Quality Education in Pharmacy: Need of 21st Century

Pharmacy has suffered from a fractionated vision of the profession due to the conflicting perspectives of different practitioner groups. Although a unified vision for all segments of the profession likely will occur with time, the changes in pharmaceutical education and in the health care and pharmaceutical industries are focusing pharmacists'efforts on utilizing their advanced pharmacologic knowledge to build pharmacy profession. The expansion and improvement of pharmaceutical education include collaboration with other health care professionals improve patient outcomes and to control spiraling pharmaceutical and health care costs. The increased use of automation and the emphasis on the value of the pharmacist's unique knowledge and skills are other factors that may result in expansion of pharmacists'roles. The future health care environment may hold many opportunities for pharmacists if the leadership and management of the profession can respond quickly to focus the profession's efforts on improving patients'drug therapy outcomes.