General informations

                           

Duration of Course :

• Six academic years (Five years study and one year Internship) after PUC or D.Pharm

• Three years (Two years study and one year Internship) after B.Pharm

Intake :

Six years Pharm D program - 30 students

Three years (post Baccalaureate) Pharm D program - 10 students

Course Content :

o Theory and practical subjects very similar for B.Pharm course

o Internship or residency for one year in multi speciality teaching hospital

Includes postings in speciality hospital units

Six months in general medicine department

Two months each in three other speciality departments

Certificate of passing Examination :

Pharmacy Council of India is a national apex body controlling the course; Doctor of Pharmacy

(Pharm.D) Degree will be issued by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore

(R.G.U.H.S.) after passing examinations.

Duration of the course. –

a) Pharm.D: The duration of the course shall be six academic years (five years of study and one year of internship or residency) full time with each academic year spread over a period of not less than two hundred working days. The period of six years duration is divided into two phases

Phase I – consisting of First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth academic year.

Phase II – consisting of internship or residency training during sixth year involving posting in specialty units. It is a phase of training wherein a student is exposed to actual pharmacy practice or clinical pharmacy services and acquires skill under supervision so that he or she may become capable of functioning independently. 

b) Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate): The duration of the course shall be for three academic years (two years of study and one year internship or residency) full time with each academic year spread over a period of not less than two hundred working days. The period of three years duration is divided into two phases –

Phase I – consisting of First and Second academic year.

Phase II – consisting of Internship or residency training during third year involving posting in

speciality units. It is a phase of training wherein a student is exposed to actual pharmacy practice

or clinical pharmacy services, and acquires skill under supervision so that he or she may become

capable of functioning independently.

Minimum qualification for admission to. –

a) Pharm.D. Part-I Course – A pass in any of the following examinations -

(1) 10+2 examination with Physics and Chemistry as compulsory subjects along with one of the following subjects:

Mathematics or Biology.

(2) A pass in D.Pharm course from an institution approved by the Pharmacy Council of India under section 12 of the Pharmacy Act.

(3) Any other qualification approved by the Pharmacy Council of India as equivalent to any of the above examinations.

Provided that a student should complete the age of 17 years on or before 31st December of the year

of admission to the course.

Provided that there shall be reservation of seats for the students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes in accordance with the instructions issued by the Central Government/State Government/Union Territory Administration as the case may be from time to time.

b) Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) Course -

A pass in B.Pharm from an institution approved by the Pharmacy Council of India under section 12 of the Pharmacy Act: Provided that there shall be reservation of seats for the students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes in accordance with the instructions issued by the Central Government/State Government/Union Territory Administration as the case may be from time to time.

Number of admissions in the above said programmes shall be as prescribed by the Pharmacy Council of India from time to time and presently be restricted as below –

i) Pharm.D. Programme – 30 students.

ii) Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) Programme – 10 students.

Institutions running B.Pharm programme approved under section 12 of the Pharmacy Act, will only be permitted to run Pharm.D. programme. Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) programme will be permitted only in those institutions which are permitted to run Pharm.D. programme.

Eligibility for appearing Examination. Only such students who produce certificate from the Head of the Institution in which he or she has undergone the Pharm.D. or as the case may be, the Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) course, in proof of his or her having regularly and satisfactorily undergone the course of study by attending not less than 80% of the classes held both in theory and in practical separately in each subject shall be eligible for appearing at examination.

Mode of examinations. 

 (1) Theory examination shall be of three hours and practical examination shall be of four hours duration.

(2) A Student who fails in theory or practical examination of a subject shall re-appear both in theory and practical of the same subject.

(3) Practical examination shall also consist of a viva –voce (Oral) examination.

(4) Clerkship examination – Oral examination shall be conducted after the completion of clerkship of students. An external and an internal examiner will evaluate the student. Students may be asked to present the allotted medical cases followed by discussion. Students’ capabilities in delivering clinical pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care planning and knowledge of therapeutics shall be assessed.

