The Pharmd Program: Prospects and Challenges in Nigeria

Abstract

Pharmacy profession has experienced tremendous changes over the years. In Nigeria, the profession is traceable to the colonial period when some people were trained to handle drugs and functioned as dispensers of medicines, sanitary officers, medical aids and anaesthetists in operating theatres. This progressed to the supply and dispensing of medications, bulk compounding and administrative functions by pharmacists and then to the acceptance of clinical pharmacy practice in the 1980s. PharmD program is part of the rapid changes being experienced in pharmacy practice and started in the United States over 5 decades ago. Today, the program has been introduced in many countries including United Kingdom, Canada, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India and Nigeria. Fueled by the increasing use of prescription drugs by an aging population, scientific advances leading to the introduction of new drugs and the emerging trend of pharmacists becoming directly involved in patient care across the world, PharmD program opens opportunities for pharmacy graduates to practice in US and other countries currently running PharmD and several new job prospects in academic/research institutions, hospitals, community pharmacies, glossary stores and NGOs and increase overall respect for the pharmacist. University of Benin has made inexorable bold steps in starting the program and this has now opened opportunities for other faculties of pharmacy in Nigeria. However, accreditation of the program by relevant bodies, slow progress in PharmD implementation by many faculties of pharmacy, low level of appropriate academic manpower, disparity within the pharmacy profession, rivalry between pharmacists and doctors, adequate remuneration for PharmD holders in public service, limited faculties of pharmacy, limited number of pharmacy technicians to assist pharmacists in dispensing functions and development/enforcement of areas of specialization for pharmacists in hospital and community practice are areas of major challenges in Nigeria. Like the health care delivery system itself, the PharmD program cannot thrive in isolation in the face of so much emerging technological innovations and uncertainties making it critical for pharmacists to create forward thinking and flexible vision of the PharmD program and the roles other health care professionals play in the evolving health care system.

Keywords: Health care delivery; Patient-centred pharmacy practice; Pharmacist; Pharmacy education

Nigerian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, Vol. 9 No 1 pp. 30 - 48 (February 2011)