Although pharmaceutical education embraces the concept of a patient-centered curriculum, it does not instill a patient-centered ethos and sends students out to practice in primarily product-centered settings. Professional dissonance and frustration result. One part of the solution may be in increasing the emphasis on liberal education and…

A discussion of current changes in optometry looks at the expanding for-profit health sector, changing student characteristics and enrollment patterns, the changing scope of optometric care and technology, and the demise of professionalism and ethics. Implications for pharmaceutical education are considered. (MSE)