ABUTH Pharma Journal (2023) · 2023
NM Danjuma
The art and science of drug development, manufacture, distribution, dispensing, sale and appropriate use of medicines, devices and services in order to achieve optimal therapeutic outcomes is called Pharmacy, and the qualified professionals are Pharmacists. The Pharmacist is one of the most accessible members of today's healthcare team. The pharmacist is both a scientist and a practitioner who is trained to provide quality drug products and quality pharmaceutical care to his/her patients. Traditionally, pharmacists were known as compounders and dispensers of medicines, but roles have now been extended in healthcare system by performing functions to ensure rationale, safe and cost-effective use of medicines, which generally optimize patients' drug therapy. These changing roles will necessitate continuous periodic review of the pharmacy curriculum to enhance student learning. Pharmacy education started with a dispensers' certificate and culminated over the years to the PharmD program.
Volume: Vol. 1
Issue: No. 1
Pages: pp. 12–15
Year: 2023
Pharmacy education in Nigeria began with a Dispensers' Course around 1947, was upgraded to the Chemist and Druggist Diploma in 1961, and evolved into the three-year BSc program in 1968. The BSc curriculum was product-oriented, focused on compounding and dispensing rather than patient care.
The Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) program, introduced in the 1980s, shifted the focus toward clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical care — training pharmacists to monitor drug therapy outcomes and take responsibility for patient care, not just dispense medicines. The Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, rolled out from 2016 and revised again in 2023, goes further: it adds supply chain management, pharmacogenomics, emergency preparedness, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills to produce pharmacists equipped for hospital, industrial, academic, and regulatory roles. Many Nigerian universities have yet to implement PharmD despite its approval.
Contemporary pharmacy practice depends on a curriculum reviewed every two to five years to keep pace with societal and technological change, moving pharmacists from compounders to full partners in patient care.