Due to the mushrooming of the pharmacy institutions, quality pharmacy education has faltered. As a result various institutions are finding it difficult to fill the approved quota of seats. Many institutions have a scant regard for maintaining education standards.
Pharmacy education in India had its beginning in mid of 19th century in Madras Medical College with introduction of pharmacy classes to impart pharmaceutical skills for the students qualifying for medical degrees or diploma or hospital assistance ship. Later it was helpful for the students who intended to qualify as chemist and druggists. Duration of study was increased to two years and entry qualification was made matriculation. The classes didn’t receive popularity and there were only a few students who used to opt for it. However, the course remained in operation and received Government sanction for its continuation. But the pharmacy education gained popularity only when Prof. M. L. Schroff with the consent of Madan Mohan Malviya introduced Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmacognosy as one of the subjects for B.Sc. Degree in July 1937 in Banaras Hindu University. Then onwards there was no looking back. Pharmacy became a full pledged course with introduction of Diploma in Pharmacy and Bachelors of Pharmacy. Later Master of Pharmacy in various specializations was introduced. It is said that the first ever Pharmacy course was introduced along with the medical course in 1842 at the Old Portuguese school known as "Escola Medica de Goa" and later named as "Escola Medica Cirurgica de Goa". The Pharmacists (farmaceuticos) and Doctors (Medica Cirurgiao) were educated and trained in the same medical school and they had almost the same status in the Goan society.
Pharmacy education played a very crucial role in the economic development of the country. Now Pharmaceutical Sector is considered to be one of the very important sectors which significantly contribute to country’s economy. Although the pharmacy education has its enormous contribution for the development of pharma industry, its contribution for the development of pharmacy practice was modest with just a Masters programme in Pharmacy Practice. Hence, it was decided that there is a need to start a full-pledged course which would impart sufficient knowledge to student to practice the profession of pharmacy. And then the birth of Pharm D in India took place with the untiring efforts of a few visionaries. Doctor of pharmacy is patient-oriented whereas, bachelors of pharmacy is industry — oriented. The students are shaping to enter with pride and knowledge to take up the challenges of patient care.
In general, there should be a re-look at the pharmacy courses. Diploma in Pharmacy course, as a prerequisite to run a pharmacy (medical shop), is said to be outdated and only a few students opt for the course. Bachelor in Pharmacy needs an update to adapt to the advanced technology at which pharmaceutical industry is operating. Although been criticized, there should be a second thought to be given to introduce specialization at bachelor’s level. There should be an amalgamation of a few specializations at post graduate level as there are various offshoot specializations, which have come up in recent past for just commercial purposes. Instead there should be an initiation of courses in Pharmaceutical Management, Intellectual Property Right, Regulatory Affairs, Pharmacoeconomics, Pharmacovigilance, Clinical trial data management and Nanopharmaceuticals.
There should be self-regulation by pharmacy teachers. Being in very pious profession, they should update themselves with recent happenings and maintain high professional standards. They should enthuse students to take up challenges of the industry and profession of pharmacy.
Future strategies for pharmaceutical education
Curriculum design and reorganisation of the degree programme requires a ‘visionary’ approach. We should try to imagine, what is most likely to be happening in about 10 to 15 years in the future at any point of time. It is necessary to prepare the student for tackling problems and situations of the future rather than for the current state. Present will be outdated very quickly. The state-of-the-art is not a static state but is very much dynamic. The concept of the state-of-the-art itself implies a parallel and constant change in our endeavour to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in technology, basic sciences and information. A student needs the past and present states-of-art only as basis for his future states. Attempts to do this sublime approach of jumping to the future from the past without going through the present have not yielded satisfactory outcomes. Students and the educators tended to see the ‘present’ more clearly than visualise the future possibilities. Skepticism has always been responsible in delaying progress. We exist in a social and educational system that has limited vision and consequently limited goals of achievement. Our attention and focus have been distorted by the numbers of students involved rather than the quality of education. Every student has to necessarily learn many new concepts and skills just to be able to remain in the profession of the future. We should prepare students with the right skills to learn new states-of-the-art with less effort! Nobody can visualise the entire future and design a strategy suited for that. But we could concentrate on incorporating the mental skills in the educational activities that are more permanent and provide the student a capability for learning new concepts.
Strategy in education should shift to ‘concept’ approach from the present ‘content’ approach. All content should be chosen to demonstrate and strengthen a ‘concept’ with an objective that is basic to the topic. The approach should reflect in curriculum design, its implementation and evaluation areas of education. All evaluation methods like written, oral, practical, assignments, seminars, projects, discussions etc. should be concept oriented. A student will benefit most with orientation of educational process to such mental skills like observation, analysis, correlation, application, evaluation or judgement etc. Such a system will go a long way to lessen the effort required by the students to acquire such skills all by themselves.
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