BACHELOR OF PHARMACY(B.PHARM)

BACKGROUND

In the last two decades Kenya has put in place strategies to strengthen the pharmacy workforce through government policies aimed at increased training; improvement of distribution; creating an enabling environment; recognition and financial and non-financial incentives; and strengthening regulation. Despite these efforts, the ratio of pharmacists to the population remains far below the recommended by the world health Organization. In the last few decades, the role of the pharmacist globally has been shifting more towards patient care and majority workforce in Kenya is in the community pharmacy sector. Therefore, though Kenya is the largest manufacturer of pharmaceutical products in the common market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), supplying half of the region’s market, the pharmaceutical industry employs few pharmacists. Besides, there are still relatively few pharmacists in the public sector and the rural-urban pharmacists; distribution is very low. There have been rapid changes in global health environment requiring

Greater clinical orientation, leadership and management roles for pharmacists in addition to international technological advances in pharmaceutical industrial sector and Information Technology driven delivery of pharmaceutical services. In recognition of this, there is a need to train graduates who can serve in a growth throughout their professional practice as they are engaged nationally, regionally and internationally.

The current pharmacy curriculum runs over five years each of 44 weeks. After administering this curriculum for fourteen years, it has been found to be too strenuous because it does not allow students to rest. In addition it leaves little time for teaching staff to do research and improve their academic input. Through consultation with students and other stakeholders, it has been found necessary to revise the programme duration for five years, each lasting 36 weeks in order to enhance objectivity and place greater emphasis on acquisition of skill and competences.

The common undergraduate courses are well adapted within the curriculum with emphasis on the relevance of the pharmacy profession, other health professions and the interaction with the patient. On completion of the course, the graduates will be expected to be competent in the provision of quality pharmaceutical services.

 

Objectives

1. To enhance knowledge and skills of the graduate to read and evaluate scientific literature

 and be able to conduct independent and original research.

2. To enhance knowledge and skills  of the graduates so as to provide specialized services .

3. To train graduates with skills, knowledge and competence so as to optimize resource utilization

for the most effective and least costly interventions.

 

Philosophy

Pharmacy services in recent years have expanded significantly beyond medicine preparation and distribution. These evolutionary changes are expressed as greater involvement by pharmacists in medicine related decision making and patient care. To continuously improve patient care, there is need to optimize the use of medication and promote health, wellness, and prevent diseases by producing clinical pharmacy specialists. It is, therefore, important to keep the training of clinical pharmacists relevant hence the need to review the curriculum to incorporate the changing trends.

 Rationale

The World Health Organization through the concept of pharmaceutical care sees a pharmacist as an integral member of the patient care team. The discipline of Clinical Pharmacy is responsible for ensuring the safe, appropriate, and cost-effective use of medicines in patients, through the application of specialized skills and knowledge. This is in line with the current Kenyan constitution where every Kenyan has a right for the highest attainable health standards. This is important especially with the devolvement of pharmaceutical care services to the counties as stipulated in Kenya vision 2030.

The curriculum has been revised to adequately cover the content as well as sufficiently acquaint the students with clinical skills. Regulations for entry requirements and examination had challenges during implementation of the previous curriculum and the course content was not harmonized. In addition, review period for the first curriculum was overdue necessitating the need for urgent review.