Understanding the current status and issues of ICT education in the faculty of pharmacy

Abstract

The use of healthcare ICT by pharmacists (called “Pharma Tech” for pharmacies) will be essential in the future for improving health outcomes, enhancing healthcare services, and increasing convenience for patients. However, the ICT literacy of pharmacists and pharmacy students must improve for the utilization of Pharma Tech. Therefore, the syllabi of pharmacy departments (77 universities, 79 faculties) that were open to the public from March 2021 were examined for this study. The survey items included the course title, affiliation and specialization of the instructor, course year, class format, general instructive objectives/specific behavioral objectives, and learning evaluation. The percentage of ICT courses offered by the faculty of pharmacies was highest in the first year with basic content, close to the time of the entrance orientation. On the other hand, only 5.9% of classes offered had clinical application, such as improving healthcare outcomes and services with ICT. This result may be attributed partly to the low number of ICT courses provided to the higher grades and the low percentage of teachers (11.8%) with clinical experience required for those courses.