Clinical Pharmacy Clerkship in Pakistan: A leap from paper to practice

Abstract

This is the first article of its type to describe the advances taking place in clinical pharmacy education in Pakistan. The Pharmacy Council of Pakistan has developed a five-year Pharm.D program to replace the four-year B.Pharm degree. Completing clinical pharmacy clerkships is a prerequisite for receiving the Pharm.D degree. To meet this requirement, Ziauddin College of Pharmacy has developed a specialized clerkship program for its 4th and 5th year students. The College is fortunate to be linked with well developed tertiary care hospitals at three prime locations in the in the metropolitan city of Karachi, which provides opportunity for the students to gain exposure to real life situations and work with patients. The article presents an account of the efforts taken for development of the clinical pharmacy clerkship program, the problems encountered during its development, and the main outcomes of a clerkship program.
 
 Type: Note

Pros and Challenges to Pharmacists in Prescribing Practice.

“…In Ethiopia study conducted by Berha et al 2018 of 2000 patients, in which they found extensive prescription errors and recommended the presence of clinical pharmacists to improve the rational World Health Organization recommended therapy. They also focused on pharmacists orientations to patient care rather old traditional products and mercantile oriented practice [6,9,17].…”

“…The respondents also satisfied from these prescribers. A great revolution in the prescription of Pharmacists from dependent, limited drugs to independent unlimited and every drug to every patient, the relationship between Pharmacist, Physician and nurse existed in triangle and every angle of triangle has their own importance, thus with the absence of any of them the health care team is incomplete [7,9].…”

Clinical pharmacy practice in developing countries: Focus on India and Pakistan

“…[18] In the 4 th and 5 th year, students undergo clerkship of 75 credit hours spreading over 17 weeks in each semester and a total of 300 credit hours by the end of the final year. [19] Further in the 5 th year, students get involved in various academic research projects in community pharmacy. The clinical pharmacy training is conducted in teaching/district head quarter hospitals.…”

Drug Informatics from Evolution to the Present Outlook

“…All over the world efforts are being made to change the scope of hospital pharmacy by moving the hospital pharmacists from dispensing counters into the wards and clinics [49]. Impetus for this change was provided not only by the development of DICs and the clinical pharmacy concept, but also by the Study Commission on Pharmacy [4].…”