Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kashmir is the only educational institution in the entire state of J&K that has been offering an under-graduate degree programme in Pharmacy over the past thirty years. In 2009 this Department commenced post-graduate degree programmes in five different specializations of Pharmaceutical Sciences including Pharmacy Practice. Introduction of Masters Degree Programme in Pharmacy Practice has given a new orientation to the pharmacy education in J&K state with focus gradually shifting from a pharmaceutical product to a patient and from laboratory bench side to the hospital bed side.
Over the past five years main focus of Pharmacy Practice education has been on Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicology; Applied Pharmacotherapeutics and Pathophysiology; Hospital and Community Pharmacy whereas the main focus of Pharmacy Practice Research has been on Designing a Pharmaceutical Care service model for the patients of respiratory medicine; Evaluating prescribing patterns of hormone replacement therapy in pre- and post-menopausal women; Assessing availability, affordability and pricing of essential medicines in hospitals of Kashmir division; Assessing availability and affordability scenario of maternal and child health essential commodities in hospitals of Kashmir division; Drug utilization studies of statins in patients of Diabetes mellitus; Prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in patients with comorbidities at a tertiary care hospital and Design and development of a comprehensive medicines management policy framework for a tertiary care hospital.
Thus all the three core areas of Pharmacy Practice viz., hospital, community and clinical pharmacy practice have been addressed while formulating the research design in this programme. Care has been taken to accord top priority to the most intriguing issues facing patient care in the region and the outcome of research has so far been not only interesting and encouraging but thought-provoking too. In spite of some difficulties faced in running the programme smoothly, department has been relentlessly marching ahead over the past four years towards establishment of Clinical Pharmacy Practice as a fullfledged and well recognized profession in the state. The programme is aimed at carving a niche for the qualified pharmacists of the state and establish them as an inherent part of the healthcare team that so far comprised of only doctors and nurses. This paper discusses the overall design of education and research in Pharmacy Practice and the outcome of research work carried out so far by a team of six post-graduate and one doctoral students in the subject.
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