Changes in Japanese pharmacy education and practice

Pharmacy and pharmacy education in Japan are changing. Although the concept of pharmacists performing clinically oriented activities has begun to take hold in Japan, pharmacy practice is dominated by traditional drug distribution functions, and Japanese pharmacy students remain awed by the idea of pharmaceutical care and its potential for improving pharmacy practice.1 Recent changes within Japanese schools of pharmacy include incorporating pharmaceutical care and clinically oriented educational components that will make the curricula of American and Japanese schools of pharmacy more similar. This letter describes observations made by one of the authors during a recent stay in Japan as a visiting professor at a school of pharmacy in the Kobe metropolitan area. Unlike the situation in the United States, in which the concepts of medication-use systems, clinical pharmacy, and pharmaceutical care eventually led to the adoption of the doctor of pharmacy degree,2 changes in Japanese pharmacy practice appear to be shaped by governmental agencies and schools of pharmacy. The decision for Japanese pharmacy education to move from the traditional four-year program to a six-year program was proposed by the Japan Pharmaceutical Association in 1973, but it was not until 2003 that the Council for Pharmaceutical Education approved that change.3,4 At the same time, the council mandated several aspects of pharmacy education, including five months of rotations and additional examinations. Japanese pharmacy schools, pharmacy organizations, and education organizations subsequently collaborated to develop a model core curriculum.3,5