As a Pharmacy Educator in India, a country which has perhaps the world's largest number of pharmacy schools, pharmacy students and pharmacy professionals, I have been the cynosure of the profession when pharmacy education or the profession in India is talked about globally. The leadership role played by me at the national and international levels in bringing about a paradigm shift in pharmacy education and the profession in India and elsewhere has been a great source of satisfaction. Pharmacy education in responding to the needs of the profession has shifted its focus from product to patient centric, thus realigning its approach to education that lays greater emphasis on experiential learning through clinical training and practice. As the former Chair of the International Commission of ACPE and now as a member of the Commission, I have had a great opportunity to work with colleagues who have come from diverse backgrounds and countries and helped me in understanding the global experiences and expectations. This opportunity also helped me to understand how the PharmD education in the United States has evolved over the years and how it continues to strive in advancing it further. The journey in India for me continues to be intriguing as we have to keep pace with the changes happening globally and also meet the needs of the country locally. I read once somewhere that: "An academic system without the personal influence of teachers upon pupils, is an arctic winter; it will create an ice-bound, petrified, cast-iron university, and nothing else." Similarly I feel that "Pharmaceutical care without the personal influence of pharmacists on the patients, is an arctic winter; it will have only icebound, petrified, highly potent medicines, which may do more harm than benefit to the patients." The role of pharmacists as a member of the healthcare team continues to evolve and the pharmacy educators also need to respond quickly.

The concept of the SMART Pharmacy Program was created on World Pharmacists Day, September 25, 2014, in Ankara, Turkey. ACPE ISP in partnership with Pharma Expert were engaged by the Turkish Pharmacists Association (TPA) in the transformation of the CPD system of pharmacists in Turkey. The program has now launched  in 13 additional countries. Aiming to build local capacities and a change management culture in those countries, the co-chairs of the Program, Michael Rouse and Arijana Mestrovic, trained hundreds of SMART Trainers around the World. The Trainers reached thousands of pharmacists, impacting their patients and their lives in a professional and meaningful way.

Learn Today - Apply Tomorrow is the slogan under the SMART title, implying that application of new knowledge and skills is essential to achieve advancement in the pharmacy profession. 

Left to right: Mike Rouse, Arijana Mestrovic, and Peter H. Vlasses

In June 2019, the new phase of the SMART Pharmacy Program has begun, by signing a collaboration agreement to be utilized in future developments. The name of the program was changed to SMART Pharmacist Program, empowering individual development, motivation, and pride of achieved results on the personal level. SMART has 4 distinct streams: SMART Pharmacist, SMART Leadership Academy, SMART Student Program, and SMART Clinical Pearls courses.

 

The 5th anniversary of the program will be celebrated on the FIP World Pharmacists Day at the ACPE reception  during the FIP World Congress of Pharmacy in Abu Dhabi, UAE, hosting partner organisations and leaders of the program.  More information can be found at the newly launched SMART Pharmacist website: 

https://www.acpe-accredit.org/smart/ .