Reforms in pharmacy education and opportunity to practise clinical pharmacy

The impact on 357 newly licensed pharmacists, graduates of two colleges, of efforts to turn pharmacy into a clinical profession, was examined by way of a self-administered questionnaire. Perceptions and expectations about work, differences in consulting practices, relationship between practice and attitudes, and the presence or absence of an identifiable general value orientation (which could account for specific perceptions and attitudes), were examined. Results indicated that hospital practice was more likely to be associated with clinical pharmacy and clinical pharmacy practice was more likely to meet the expectations of recently graduated pharmacists. In addition, 52 per cent of the community-based pharmacists were found to engage in patient counseling, as compared with 39 per cent of hospital-based pharmacists. Newly licensed pharmacists are deepening the existing divisions in the profession, while moving toward a revision of their place in the health care delivery system.