Pharmacy workforce education challenges and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived unannounced and every facet of humankind was forced to align. In South Africa, all aspects of pharmacy education were impacted. Higher education institutions had to adopt emergency remote teaching strategies and skills to ensure pharmacy students had remote access to learning content to ensure that the academic year could be salvaged. For pharmacist interns, the writing of the pre-registration exam was delayed for most of the year. Pharmacists were subjected to compulsory continuing professional development for the first time in 2020. Despite several challenges experienced during this year, COVID-19 will be remembered for the change it initiated and hopefully, a positive outcome for access to education in the country.