The PHAR-QA Project: Competency Framework for Pharmacy Practice—First Steps, the Results of the European Network Delphi Round 1
Jeffrey Atkinson,
Kristien De Paepe,
Antonio Sánchez Pozo,
Dimitrios Rekkas,
Daisy Volmer,
Jouni Hirvonen,
Borut Bozic,
Agnieska Skowron,
Constantin Mircioiu,
Annie Marcincal,
Andries Koster,
Keith Wilson,
Chris van Schravendijk
Affiliations
Jeffrey Atkinson
Pharmacology Department Lorraine University, Pharmacolor Consultants Nancy, 12 rue de Versigny, Villers 54600, France
Kristien De Paepe
Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Research group of In Vitro Toxicology and Dermato-Cosmetology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103, Brussels 1090, Belgium
Antonio Sánchez Pozo
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada (UGR), Campus Universitario de la Cartuja s/n, Granada 18701, Spain
Dimitrios Rekkas
School of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University Athens, Panepistimiou 30, Athens 10679, Greece
Daisy Volmer
Pharmacy Faculty, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, Tartu 50411, Estonia
Jouni Hirvonen
Pharmacy Faculty, University of Helsinki, Yliopistonkatu 4, P.O. Box 33-4, Helsinki 00014, Finland
Borut Bozic
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Askerceva cesta 7, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
Pharmacy Faculty, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest, Dionisie Lupu 37, Bucharest 020021, Romania
Annie Marcincal
European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Lille 2, Lille 59000, France
Andries Koster
European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80082, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Keith Wilson
School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
PHAR-QA, funded by the European Commission, is producing a framework of competences for pharmacy practice. The framework is in line with the EU directive on sectoral professions and takes into account the diversity of the pharmacy profession and the on-going changes in healthcare systems (with an increasingly important role for pharmacists), and in the pharmaceutical industry. PHAR-QA is asking academia, students and practicing pharmacists to rank competences required for practice. The results show that competences in the areas of “drug interactions”, “need for drug treatment” and “provision of information and service” were ranked highest whereas those in the areas of “ability to design and conduct research” and “development and production of medicines” were ranked lower. For the latter two categories, industrial pharmacists ranked them higher than did the other five groups.
