Educating for the Need

The education of pharmacists continues to evolve in scope and depth. Many areas identified as needed by the drug (medication) information specialist are now incorporated into pharmacy curricula and taught to all pharmacists. In 1991, a consensus conference in New Mexico was held to define a set of objectives for didactic and experiential training in drug information for the year 2000. Twenty-three educators and practitioners participated in the conference. There were several key concepts that were developed including (1) drug information should be a required component of the pharmacy curriculum and include both didactic and competency-based experiential components (2) drug information concepts and skills should be spread throughout the curriculum, beginning the day students enter pharmacy school and (3) problem solving should be a major technique in drug information education, with the goal of developing self-directed learners. Developing these skills should provide the foundation for the pharmacist to be a lifelong learner and problem solver. Based on the work of this conference, as well as changes in the health care system, and the movement toward outcome-based education, colleges of pharmacy are redesigning their curricula to provide a more comprehensive and integrated approach to teaching medication information concepts and skills. Communication skills are taught formally to facilitate the pharmacist's ability to transmit information to both health professionals and patients. Medication information and policy development are integrated throughout the three goal areas addressed in the pharmacy practice residency standards. Specialty practice residencies in medication information are also available in a variety of practice sites at (http://www.ashp.org/directories/residency/).