The design of a history of pharmacy course in the bachelor of pharmacy curriculum in the UAE experience.

The study of the history of pharmacy is deserving of consideration as a review of the past, so that we may understand the present, and thus be enabled to plan intelligently for the future.1 However, inclusion of this syllabus has suffered a crushing blow in the global context. For example, in the US, Buerki (1981) conducted a far-reaching survey and reported that almost 40% of pharmacy schools offered either required or elective course work in the history of pharmacy, 32% offered orientation courses that contained some historical component, and 29% offered no such course work. Notably, there was a significant decline in the number of pharmacy schools offering this course. Buerki's findings may have prompted the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education to adopt a strong policy statement on teaching the history and social studies of pharmacy later that same year.2 Even in the past, Edward Kremers remarked parenthetically in an 1892 address before the American Public Health Association (APHA) Section on Pharmaceutical Education and Legislation that, "the professional student should at least have a fair knowledge of this history of his profession”.3 What is the problem? In the UAE, little attention is given to historical aspects of pharmacy as a standalone course in the pharmacy curriculum.4-7 In other words, until recently, the course History of Pharmacy has not been introduced in BPharm or PharmD curricula offered by pharmacy colleges, including Dubai Pharmacy College (DPC) - the first pharmacy college in the region established in 1992. In recent times, the Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research, UAE; specifies in the 2011 “Standards for Licensure and Accreditation”, section that the institutions must ensure that all undergraduate students complete the equivalent of one or more university level courses in the humanities, appropriate to the program offerings.8 In compliance, DPC designed a course titled “History of Pharmacy” in the domain of Humanities. This course is offered to the BPharm students with the purpose of acquiring knowledge and critical thinking skills to understand a variety of perspectives and diverse historical experiences resulting in enhancing aspects of competence in terms of: autonomy and responsibility, role in context, and self-development.9