Pharmaceutical education in perspective

Several contemporary issues in pharmaceutical education in the United States are explored. Topics discussed include evolutionary growth and reform in pharmaceutical education, distinction among pharmacists related to practice site, the effects of a pluralistic health-care system on pharmaceutical education, the need for a contemporary philosophy of pharmaceutical education, the place for "training" in pharmaceutical education, and relationships between AACP and ASHP. In the 1980s, pharmaceutical education has three goals to accomplish. First, the relationship between academicians and practitioners must be improved. Second, an active program of recruitment for undergraduate and graduate students needs to be established. Finally, an agreement must be reached on a one- or two-tier structure for education. The author advocates the one-tier (single-entry-degree) system of pharmaceutical education, and he argues that pharmacy will become seriously divided if it does not commit itself to this course.