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Is a pharmacy student the customer or the product?
1School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
|February 22, 2014
Summary
Pharmacy education must prioritize patients, not students, to combat academic entitlement and consumerism. Shifting focus to patient needs enhances professionalism and graduate quality in pharmaceutical sciences.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy Education
- Higher Education
- Professionalism
Background:
- Academic entitlement and student consumerism are linked to unprofessional behavior in higher education.
- Pharmacy schools may unintentionally foster these issues by misidentifying their primary customer.
- Viewing students as the primary customer can lower academic and professional standards.
Purpose of the Study:
- To argue that the patient, not the student, is the primary customer in pharmacy education.
- To explore how this perspective shift can mitigate academic entitlement and consumerism.
- To align pharmacy education with patient-centered care principles.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual paper presenting an argument.
- Analysis of the implications of customer identification in educational institutions.
- Literature review on pharmaceutical care and related concepts.
Main Results:
- Re-orienting pharmacy education to prioritize the patient discourages academic entitlement and consumerism.
- This patient-centered approach aligns with core tenets of pharmacy practice, such as pharmaceutical care and medication therapy management.
- It fosters an environment focused on meeting patients' medication-related needs.
Conclusions:
- The patient should be recognized as the primary customer in pharmacy education.
- This paradigm shift is crucial for upholding professionalism and academic rigor.
- Adopting a patient-centered model enhances the quality and focus of pharmacy graduates.
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