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| Prof Amal Kumar Bandyopadhyay |
Education is empowerment. It is a means to foster individual, social, professional and economic development and it shapes the difference between the world of today and that of tomorrow. The profession of pharmacy blends science, technical art and human relationship in a unique fashion. The issue of quality in education therefore becomes an essential concern, not only to those directly involved in the formal educational processes (such as students and educators), but also to society as a whole, policy-makers, professional bodies, parents and other stakeholders.
In healthcare particularly, the need for professional interdependence has become increasingly apparent, as new priorities in public health and new demographic trends emerge, generating the necessity for multi-disciplinary approaches involving all healthcare providers as well as social scientists and practitioners. The evolution of medical sciences is from a naïve origin to a matured and advanced state, as we find it today. It has been an incredible journey and a great amount of work remains to be done in the future for further refinement of medical technology. It is said that in the pre-renaissance period, it took 400 years to develop two fold of science, but at present it has come down to four years. Computer, Internet, cable TV, mobile phone has changed life immensely. In science and technology, development is enormous. Pharma technology is not an exception. In earlier days extempore preparation of mixtures and powders were made in dispensaries.
Then it developed to patented medicines. Tablet, capsules, injections were the conventional dosage forms and during that period presence of drug in a formulation was the only criteria. The concept of ‘bioavailability’ was not there, forget about ‘bioequivalence’. Repeat dosage form was the convention. Concept of sustained release (SR) dosage form did not prevail.
Due to great developments in scientific research and the increasing (and changing) social demands in terms of healthcare, the profession of pharmacy has been forced to undergo a radical process of evolution with great shifts in its public mission in the last hundred years. Having changed firstly from formulation to dispensing of medicines, the role of pharmacists has recently evolved towards direct patient care and the assurance of therapeutic results. In this scenario, it becomes clear that quality pharmacy education needs to react to and even anticipate professional and social change.
The relevance of quality of pharmacy practice is very significant in a developing and populous country like India, which has been facing problems like significant health and inappropriate medication usage. The professional pharmacy curriculum should be designed to produce pharmacists who have the abilities and skills that are necessary to achieve outcome related to, providing proper pharma care, drug information and education. Professions exist to serve the society and hence pharmacy, as a profession, must address the needs of society and individual patients throughout the world.
It is important to reflect on the service that pharmacies provide while considering the content and therefore the mission of pharma education. The pharmacy profession plays a major role in the discovery, development, production and distribution of drug products and in the creation and dissemination of related knowledge. Quality pharmacy education is responsible for preparing students to enter into a career in pharmacy and function as professionals and responsible citizens in changing healthcare systems. Students must be challenged to consider the broader relevance of their study. Pharmacy students must be comfortable and capable of communicating about health with non-experts. Graduates must be able to fulfill their roles in society with an understanding of their ethical responsibility to patients. As pharmacists, they are increasingly called upon to deal with a growing level of complex ethical choices, hence students need formal training in ethical decision making.
Due to liberalisation and globalisation many changes are bound to come. Hence there is a need to i) establish standards and criteria for the accreditation of professional degree programmes in pharmacy and continuing pharmacy education providers, ii) Promote continuous quality improvement within its accredited groups and itself, iii) Encourage innovation in pharmacy education, service and research, iv) Emphasise on learning outcomes in pharmacy education, v) Gather and analyse information and ideas from multiple sources and viewpoints as the basis for continuing policy development and decision making, vi) Optimise the effectiveness of human, financial and scientific resources.
The objectives in the present scenario of pharmacy and life science education is to identify what is effective and ineffective in the current continuing education system and to reevaluate the current use of the continuing education unit in the contemporary vision for lifelong learning. To implement strategies to enhance the quality of continuing education providers and offerings, and to foster, through its accreditation activities, a philosophy of and commitment to lifelong learning is also essential.
There is enormous change in healthcare and pharmacy profession. So pharma education must prepare students to enter into the practice of pharmacy, in whatever areas are appropriate to the environment. The curriculum must be constantly assessed and evaluated to be in line with and even ahead of professional practice.
They must be flexible enough to allow students to achieve a broad education in accordance with their interest. Special attention must be given to the sequence of courses and practice period that are found in the programme. The content of courses must be carefully considered, to ensure that they are relevant and up to date. Special consideration must be given to application of knowledge, communication, language and patient care skills, health system organisation, development of professional identity, critical thinking, and lifelong learning.
However, currently the pharmacy and life science education in this country is not in a good shape. This might be due to wrong policies made by policy makers. The country needs enough pharma technologists, graduate engineers and other specialised life science personnel in terms of the total population of this country. But, we always compared the numbers with China. So, the authorities allowed starting colleges in rural areas, where there is no proper infrastructure and available faculties. As a result, colleges mushroomed without the assurance of quality education.
The students could not get jobs because of insufficient industrialisation. As a result, every year several colleges closed down. In a college of 60 students, 90 post graduate seats were allotted with different disciplines which were not fulfilled. The colleges suffered much due to such policies. A total evaluation and new look approach is essential to come out from the present situation.
The author can be contacted at [email protected]
