Proposed Educational Strategies for A Reformed Pharmacy Curriculum Based on Graduate’s Self-Perceived Assessment of Pre-Service Education

Abstract

Introduction : Pharmacy practice witnessed dramatic significant changes over the past years worldwide. The traditional role of the pharmacist involving preparation, dispensing and selling of medications is no longer adequate. This has evolved into direct involvement of the pharmacist in the design, implementation, and monitoring of therapeutic plans to produce specific care outcomes. The Bachelor degree in pharmacy at the University of Aden, Yemen, witnessed scarce reviews or evaluation studies on graduates and curriculum introduced in 1995 and unchanged till 2018. Objectives : To (1) assess perception of pharmacists, working in Aden, of their pre-service education and its relevance to current work and (2) analyze the available benchmarks and propose educational strategies that could be addressed in designing and adopting a reformed pharmacy pre-service curriculum in light of results of the study. Methods : A self-administered questionnaire distributed to 220 pharmacists working in urban Aden city with response rate 86% (n=189). Questions covered general personal information; perception of pre-service educational subjects/courses and their relevance to current job; status of respondents’ practice of skills and attitudes acquired during their study. Analysis of the 7-star role of pharmacist is done based on results of the study. Results : Practicing pharmacists work in 5 different settings in Aden, in community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, industrial pharmaceutics, management of medicines and medical supplies and academic pharmacy. Majority marked existence of weak linkage between preservice curriculum and daily work demands. 16 out of the 17 basic sciences were not used in work and to a lesser degree, similar results of pharmaceutical sciences, skills and attitudes. Accordingly, seven educational strategies are proposed. Conclusion : The study showed that pharmacists working in Aden, Yemen, need different knowledge, skills and attitude to be able to perform the current job demands. The results also showed weak link between education and job practice. One of the main challenges facing pharmacy education is the adoption of educational strategies that respond to lack of active acquisition of the needed competencies to produce a “fit-for-purpose pharmacy graduate.” Keywords: pharmacy, pre-service, education, reform, strategies DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/76-01 Publication date: June 30th 2020