Physics in the pre-pharmacy curriculum

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Fall 2000 by McCall, Richrd P

This study presents the results of a survey of the 81 colleges of pharmacy affiliated with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy regarding requirements of physics in the pre-pharmacy curriculum. Responses included the number of semesters/quarters required, credit hours, group of students for whom the course is designed, mathematical basis, and length of time the physics requirement has been in place. Comments were made regarding strengths and weaknesses of the physics course at those colleges requiring physics, as well as reasons why physics is not required in the curriculum at the other colleges.

INTRODUCTION

Pharmacy majors take numerous science courses in the pre-- pharmacy and the professional curriculum. In the pre-pharmacy curriculum, courses such as biology, anatomy, physiology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus, and physics are typically required courses, along with courses in the liberal arts, social sciences, and other fields.

Because of a shift in emphasis toward teaching the clinical sciences, the inclusion of some courses in the basic sciences is often questioned. Arguments in support of physics remaining a requirement for entry into the professional program have been made recently(l), but the discussion is not new, as evidenced by a paper in 1967(2).

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) in 1993 reported in a series of papers(3-5) that a pharmaceutical education provides "general education in the sciences" and "a foundation in the physical sciences." A suggested curriculum outline includes physics in the study of basic physical and biological sciences and mathematics, although it is pointed out that an "item listed in the Core Curriculum does not necessarily mean that a course should be required to cover the indicated item," In addition, the curriculum is to reflect a "broad, multidisciplinary science base" that is "not restricted by territorial and disciplinary boundaries."

The American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) has set guidelines(6) for pre-professional requirements and admissions criteria that include "basic sciences requisite to the curriculum for the professional program in pharmacy, illustrative which are general chemistry, organic chemistry, biological sciences, mathematics, computer technologies, and physical sciences." Again, the shift appears to be away from the term "physics" to a more generic term "physical sciences." How colleges of pharmacy interpret these guidelines or statements is left to the individual college.1

Faced with a changing curriculum at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, which needed to be in place in time for our first "all PharmD" freshman class, the question arose as to whether physics should be in the curriculum or not. A quick survey on the Internet found that most of the colleges of pharmacy do require physics in their pre-professional curriculum, although the number of credit hours varied to some extent. While this information was helpful to argue for continued inclusion of physics in the curriculum, it led to questions that needed to be explored in more detail. Thus, during late spring of 1999, a survey was sent to the deans of all the colleges of pharmacy in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, currently numbering 81, asking whether a course or sequence of courses in introductory physics is required to be taken by students in the pre-pharmacy curriculum.

This paper describes the results of the survey; data are reported along with comments made by a number of respondents. In the next section, the survey is described, followed by the numerical results of the colleges that require physics and comments by respondents from these colleges. Next, results of those colleges that do not require physics are described. The results with respect to the type of institution (public or private, with or without a graduate program) are presented in the next section, followed by a discussion of the results.

THE SURVEY

Questions from the two major sections of the survey are presented in Appendices A and B. The first section (Appendix A) asked if the pharmacy college required students to take physics in the pre-pharmacy curriculum, and if so, to give some details, such as number of semesters, credit hours, type of major for which the course is designed, and mathematics background required. Also, the first section asked for comments on strengths and weaknesses of the course.

The second section of the survey (Appendix B) was for colleges that do not require physics. Other questions were asked to determine if physics had been a required course in the past, and if so, when it was dropped from the curriculum. This section also included a question about whether physics is recommended as an elective. Finally, an open-ended question requested comments on why physics is not a required course.

The survey was sent to the deans of 81 colleges (or schools) of pharmacy affiliated with AACP. After five weeks, another copy of the survey was sent to those who had not responded. In all, there were 76 (93.8 percent) deans or their representatives who responded. The results of the survey are described in the next three sections.