Development of a pregraduate subject at the school of pharmacy at the University of Barcelona, Spain: "Tutelage practice"

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education,  Summer 1999  by March, Maria A,  Gasquet, Jose A,  Lastra, Cecilia F,  Marino, Eduardo L

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This paper describes the development and implementation of a compulsory pregraduate subject at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Barcelona, Spain. The "Tutelage Practice" subject comes from the main subject "Residence" as described in the current legal regulations regarding the general guidelines for the development of the pharmacy syllabus recognized in Europe. The main aim of this subject is that all future pharmacy graduates acquire the knowledge, talent and attitude that are common in pharmacy and would put all European pharmacists on the same level. The subject has a minimum duration of six months and currently entails the daily presence of the student in a community pharmacy or in a hospital (the student's choice). We call these places Receptor Centres. The "Tutelage Practice" subject is organized in two parts: ([) activities related to the presence of the student at the Receptor Centre (in this part students prepare a practice notebook called Diary Guide); and (it) seminars and complementary activities.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of a compulsory pregraduate subject at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Barcelona, Spain. The degree in Pharmacy has been given at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Barcelona since 1845. The current syllabus given in this School is a five-year program and is divided into two parts: first and second year courses, and third, fourth and fifth year courses. Both parts include many compulsory subjects (see Figure 1).

There are 375 credits in the syllabus corresponding to 3750 teaching hours of which 1500 hours are in the first part and 2250 hours in the second. Table I shows how the distribution of these in each part. In the current syllabus, a theoretical credit is equivalent to 10 hours of theoretical classes, whereas a practical credit is equivalent to 10 hours of practical classes, 15 hours of laboratory classes or 20 hours of clinical practical classes. The student must pass at least 75 pecent of the first part credits in order to progress to the second part. Teaching is organized in two terms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBJECT

The subject "Tutelage Practice" comes from the main subject "Residence" as described in the current legal regulations regarding the general guidelines for the development of Pharmacy syllabus recognized in Europe. "Tutelage Practice" is established as a pregraduate main subject and is thus compulsory to all students. At the University of Barcelona, this subject is studied during both the first and the second term of the fifth year course of the syllabus. The subject has a minimum duration of six months and currently entails the daily presence of the student in a community pharmacy or in a Hospital (the student's choice) during opening time.

The main aim of this compulsory subject is for all future pharmacy graduates to acquire the knowledge, talent and attitude which are common in pharmacy and to put all European pharmacists on the same level. We intend that the future pharmacist be sufficiently prepared to give a uniform answer to the society's needs in all aspects related to medicines, mainly in the areas of community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and first care pharmacy. For pharmacy students, on-the-job training is a vital stage in their development as members of the pharmacy profession, and even more so since the pharmacy profession embraced the concept of pharmaceutical care(1-6).

Basic Structure of the Subject

The subject "Tutelage Practice" was first given in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Barcelona in the academic year 1996-97. The University of Barcelona was also the first in Spain to include this subject in the syllabus. The "Tutelage Practice" is carried out in either a community pharmacy or a hospital. We call these places Receptor Centres. The Receptor Centres are community pharmacies or hospitals open to the public which have signed through the Council of Pharmacists' Association of Catalonia an institutional agreement with the University of Barcelona to guarantee the fulfillment of the activities of this subject by the student. The credentials for the teaching capability of these Receptor Centres are given by the Pharmacists' Association. The Pharmacists' Association is an institutional organization whose membership consists of all the owners of a community pharmacy and all the heads of the departments of pharmacy in hospitals. The Association guarantees a proper pharmaceutical practice.

Each Receptor Centre has a pharmacist called the "Tutor Pharmacist". Among other responsibilities, the Tutor Pharmacist is in charge of directly supervising the activities carried out by the student at the Receptor Centre and taking care of his/her training. In a community pharmacy, the Tutor Pharmacist is also the owner of the pharmacy, whereas in a Hospital he/she is the Head of the Department of Pharmacy. Tutor Pharmacists are trained in courses given by the Pharmacists' Association. Neither the university nor the Pharmacists' Association pay these pharmacists a salary or compensate them economically.