Fostering Pharmacists to Succeed in a Drastically Changing Society

Abstract

In 2006, Japan's pharmaceutical science education was revised to a 6-year enrollment course, placing greater emphasis on cultivating practical clinical ability. Quality Assurance (QA) measures have been implemented including offering education based on a model core curriculum and third-party assessments. In August 2021, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) launched an investigative commission to review the above. For QA, the commission summarized a comprehensive report in August 2022 for items including: modality of selecting entrants; revising enrollment limits; securing education management; information disclosure; corresponding to pharmaceutical education assessments. For revising the model core curriculum, the commission is reviewing correspondence to: demographic changes due to decreasing birthrates, an ageing population, changes in the structure of diseases; rising and emerging infectious diseases; utilizing Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI). As Japan's ageing population is forecast to peak in 2040s, pharmacists must be fostered to provide safe and quality medicine towards a drastically changing future. Medical care is provided through the collaboration of various professions. In such changing demographics, team medicine is crucial to provide quality medical care. Moreover, towards all medical professions sharing the same vision, revisions to the model core curricula for medical and dental education are also being reviewed. The commission is now reviewing detailed curricula to foster pharmacists with competencies to: comprehensively assess patients and ordinary citizens; utilize information science and technology; professionalism. Towards securing quality pharmaceutical education, pharmaceutical departments at universities must also organize and implement an educational curriculum based on the Model Core Curriculum for Pharmaceutical Education. This paper will introduce the investigative commission's review.