University of Sharjah, College of Pharmacy, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; University of Sharjah, Research Institute for Health and Medical Sciences, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Deakin University, Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, Deakin Rural Health, Victoria, Australia.
University of Sharjah, Research Institute for Health and Medical Sciences, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Am J Pharm Educ. 2023 Oct;87(10):100039. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpe.2022.12.007. Epub 2023 Mar 15.
This study aimed to assess how entry-level pharmacy programs in Arab countries prepare graduates to provide mental health care, specifically examining the didactic curricula and experiential training in psychiatry in bachelor and PharmD programs.
An electronic survey was sent to all entry-level pharmacy programs in the 22 Arab countries asking to report on the 2021-2022 academic year. The survey assessed teaching and learning (eg, psychiatric diseases taught and extent of the coverage; contact hours dedicated to psychiatric therapeutics, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry), experiential training in psychiatry and its challenges, and graduates' preparedness to provide mental health. A descriptive analysis of the data was undertaken, and data were reported for bachelor and PharmD programs separately.
Overall, 35 pharmacy programs completed the survey. All PharmD programs and 80% of bachelor programs covered psychiatric therapeutics, and most contact hours were dedicated to pharmacology, followed by psychiatric therapeutics and medicinal chemistry. Over half of the faculty considered that depression and anxiety disorders were covered sufficiently, and 56.2% of programs did not offer experiential training in psychiatry. Common challenges in psychiatry experiential training included a lack of sites and qualified preceptors. Overall, 26.4% of faculty positively rated graduates' preparedness to provide mental health care. Graduates who completed experiential training in psychiatry and PharmD graduates were rated higher.
Pharmaceutical education in Arab countries could be improved by enhancing the teaching and assessment of mental health topics and expanding psychiatry experiential training. Such changes would improve entry-level pharmacists' competencies in mental health care provision.
本研究旨在评估阿拉伯国家的入门级药学课程如何使毕业生能够提供心理健康护理，具体研究对象为学士和药学博士课程中的精神病学理论课程和实践培训。
向阿拉伯国家的所有入门级药学课程发送了一份电子调查，要求报告 2021-2022 学年的情况。该调查评估了教学和学习情况（例如，教授的精神疾病种类和涵盖范围；精神病学治疗学、药理学和药物化学的授课学时）、精神病学实践培训及其面临的挑战，以及毕业生提供心理健康护理的准备情况。对数据进行了描述性分析，并分别报告了学士和药学博士课程的数据。
共有 35 个药学课程完成了调查。所有药学博士课程和 80%的学士课程都涵盖了精神病学治疗学，大部分授课学时都用于药理学，其次是精神病学治疗学和药物化学。超过一半的教师认为抑郁和焦虑障碍的覆盖范围足够，并且 56.2%的课程没有提供精神病学实践培训。精神病学实践培训中的常见挑战包括缺乏实习场所和合格的导师。总体而言，26.4%的教师对毕业生提供心理健康护理的准备情况给予了积极评价。完成精神病学实践培训的毕业生和药学博士毕业生的评价更高。
可以通过加强心理健康主题的教学和评估以及扩大精神病学实践培训来改善阿拉伯国家的药学教育。这些变化将提高入门级药剂师在提供心理健康护理方面的能力。
