Critical Analysis of Pharm.D. in India: Exploring the Way Ahead
INTRODUCTION:
Pharmacy education in India was mainly focused on pharmaceutical science courses rather than clinical/pharmacotherapeutic courses until 2008, when Pharm.D. was introduced and began to be offered in India, to focus towards clinical and community aspects. The study was conducted to analyse the current scenario of Pharm.D. in India and look at possible issues & options.
OBJECTIVE:
The main objective of the study is to find out the current status of Pharm.D. from students’ perspective and to identify the need of Pharm.D. as a part of Pharmacy Education System in India. Addressing the possible shortcomings and give probable suggestions to improve the scope of the same.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD:
The study comprises of an extensive secondary research and also a primary research to understand the current scenario of Pharm.D. from students’ point of view.
A literature survey was done to study the introduction and status of Pharm.D. curriculum in India and the achievement of Pharm.D. in western countries. Various journals and publications from the database engines of Ebsco, Emerald & Google Scholar were studied and referred to analyse the evolution and future of Pharm.D.
Also, a primary research was conducted in Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal University, Karnataka. The selection of survey location (MCOPS) was done on the basis of a combined list from ‘India’s Best Pharma Colleges’ (Careers 360 July 2011 Edition) and ‘Institutes offering Pharm.D. and Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) Courses’ (Published by Pharmacy Council of India).
A questionnaire was made on a 5 point Likert Scale and circulated online amongst the students of MCOPS. The responses were analysed by using the online softwares of Survey Monkey survey portal.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:
Out of 130 respondents to the survey, a total of 109(83.83%) respondents said that the curriculum of
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