2018 Volume 2 Article ID: 2018-032
Within tertiary education in Japan the pharmaceutical sciences have flourished with their strong background in basic research and drug development. In the past twelve years, however, the pharmacy education system in Japan has undergone an unprecedented change, the transition from a four-year course to one of six years with a focus on nurturing pharmacists’ clinically oriented skills. This new program utilizes the strategies of outcome-based education with emphasis on goals such as “patient-centered care (as an aspect of professionalism)”, “expansion of clinical skills (requiring a strong linkage between universities and stakeholders)”, and “acquisition of problem solving skills in clinical setting (the research mind)”. To fully achieve these goals, continuing improvement is necessary in our framework and curriculum as well as changes in mindset of both university educators and stakeholders. In the current context, similar changes in pharmacy education towards competency-based professional development are evident elsewhere. In 2012, an alliance of Shikoku pharmacy schools for the improvement of pharmacy education was established under the support from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Since then, this alliance has sent delegates to North America, Europe and Australia to investigate the recent developments and reforms in pharmacy education systems in different countries. In the present article, the insights obtained from these investigations into overseas pharmacy education are described and the possible impact on our own competency-based pharmacy education is discussed.
