electives in health care settings. Accordingly, the need for a clinically oriented curriculum is highlighted in Pakistan, keeping in mind the continuing importance of the industrial viewpoint. Various studies have criticized the pharmacy curriculum in Pakistan in the past. Conversely, we suggest some changes in the curriculum, as change is always needed for a better tomorrow. MDPI 2017-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC5622358/ /pubmed/28970458 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy5030046 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Malhi, Saima Mahmood
Raza, Hassan
Ajmal, Kiran
Shamim, Sumbul
Ata, Saniya
Farooq, Salman
Sharib, Syed Muhammad
Muntaha, Sidrat-ul
Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan
title Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan
title_full Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan
title_fullStr Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan
title_full_unstemmed Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan
title_short Current Status and Future Suggestions for Improving the Pharm. D Curriculum towards Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Pakistan
title_sort current status and future suggestions for improving the pharm. d curriculum towards clinical pharmacy practice in pakistan
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622358/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28970458
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy5030046
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