Database research using real-world data (RWD) is increasingly applied in clinical settings. However, applying RWD in database research without understanding its characteristics and limitations may lead to inaccurate results and inappropriate clinical decisions. To generate evidence aligned with clinical issues and translate it into practice, pharmacists must receive proper training that includes a structural understanding of RWD and the ability to define research questions, design appropriate studies, and interpret and apply findings. These components should not be taught in isolation but through a comprehensive and integrated educational approach. This paper discusses how pharmaceutical education should structure and promote database research in clinical settings, focusing on three key perspectives: understanding the characteristics of RWD, identifying clinical issues, and recognizing limitations.

In the transition from high school to university, students face changes in the content of study, living and learning environments, and new friendships. These changes impact their psychological adjustment, resulting in many anxious first-year students. Anxiety has both positive and negative influences on academic achievement. If anxiety reduces learning motivation or efficiency, early intervention is necessary to minimize worry and assist in adaption to tertiary education. The results of this investigation into the relationship between anxiety, learning attitude, and academic achievement suggested that appropriate support and coaching will improve learning capabilities. It is recommended that educators understand the reason for anxiety and provide student support through team building and peer support activities to help students realize their potential and enhance their confidence.

In September 2023, I was diagnosed with stage IV small bowel cancer and underwent two surgeries and six months of chemotherapy. Small bowel cancer is a rare type of cancer with no established standard treatments, causing significant anxiety and emotional struggles in treatment decisions. As a patient, I deeply realized the weight of words spoken by healthcare professionals and the critical importance of emotional support. Moreover, I experienced firsthand the prevalence of misinformation, including false claims from social media and acquaintances, highlighting the need for a reliable system that provides trustworthy cancer information and promotes health literacy among patients. Community pharmacies, due to their close psychological proximity to patients, are uniquely positioned to decipher complex medical information and deliver personalized guidance tailored to individual needs. By actively listening to patients and establishing systems for accurate cancer information dissemination, healthcare providers can offer meaningful care that supports patients throughout their treatment journey. This paper explores these perspectives and discusses the future direction of cancer patient support, emphasizing the importance of emotional care, reliable information sharing, and the vital role of pharmacies in achieving patient-centered care.

At the Department of Nursing, School of Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, interprofessional education (IPE) has been implemented in collaboration with the Departments of Pharmacy and Medicine for nine years since 2015. Through simulation-based classes utilizing standardized patients, students are provided with opportunities to experientially learn about the perspectives and roles of various professions, and the importance of interprofessional collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the program shifted to an online format, and through online health consultations utilizing ICT, students continued to engage in active learning and collaboration even in a remote environment. Students responded positively, noting that collaboration with peers from other disciplines was stimulating and led to practical learning. However, issues related to differences in academic year and learning progress were also identified. Going forward, it is necessary to optimize educational content and design assignments that are adapted to students’ learning stages, including more advanced and practical content for upper-year students.

The academic field of pharmacy encompasses a wide range of advanced knowledge and techniques, making it essential that students cultivate a proactive attitude toward learning. This article presents an overview of psychological theories and literature on learning motivation. Moreover, two surveys were conducted among university students in pharmacy and other healthcare-related programs to examine the relationships between motivational factors, learning behaviors, and academic performance. Motivational factors included subjective task value (Study 1-1), achievement goals (Study 1-2), and beliefs about the relationship between effort and outcomes (Study 2). The findings indicated that student learning behavior and academic achievement positively correlated with their perceived interest in and attainment value from learning activities. These outcomes were also associated with their orientation towards mastery and performance-approach goals, beliefs about the inherent worth of effort, and conviction that sustained effort would be rewarded.

In the symposium, each symposiast spoke about the positioning and issues of drug injury and medical safety in the revised Core Curriculum, activities to learn from drug injury and medical accident prevention, practice of pharmacist training, and what drug injury victims expect from pharmacy education when considering “actions with an awareness of the mission and responsibility as a pharmacist”. The goal was to build learning in this area. The TAYA Research Group has been practicing activities such as “Listening to the voices of victims of drug-related accidents and what we can do not to repeat them” and “Considering the qualities of medical professionals” for junior high and high school students. In practical training, the students are engaged in thinking, listening, experiencing, and being able to put into practice “the pharmacist’s duty of not repeating the harm caused by drugs. These activities will be introduced and discussed in detail.

Medical safety is a major issue. Various measures are taken in the medical field to prevent medical accidents and errors, and dispensing accidents and errors, but accidents will never be eliminated. In the 2022 revision of the Core Curriculum for Pharmacy Education, the learning objectives for medical safety are presented in “F-3-3 Practice of Medical Safety” in “F. Clinical Pharmacy.” Although I am not an expert in education, I have considered the medical safety curriculum for pharmacy students and the basic knowledge required in the field, referring to my experience working in the medical safety department of a hospital and training programs to train medical safety managers.

The School of Pharmacy at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences aims to cultivate “pharmaceutical professionals contributing to healthcare” in its educational and research mission. Approximately 80% of its graduates work as pharmacists and are actively engaged in healthcare. In response to the increasing complexity and advancement of medical practice, team-based healthcare has been promoted to ensure high-quality, safe medical care. The 2022 revision of the Model Core Curriculum for Pharmacy Education identified interprofessional collaboration skills as a fundamental competency. Since 2015, the university has collaborated with Tokyo Medical University to implement interprofessional education (IPE). The IPE program targets early-year students in short, practical sessions utilizing simulated patients (SPs). SPs are recruited from community volunteers to participate in training sessions, such as scenario-based workshops, before engaging in the program. Beyond IPE, SPs also engage in other practical training to enable students to experience medical communication and foster self-awareness. This paper reports on the implementation of IPE at the university, the management of the SP study groups, and the training of simulated patients.