Award of sessional marks and maintenance of records. 

 (1) A regular record of both theory and practical class work and examinations conducted in an institution imparting training for Pharm.D. or as the case may be, Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) course, shall be maintained for each student in the institution and 30 marks for each theory and 30 marks for each practical subject shall be allotted as sessional.

(2) There shall be at least two periodic sessional examinations during each academic year and the

highest aggregate of any two performances shall form the basis of calculating sessional marks.

(3) The sessional marks in practicals shall be allotted on the following basis:-

(i) Actual performance in the sessional examination (20 marks);

(ii) Day to day assessment in the practical class work,

promptness, viva-voce record maintenance, etc. (10 marks).

Minimum marks for passing examination.

 A student shall not be declared to have passed examination unless he or she secures at least 50% marks in each of the subjects separately in the theory examinations, including sessional marks and at least 50% marks in each of the practical examinations including sessional marks. The students securing 60% marks or above in aggregate in all subjects in a single attempt at the Pharm.D. or as the case may be, Pharm. D. (Post Baccalaureate) course examination shall be declared to have passed in first class. Students securing 75% marks or above in any subject or subjects shall be declared to have passed with distinction in the subject or those subjects provided he or she passes in all the subjects in a single attempt.

Eligibility for promotion to next year. 

 All students who have appeared for all the subjects and passed the first year annual examination are eligible for promotion to the second year and, so on. However, failure in more than two subjects shall debar him or her from promotion to the next year classes.

Internship. 

 (1) Internship is a phase of training wherein a student is expected to conduct actual practice of pharmacy and health care and acquires skills under the supervision so that he or she may become capable of functioning independently.

(2) Every student has to undergo one year internship as per Appendix-C to these regulations  Approval of examinations. Examinations mentioned in regulations 10 to12 and 14 shall be held by the examining authority hereinafter referred to as the university, which shall be approved by the Pharmacy Council of India under sub-section (2) of section 12 of the Pharmacy Act, 1948. Such approval shall be granted only if the examining authority concerned fulfills the conditions as specified in Appendix–D to these regulations Certificate of passing examination. Every student who has passed the examinations for the Pharm.D. (Doctor of Pharmacy) or Pharm.D. (Post Baccalaureate) (Doctor of Pharmacy) as the case may be, shall be granted a certificate by the examining authority.

Practical training 

 Hospital posting. Every student shall be posted in constituent hospital for a period of not less than fifty hours to be covered in not less than 200 working days in each of second, third & fourth year course. Each student shall submit report duly certified by the preceptor and duly attested by the Head of the Department or Institution as prescribed. In the fifth year, every student shall spend half a day in the morning hours attending ward rounds on daily basis as a part of clerkship. Theory teaching may be scheduled in the afternoon.

Project work. 

 (1) To allow the student to develop data collection and reporting skills in the area of community, hospital and clinical pharmacy, a project work shall be carried out under the supervision of a teacher. The project topic must be approved by the Head of the Department or Head of the Institution. The same shall be announced to students within one month of commencement of the fifth year classes. Project work shall be presented in a written report and as a seminar at the end of the year. External and the internal examiners shall do the assessment of the project work.

(2) Project work shall comprise of objectives of the work, methodology, results, discussions and

conclusions.

Objectives of project work. 

 The main objectives of the project work is to

(i) show the evidence of having made accurate description of published work of others and of

having recorded the findings in an impartial manner; and

(ii) develop the students in data collection, analysis and reporting and interpretation skills.

Methodology.

To complete the project work following methodology shall be adopted, namely:

(i) students shall work in groups of not less than two and not more than four under an authorised

teacher;

(ii) project topic shall be approved by the Head of the Department or Head of the Institution;

(iii)project work chosen shall be related to the pharmacy practice in community, hospital and clinical

setup. It shall be patient and treatment (Medicine) oriented, like drug utilisation reviews,

pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacovigilance or pharmacoeconomics;

(iv) project work shall be approved by the institutional ethics committee;

(v) student shall present at least three seminars, one in the beginning, one at middle and one at the

end of the project work; and

(vi) two-page write-up of the project indicating title, objectives, methodology anticipated benefits

and references shall be submitted to the Head of the Department or Head of the Institution

 Reporting .

