Small specialist higher education institutions often face challenges when negotiating with larger partners. In 1988, John Dawkins, Australia's federal Minister for Education, introduced sweeping reforms to create a Unified National System of higher education. Dawkins' criteria for funding necessitated mergers for many smaller providers. The…

In the present article, the reorientation of a fourth-semester physiology course for pharmacy students is described. The motivation for the introduction of changes was to prepare the students to not only assimilate facts but to learn and understand how to integrate and apply them. The article considers how this reorganization was received by the…

Preparing graduates for the professions is increasingly recognised as involving a partnership approach to curriculum design, implementation and evaluation. Experiential placements play a critical role in developing discipline-specific knowledge and skills and also generic professional dispositions including relationships, communication, problem…

Possible ways to influence the future practice of pharmacy include more shared responsibility with the pharmaceutical industry, increased attention to changes in disease patterns, attention to differential skills needed by different kinds of pharmacists, increased specialization, and emphasis on administrative and other business skills. (MSE)

The University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy awards only the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree to all of its graduates. The PharmD degree program, including course requirements and credit hour information, is described, and the procedures and budgetary adjustments used to implement the program are discussed. (JMD)

Current issues in pharmacy education are reviewed, including pharmacy manpower policy, federal legislation for catastrophic care insurance, the relationship between medicine and pharmacy, and elevation of the status of the profession within the health professions education and practice community. (MSE)

Pharmaceutical educators are exhorted to bring both science and culture into the profession and to take an active role in the intellectual activity of the university. Improvement of clinical practice, patient-pharmacist relationship, service delivery, and community involvement are seen as contributing to the influence of the profession. (MSE)

Factors influencing recent change in the field of dentistry are examined, including changing patterns of disease, changes in the nature of the practice, demographic shifts, technological and scientific advancement, and patterns of manpower supply. Lessons to be learned by pharmacy are considered. (MSE)

Comments on the content of pharmacy education are offered in this conference speech. Considered are: assumptions and factors influencing change in developments within the health care system; decision-making; entry-level education; educational concerns; advanced-level practice; and education of basic-science faculty. (LBH)

A discussion of relevant technology and the apparent problems created by technological change includes three sets of guidelines on the implications: general, knowledge and skill components of education and practice, and attitudes required of pharmacists and students. (MSE)

Current challenges to the nursing profession are examined, including changing health needs, health care providers and the cost and quality of their services, the recruitment, retention, and regulation of nurses, and competition. Implications for nursing and parallels with pharmacy are discussed. (MSE)

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)

As pharmacy seeks to attain professional recognition along with other professions within the health care system, it must seek to integrate the dissemination of drug knowledge along with its distribution functions and its educational system needs to produce pharmacists who can meet the drug information needs of society. (JMD)

Great Britain's Nuffield report and the United States' Millis report suggesting strategies for reform in pharmaceutical education and pharmacy practice are compared. (MSE)

Changes in biological sciences courses--both required and elective at various degree levels--are examined. Their impact on interdisciplinary instruction, administrative authority, student outcomes, and placement of graduates is analyzed. (MSE)