Monday, December 22, 2008

pharmacy,pharm. D

Taking pharmacy studies to global levels
The introduction of the Pharm D. course is set to change the country’s pharmacy education landscape. About the course and the institutions where it has been sanctioned so far.
CATCHING UP: The introduction of the course will enable pharmacy students in India to acquire professional qualifications that are of international standards.
Pharmacy education in the country is set to undergo a sea-change in the next few years. The introduction of Pharm D., a six-year integrated postgraduate programme, is expected to take the country’s pharmacy education to international levels.
According to the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), which introduced Pharm D. this year, the new course is meant to “raise the standard of pharmacy profession in India in terms of pharmacy practices and also to make Indian pharmacy degree acceptable to other developed countries, including the U.S. and the U.K.” Although Pharm D. had been introduced in the U.S. way back in 1955, it took more than half a century for India to realise the inherent advantages of this programme. By 2002 more than 90 per cent of the pharmacy colleges in the U.S. had shifted to Pharm D. programme, doing away with courses such as B.Pharm., B.S. (Pharmacy), M.Pharm. and M.S. (Pharmacy).
According to K.G. Revikumar, principal of Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi, India today remains the only country in the world offering a two-year diploma in pharmacy (D. Pharm), which is of no value at the international level. “Even our B.Pharm degree does not qualify one to practise pharmacy in a developed healthcare system,” said Mr. Revikumar.
Pointing a finger at the current level of community medicine followed in the country, where a pharmacy degree is not required to dispense medicine, Mr. Revikumar said that “ours is the only country where traders are permitted to be in the profession, and professionals in the trade.” Ideally, according to Mr. Revikumar, pharmacists should be the first point of contact in a healthcare system. And in hospitals, they are the last point of contact, where patients are administered medicines. Now the onus is on the society to educate clinicians and healthcare professionals about the importance of pharmacy in modern medicine. Pharm D. will be the initial step in utilising the experience of pharmacists for the benefit of the healthcare system, pointed out Mr. Revikumar.
The PCI has sanctioned Pharm D. course in 24 pharmacy colleges across the country, which include six in Karnataka, seven in Tamil Nadu and eight in Andhra Pradesh. One college each in Kerala, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh has been selected for Pharm D. Al Shifa College of Pharmacy at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district is the only college in the State to get the PCI approval this year.
One requirement for sanctioning Pharm D. is that the pharmacy college should be attached to a 350-bed hospital. Pharm D. is a six-year course providing intensive training in pharmacy practice and clinical pharmacy services. The course will include five years of clinical and community-based theory with ward rounds and one-year internship in hospitals. Pharm D. students will work in coordination with doctors to treat patients. In the final year, the student will come out as a clinical pharmacist who will be an essential component of healthcare equal to doctors.
Pharm D. graduates will study in detail about drugs for different diseases. Pharmacists will advise patients about dose, action, and side effects.
According to R. Saraswathi, director of Al Shifa College of Pharmacy, Pharm D. will be equivalent to M.D. or M.S. and will provide pharmacists with the knowledge and skills of current diagnostic methods, treatment modalities, drug delivery system, therapeutics outcome, pharmaco economics and pharmaco therapy to meet the rapid changes in the healthcare system.
PCI has approved an intake of only 30 students per batch to maintain the quality of Pharm D. The curriculum will include regular pharmacy subjects and sufficient exposure to clinical pharmacy practices.
The course, according to B. Suresh, president of PCI, is framed in such a way that it can meet international standards. Students with Plus-Two or D.Pharm can join this course. B. Pharm and M. Pharm graduates can also join, but the course duration for them will be reduced to three years.
Pharm D., meant to bring Indian pharmacy education on a par with the western system, is expected to provide plenty of opportunities to Indian students to practise pharmacy abroad. Pharm D. students can pursue careers in various fields, including institutional practice; community pharmacy practice; managed care; and so on.

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