Curriculum Mapping of the Master's Program in Pharmacy in Slovenia with the PHAR-QA Competency Framework

Exploring the Policies Applied to Pharmaceutical Care Practice for Type 2 Diabetes over the Last Decade in European Community Pharmacies

In the last decade (2010–2020), more than half of European countries have improved their health policies within the primary care for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Community pharmacies have been and could continue to be essential actors in this evolution of fighting the disease by providing a set of pharmacotherapeutic follow-up services for the person with diabetes. These services, designated by the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union as “diabetes management” and “glucose measurement”, have aimed to optimize adherence to therapy and improve health outcomes. However, to follow the European guidelines of Good Pharmacy Practice, providing these services implies having a normative framework or a legal basis. Thus, this study sought to analyze the normative and regulatory framework on which community pharmacies in 28 European countries were based on providing this health care over the last decade.

Alignment of CanMEDS-based Undergraduate and Postgraduate Pharmacy Curricula in The Netherlands

In this article the design of three master programs (MSc in Pharmacy) and two postgraduate specialization programs for community or hospital pharmacist is described. After a preceding BSc in Pharmacy, these programs cover the full pharmacy education capacity for pharmacists in primary and secondary health care in the Netherlands. All programs use the CanMEDS framework, adapted to pharmacy education and specialization, which facilitates the horizontal integration of pharmacists’ professional development with other health care professions in the country. Moreover, it is illustrated that crossing the boundary from formal (university) education to experiential (workplace) education is eased by a gradual change in time spent in these two educational environments and by the use of comparable monitoring, feedback, and authentic assessment instruments. A reflection on the curricula, based on the principles of the Integrative Pedagogy Model and the Self-determination Theory, suggests that the alignment of these educational programs facilitates the development of professional expertise and professional identity of Dutch pharmacists.

A Quantitative Curriculum Mapping of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Yeditepe University, Turkey: A Process to Assess the Consistency of a Curriculum with the Mission and Vision of an Institution and National Requirements

The changing role of the pharmacist led to some improvements of pharmacy education worldwide these last years. Curricula have evolved and the content-based education has been converted into a competency-based education. The definition of a global practice-based competency framework by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and the European Pharmacy Competencies Framework by the European the Quality Assurance in European Pharmacy Education and Training (PHAR-QA) project helps Universities to keep in with these changes. The National Council of Deans of Faculties of Pharmacy in Turkey also defined 169 competencies with their sub-competencies that have to be reached upon the completion of a pharmacy education program, yet it did not indicate how the faculties can measure if their curricula are consistent with these competencies. This study aims to provide a method for a quantitative mapping of a given curriculum in order to analyze if a curriculum fulfills the requirements defined by the National Deans Council. It also helps to easily determine the weaknesses and strengths of a program. Moreover, with this study, the consistency of the content of the courses with the mission and vision defined by an institution can be easily determined. Thus, this study can also be a useful tool for the revision and enhancement of a program according to institutional targets.