Abstract
Globally, health education reform is directing efforts to strengthen the health system through collaboration between health education and health services. However, collaborative efforts vary between developed and developing countries as the health needs, economic constraints, and resource availability differs. In developing countries, resource allocation is weighed in favor of interventions that will benefit the majority of the population. The question that emerges is: How could health education, service, and research activities be (re-)aligned to optimize return on investment for the health system and society at large? This paper proposes a needs-based pharmacy educational approach by centralizing population health for a developing country like South Africa. Literature on systems-based approaches to health professional education reform and the global pharmacy education framework was reviewed. A needs-based pharmacy educational approach, the population health model which underpins health outcome measurements to gauge an educational institution’s effectiveness, was contextualized. An evaluation framework to determine the pharmacy school’s effectiveness in strengthening the health system could be applied. A needs-based pharmacy educational approach modeled on population health could: Integrate resources from education, service, and research activities; follow a monitoring and evaluation framework that tracks educational outcomes; and engage with external stakeholders in curricular development and assessment.
Highlights
The World Health Organisation (WHO) attests “the needs of the health system should shape the way in which the workforce is educated—not the other way around” [1]
A needs-based pharmacy educational approach modeled on population health could: Integrate resources from education, service, and research activities; follow a monitoring and evaluation framework that tracks educational outcomes; and engage with external stakeholders in curricular development and assessment
The South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) is the national regulatory body which is responsible for registration of pharmacy personnel, pharmacies, and the accreditation of nine pharmacy schools
Summary
The World Health Organisation (WHO) attests “the needs of the health system should shape the way in which the workforce is educated—not the other way around” [1]. In resource constrained environments decisions regarding resource allocation needs to be weighed meticulously in favor of interventions that will benefit the largest proportion of the population, often leaving very little resources for individual directed health interventions This might imply a different relationship between patient-centered and population-based approaches of health education and health care in developed and developing countries. In designing curriculums for a resource constrained context, the focus on patient-centered care is not optimal, since the deployment of resources should be strategic to cover a larger cohort of people, whereby directing resources at an inter-individual level would not have as much impact in improving population health indicators The question this raises for pharmacy education institutions in developing countries is: How could their education, service, and research activities be adjusted to pool these resources with those of the health system to ensure the most effective return on investment for the health system and society at large? A needs-based pharmacy education framework for a resource-limited setting which underpins population health is discussed
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