 (1) Student working on the project shall submit jointly to the Head of the Department or Head of the Institution a project report of about 40-50 pages. Project report should include a certificate issued by the authorised teacher, Head of the Department as well as by the Head of the Institution 11

(2) Project report shall be computer typed in double space using Times Roman font on A4 paper. The title shall be in bold with font size 18, sub-tiles in bold with font size 14 and the text with font size 12. The cover page of the project report shall contain details about the name of the student and the name of the authorised teacher with font size 14.

(3) Submission of the project report shall be done at least one month prior to the commencement of

annual or supplementary examination

Evaluation.

  

The following methodology shall be adopted for evaluating the project work

(i) Project work shall be evaluated by internal and external examiners.

(ii) Students shall be evaluated in groups for four hours (i.e., about half an hour for a group of four

students).

(iii)Three seminars presented by students shall be evaluated for twenty marks each and the average

of best two shall be forwarded to the university with marks of other subjects.

(iv) Evaluation shall be done on the following items: Marks

a) Write up of the seminar (7.5)

b) Presentation of work (7.5)

c) Communication skills (7.5)

d) Question and answer skills (7.5)

Total (30 marks)

(v) Final evaluation of project work shall be done on the following items: Marks

a) Write up of the seminar (17.5)

b) Presentation of work (17.5)

c) Communication skills (17.5)

d) Question and answer skills (17.5)

Total (70 marks)

Explanation. For the purposes of differentiation in the evaluation in case of topic being the same for the group of students, the same shall be done based on item numbers b, c and d mentioned above.

Rules and Regulation as per Pharmacy Council of India

                          click here 1

                              

                                click here 2

                       

News 1: In India, till now past- tradition is continue that doctors are diagnosing and prescribing but they are not really deal with Drugs. Only We pharmacist can learn aboutdrugs and their effects.

So, Pharm.D may develop new pattern which is running in US and other developed countries, that doctors are only diagnosing and PHARMACISTS ARE PRESCRIBING MEDICINES.

Also after doing Pharm.D, you can be registered pharmacist all over the world. so you can practise as pharmacist anywhere.

If you have marketing experience, it is good because you are some what habitant with brand names and other formulations. These experience will not directly useful but on some extent you will get benefit from it.

We can't say what will going to happen... But these are only reasons for Pharm.D to come in force in India.

The Pharm.D (a 6 year doctorate in pharmacy course) was introduced by the Government of India and the Pharmacy Council of India in 2008. The first batch of post-baccalaureate Pharm.D students graduated in August 2011. The Pharm.D degree requires five years of classroom-based academic study (two years as a post-baccalaureate course), followed by a year of internship or residency training in addition to ongoing practicals.

As per new amendments, the course structure should last 6 years(doctorate is given after 6th year)comprising 5 years of academics including project, and final 6th year internship in any 500 beded hospital or above.

With reference to Clarification on Pharm.D qualification, it is clarified to all universities that Pharm.D is a PG qualification and passed out students can directly register for Ph.D. From 2012 the Amendment passed by PCI (Pharmacists' professional association called Pharmacy Council of India) states that the person can use the initials "Dr" before their name after completion of their Ph.D.

News 2 : Following are some of the numerous and diverse career options available to PharmD graduates:

Clinic Pharmacy Practice

In many clinics that serve diverse segments of the US population, pharmacists are integral members of the health care team whose contributions have been shown to optimize patient outcomes while being cost effective. Working in partnership with physicians, pharmacists increasingly assume responsibility for medication therapy management—especially for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure—aiming to help patients achieve desired therapeutic outcomes through appropriate medication usage, diet and lifestyle choices.

