Experiential education in the pharmacy undergraduate curricula in Brazil

Preparing Pharmacists for the Digital Age: How Pharmacy Courses are Adapting to Challenges and Opportunities

OBJECTIVE

As the digitalization of health accelerates, the fusion of pharmacy and informatics becomes crucial. Pharmacy education must adapt to equip professionals for this evolving landscape. This study aims to compare pharmacy curricula in Brazil and the United States of America, focusing on health informatics, to uncover challenges and opportunities in training pharmacists for the digital era.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, descriptive analysis was conducted on pharmacy curricula from leading Brazilian and American universities in early 2024. Two independent researchers collected data, concentrating on health informatics-related courses. Curriculum analysis used the n-gram technique for linguistic pattern identification in course descriptions.

RESULTS

The analysis included curricula from 147 Brazilian and 140 American institutions. American programs had more health informatics courses, with greater integration into pharmacy and higher workloads. Brazilian courses were fewer, less specialized, and less integrated with pharmacy practice. Bi-gram analysis showed that the United States emphasized pharmaceutical practice and technologies, while Brazil focused more broadly on public health. Challenges include Brazil's slower integration of health informatics, impacting competitiveness. The study highlights opportunities to enhance curricula in both countries, emphasizing the importance of health informatics courses.

CONCLUSION

US pharmacy programs are further developed by providing specialized, high-quality digital health education with extensive coursework, reflecting a curriculum aligned with digital advancements. This stands in stark contrast to Brazilian programs, which show a need for comprehensive curriculum revision to effectively prepare pharmacists for the digital age. This study underscores the urgency for global pharmacy education reform and its alignment with the rapid evolution of digital health.

Perception of community pharmacists about the work process of drug dispensing: a cross-sectional survey study

Background

Drug dispensing aims to promote rational medicine use. However, in many countries, the work processes are still not well defined. In this sense, the perception of pharmacists about dispensing practices presents an overview of how the service is being performed in the country and its main challenges. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the self-reported work process of Brazilian community pharmacists in relation to drug dispensing, challenges, and strategies for carrying out the service.

Method

A cross-sectional survey was conducted between May and July 2021, with community pharmacists from all regions of Brazil. Pharmacists were invited to answer a validated, self-administered questionnaire, implemented through Google Forms, containing 33 questions related to the steps of drug dispensing (questions and counseling) and the main challenges and strategies to perform the service. The data were exported to Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS®. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between responses and demographic information, with a significance level of less than 5% (p < 0.05). This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (number: 4.295.171).

Results

A total of 625 community pharmacists responded to the survey. Most pharmacists reported always or frequently performing 17 (54%) of the 31 steps described in the instrument. The steps that pharmacists reported performing more frequently were forming the medication name (n = 569, 91.04%), verifying the completeness and adequacy of the prescription according to current legislation (n = 567, 90.72%) and providing counseling on dosage (n = 549, 87.84%). Documentation was the main step in which pharmacists reported never or rarely performing (n = 424, 67.84%). The results showed that there was a significant influence of the variables of public education institution, age, and postgraduate education on the frequency of dispensing steps (F(3, 621) = 14.884, p < 0.001; R²_ajdusted = 0,063).

Conclusion

This study showed that most pharmacists reported always or frequently asking most of the questions and performing counseling contained in the instrument during drug dispensing. These results can contribute to an understanding of current dispensing practices and generate insights for developing strategies to qualify the service.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-07528-y.