profesión del farmacéutico mexicano, una comparación internacional

Abstract

Una demanda actual hacia la universidad es formar egresados bien preparados para lo que el mercado laboral exige. Para ello, cada programa educativo debe analizar cuál es el mercado de trabajo, cuáles las habilidades, conocimientos y competencias que requiere, y cómo se debe organizar el currículo. Este trabajo analiza los programas académicos que forman a los farmacéuticos en México desde la perspectiva del documento emitido por la Federación Internacional de Farmacéutica. Se identificaron 15 titulaciones distintas referidas a Farmacia, pero sólo 3 cumplen con los lineamientos internacionales. Se observó la ausencia de una directriz para lograr una formación integral de los profesionales de esta disciplina de acuerdo con las necesidades nacionales e internacionales. Aunque existe un acuerdo internacional sobre lo que el farmacéutico debe saber, esto no concuerda con lo que el peculiar mercado mexicano demanda en la práctica. Al final se plantean algunas sugerencias para resolver este desencuentro.A new demand for universities is to produce well-prepared graduates for the labor market. This implies that each educational program should analyze which segment of the labor market it attends, what skills, knowledge and competencies this segment requires, and how to organize the curriculum. The study analyzes the Pharmacy curriculum in Mexico from the perspective of the document presented by the International Pharmaceutical Federation. 15 different qualifications were analyzed, but only three abide by international guidelines. The lack of a guideline for Pharmacy professionals to achieve a comprehensive formation, according to national and international requirements was observed. Although there is an international agreement on the preparation pharmacists should receive, it does not match the demands from the particular Mexican labor market. We end with some suggestions to remedy this mismatch.

Insights into clinical pharmacy practice in Latin America

“…The “University to Pharmacy” (UP) index, which assesses the responsiveness of higher education, is calculated based on the population and number of pharmacy teaching institutions in the country (Table 3). 10 In Argentina, the UP index is 2.19, ranking as the fourth smallest value and indicating a prominent level of responsiveness.…”

“…However, it was only after pharmacy emerged as a distinct profession separate from medicine that pharmacists in Mexico began receiving a dedicated university education. Their training focused exclusively on the production and dispensation of medications 10,50 …”

“…Starting in 1994, the State of Hidalgo introduced a pharmacy degree program that emphasized the provision of patient care, specialized knowledge of medications, and the optimization of their use. This program had a specific focus on clinical pharmacy, representing a significant shift in pharmacy education 10,51 . Nowadays, there are only 56 universities in Mexico that offer this degree, accounting for 22.18% of all universities in the country ( n = 248).…”

“…This suggests a lower level of accessibility concerning the total population. Over the period from 2012 to 2017, the average annual enrollment in pharmacy programs across Mexico was 35 378 students 10 …”

“…Also, these 70 programs are dispersed across 56 universities, indicating that certain institutions offer more than one academic program to educate aspiring pharmacists. This lack of consistency and uniformity hampers the establishment of a cohesive framework for pharmacist training in the country 10 …”