Digital Health in Pharmacy Education: Preparedness and Responsiveness of Pharmacy Programmes

• Published in: Education sciences Vol. 11; no. 6; pp. 296 - 308
• Main Authors: Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje K., Meilianti, Sherly, Khatri, Bidhata, Yi, Whitley, Azzopardi, Lilian M., Acosta Gómez, Jaime, Gülpınar, Gizem, Bennara, Karima, Uzman, Nilhan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Access to Health Care; Access to Information; Artificial Intelligence; Attitudes; Barriers; Behavioral Sciences; College Faculty; College Students; Computer Mediated Communication; Course Content; digital health; Drug stores; Educational Technology; Foreign Countries; Health education; Instructional Materials; Internet; Knowledge Level; Labor Force; Pharmaceutical Education; Pharmaceutical sciences; Pharmacy; pharmacy education; Professional Personnel; Questionnaires; R&D; Research & development; Research and Development; Research Assistants; Software; Statistical Analysis; Student Surveys; Students; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Teacher Competencies; Teaching; Technological Literacy; Technology Uses in Education; Workforce
• ISSN: 2227-7102; 2227-7102
• DOI: 10.3390/educsci11060296

To ensure the sustainability of pharmacy practice and provide health for all, pharmacy as a profession must embrace the digital transformation that has been changing healthcare at a rapid pace. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has conducted a global study on digital health in pharmacy education to describe the readiness, adaptability, and responsiveness of pharmacy education programmes to train the current and future pharmaceutical workforce on digital health and to identify the knowledge and skill gaps of the existing pharmaceutical workforce with regard to digital health. An online survey was distributed to collect feedback from academics, pharmacy schools, pharmacists, and pharmacy students. The findings showed that a large proportion of pharmacy schools do not offer any digital health education, and the skillsets and knowledge of how to apply digital health technologies to solve existing clinical problems and improve care have been identified as a gap. The future of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences is digital and exciting. A digitally enabled and agile pharmaceutical workforce will capitalise on the benefits of digital health to serve the higher purpose of providing good health and wellbeing for all, leaving no one behind. Therefore, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education should act now.