Abstract
BackgroundTo investigate the present status of Kampo education, which has still not been elucidated, after the introduction of the new core national curriculum of 2015 into nationwide pharmacy education, in all 74 pharmacy schools in Japan.MethodsA postal questionnaire survey was conducted from August 2015 to January 2016. The completed questionnaires were returned by mail. Web-based syllabi were also investigated to ascertain the detailed lecture curricula in each school. Descriptive analyses were conducted without statistics.ResultsA total of 74 questionnaires were collected (response rate, 100%). In 2015, the numbers of clinical Kampo classes as required subjects during the 6 years of regular pharmacy school education ranged from 0 to 36 (median, 13; mean, 11.8 ± 7.6). Of the 74 schools, 49 schools (66%) provided Kampo education from a clinical standpoint. Pharmacists employed in pharmacies and physicians taught most of these classes. The major problems to be solved first are: selecting and retaining teachers to teach clinical Kampo medicine (43 of 74 schools, 58%), preparing standard textbooks (37 schools, 50%), and improving the environment for practical Kampo training (30 schools, 41%).ConclusionsCurricula for teaching Kampo medicine significantly differ at each of the 74 Japanese pharmacy schools. In addition to selecting teachers who can adequately teach clinical Kampo medicine, improving training environments, and nationwide standardization of the curricula and textbooks are critical.
Highlights
To investigate the present status of Kampo education, which has still not been elucidated, after the introduction of the new core national curriculum of 2015 into nationwide pharmacy education, in all 74 pharmacy schools in Japan
The aims of this study are to elucidate the present conditions of Kampo education in all the Japanese pharmacy schools and, from these data, to put together basic materials to teach Kampo medicine in the near future
“The present status of Kampo related education in your pharmacy school,” which asked about the number of units offered, the types of classes, the contents of the education, and its concepts
Summary
To investigate the present status of Kampo education, which has still not been elucidated, after the introduction of the new core national curriculum of 2015 into nationwide pharmacy education, in all 74 pharmacy schools in Japan. Japanese traditional medicine (Kampo medicine) was uniquely developed, especially in the Edo period (1603– 1868), after having been introduced from China centuries prior to that [1, 2]. It was the primary medicine until the end of the Edo period. The large factor of this change was that the national licensing examination for physicians only asked questions related to Western medicine Under this long slump in Kampo medicine, Kampo theories (especially those in herbal medicine) were only handed down by a very few pharmacists and physicians in their own offices.
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