Reorganization and Updating the Pharmacy Education in Egypt: A Review Study on the Transition from B Pharm to Pharm D Degree

Abstract

During the last years, pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy profession have greatly expanded worldwide because of more modernization, digitalization, and globalization. In contrast, the situation in Egypt is very complex since the pharmacists' role is still underutilized either by the community or the health care system. Based on the modern global requirements of the pharmacy profession and an official analysis of the Egyptian pharmaceutical community performed has adopted the decision of the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) for a transition in the pharmaceutical education in Egypt. This transition aimed at upgrading the educational and professional level of the graduates of the faculties of pharmacy. In addition, it included replacing of the current pharmacy bachelor degree (B Pharm) with the doctor of pharmacy (Pharm D) degree. The aim of this paper was to highlight the current scenario of pharmacy education in Egypt and the future challenges of pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy profession in the era of the fourth industrial revolution (FIR). Switching from B Pharm to Pharm D in Egypt is just the first step to introduce better quality of pharmaceutical education. However, the FIR may change the strategies of patient counselling, drug delivery and prescriptions dispensing to more computer-aided scenarios.