Establishing a distance PharmD program: An overview and key takeaways

Distance pharmacy pathway in the United States began in 2001. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic mandated a temporary online delivery of pharmacy education for almost all institutions.

While adding a distance pathway can assist in offering pharmacy education to diverse sets of population and mitigate enrollment concerns, institutions may be faced with newer challenges that require a systematic approach to ensure programmatic success. Our work highlights the various strategies that have helped us establish our respective distance pathways since 2022.

With more pharmacy institutions venturing into online education, the academy has an opportunity to collaborate and develop well-thought-out policies to ascertain the long-term success of distance pharmacy education.