Community Pharmacy

Community pharmacists are often on the first line of health care. In addition to dispensing medications and monitoring patients for adverse effects and interacting drugs, pharmacists provide important counseling services, such as the proper selection of over-the-counter medications and/or referral to other health care providers. Today's pharmacist also must be versed in alternative medicines. Many USC graduates own independent pharmacies or have advanced to management positions within retail chain pharmacy organizations.

Geriatric Pharmacy

By 2020, some 37 percent of the U.S. population will be mature adults who will likely consume more than half of all health care resources. Because of the advances in geriatrics being made at USC, the School's PharmD graduates are leaders in geriatric pharmacy. Careers in this field will serve the needs of this growing population segment.

Governmental Agencies

Local, state and federal governmental agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Veterans Administration and the Armed Forces require the expertise of skilled pharmacists. Many USC graduates work in hospitals and clinics within these agencies.

Home Health Care

Patients formerly treated in a hospital setting are now receiving professional care in their residences through home health care. PharmD graduates who work in this field of pharmacy provide medications, such as intravenous antibiotics, pain management medication, nutritional supplements and chemotherapy. Pharmacists also monitor the patients' progress and adjust therapy as needed.

Hospital Pharmacy

Many graduates pursue careers in hospital pharmacy where they are directly involved in patient care. Pharmacists in hospitals monitor and adjust patient medications and work closely with physicians, nurses and other health professionals to determine the most appropriate drug therapy possible. Clinical pharmacists may specialize in a variety of areas of pharmacy practice, including pediatrics, critical care, cardiology, surgery, psychopharmacy, neurology, infectious disease and drug information. USC graduates bring to the hospital setting a strong clinical education background, and the ability and confidence required for direct involvement with patients and other members of the health care team.

Managed Care

Broadly stated, managed care is planned, comprehensive and integrated provision of health care in a cost-effective manner that emphasizes preventive care. Optimization of drug therapy, development of drug formularies, evaluation of therapeutic protocols, patient consultation, and reduction in unnecessary doctor visits and hospitalization are all responsibilities of pharmacists who practice in the managed-care environment.

Pharmaceutical Industry

Modern drug therapy is highly sophisticated, and the pharmaceutical industry recognizes the need for technical proficiency among its sales and marketing personnel. Additionally, the area of research and development provides numerous opportunities for pharmaceutical scientists, including drug isolation and synthesis to formulation, packaging and quality control of the finished dosage form. Because of their expertise in drug therapy and their knowledge of the health care delivery system, USC graduates are actively recruited by major pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Pharmacoeconomics

Society’s demand for graduates with specialized knowledge in pharmacoeconomics is steadily increasing. The demand for such scholars exceeds the current supply, providing a wealth of opportunities for graduates of USC’s Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy program. Graduates often choose academic positions at university schools of pharmacy, or opportunities in public administration, public health or medicine. A strong demand for specialists also comes from government agencies, insurance plans, managed health care organizations, professional health care associations, hospital administration departments, health care consulting organizations, pharmaceutical companies and international organizations. Pharmacoeconomics faculty teach PharmD students, providing them with exposure to the field.

Pharmacy Education

The USC Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum offers a strong foundation in the clinical sciences. As the first school to develop a clinical pharmacy curriculum and pharmacoeconomic program, USC provides graduates with training that is sought by other pharmacy schools developing pharmaceutical care programs. Nearly half of the nation’s pharmacy schools have recruited USC graduates to join their faculties, to teach clinical pharmacy and to conduct research on optimization of drug therapies and the costs of health care.

Specialized Area Opportunities

Pharmacists with expertise in specialized areas such as consulting, legal practice, drug information, poison control and pharmacy affairs are becoming more in demand as the profession evolves. At USC, students have an opportunity to pursue a range of dual and joint degrees in combination with the PharmD to better prepare themselves for many of these specializations.