[Special Feature: 10th Anniversary of the Faculty of Pharmacy] Progress in Interprofessional Education Among Three Faculties

2018/10/05

The birth of the Keio Faculty of Pharmacy through the 2008 merger was a major event, but this period was also a time of great transformation for other pharmacy schools across Japan. Starting with the 2006 intake, the pharmacy curriculum for training pharmacists was extended from four to six years. The previous four-year curriculum was deemed insufficient for clinical competency education, and the six-year program was required to cultivate human resources equipped with the skills needed in medical settings. Kyoritsu University of Pharmacy, prior to the merger, had undertaken various advanced initiatives in pharmacy education and was one of the leading universities in Japan. However, due to the constraints of being a single-subject college, collaboration with other medical faculties in education was not necessarily sufficient. Therefore, it was inevitable that expectations for educational collaboration with other medical faculties would rise within the Faculty of Pharmacy, taking advantage of the merger and the transition to the six-year pharmacy education system. (Note: The Keio Faculty of Pharmacy consists of two departments: the six-year Department of Pharmacy [current capacity: 150 students], which aims to train pharmacists, and the four-year Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences [current capacity: 60 students]. The interprofessional education among the three faculties targets students in the Department of Pharmacy.)

Under these circumstances, led by Professor Toshiaki Kadokawa of the School of Medicine (currently Professor at the Medical Education Center, School of Medicine), faculty members from the School of Medicine, the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and the Faculty of Pharmacy gathered for repeated discussions, and interprofessional education among the three faculties began in the 2011 academic year. In the first year, it started with early-stage education for all first-year students of the three faculties (excluding the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences; the same applies hereafter) and late-stage education for final-year students of the three faculties (sixth-year students of the School of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmacy, and fourth-year students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care).

The participants in the 2011 late-stage education were the very first cohort of the six-year curriculum. Although it was limited to volunteers in the first year, it was a great joy for the Faculty of Pharmacy to provide them with the opportunity to learn and think alongside students from other faculties. I am filled with gratitude toward the professors and staff of the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care who worked so hard on this. Since then, the educational goal of the late-stage education has been the practice of team-based medicine. Specifically, the faculty prepares a scenario (a simulated case of a patient with reduced renal function) and pre-assignments for the students. On the day of the program, after attending an introductory lecture by a specialist, students are divided into groups of about 10 members consisting of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students to conduct group discussions on the scenario. In the group discussions, they identify the problems the patient faces from the perspective of each faculty, summarize how to provide medical care and treatment while considering the roles of the medical team members, and present their medical and care plan. Through this, pharmacy students understand their own role as pharmaceutical experts in patient-centered team medicine and learn to cooperate with members of other professions to address problems. This is held in early May at two locations: the Shinanomachi Campus and the Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus.

Early-stage education is also held in May, shortly after admission, over the course of one day at the Hiyoshi Campus. At this stage, none of the students have received education as medical professionals, so the goal is to consider and acquire the proper attitude as a member of a team, looking ahead to future team-based medicine. By providing education centered on group work, students learn the importance of communication through dialogue.

Mid-stage education began one year later in September 2012. The targets are fourth-year students of the School of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmacy, and second-year students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care. For pharmacy students, this corresponds to the period after they have mostly finished their classroom lectures and before they go on practical training. The goal of mid-stage education is to understand what constitutes good team-based medicine. Following a lecture on a medical theme, students deepen their understanding of medical teams by conducting mixed-faculty group discussions on related themes. This is held at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC).

These three stages of education are compulsory for all three faculties, including the Faculty of Pharmacy. Not only do they contribute significantly to the understanding of team-based medicine and the improvement of practical skills, but they also provide an opportunity to visit the campuses of each faculty, serving as a good catalyst for interaction between students of different faculties. Furthermore, with the completion of the new hospital building (Building 1) at the University Hospital in the 2018 academic year, we are planning to increase opportunities to learn about actual patient treatment as a team alongside students from the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care during clinical rotations at Keio Hospital.

In order to train pharmacists who can meet the expectations and responsibilities placed on them within medical teams, interprofessional education among the three faculties is indispensable. As the Faculty of Pharmacy, we intend to continue our efforts to promote and advance this interprofessional education, making the most of the advantages of Keio University as a comprehensive university while contributing, in our own small way, to the education of the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care.