Need of Exit Examination in Pharmacy

Need of Exit Examination in Pharmacy

The author of the article is Senior Lecturer at Bharati Vidyapeeths Institute of Pharmacy, Pune.

The manpower working in the health sector needs to be skilled and knowledgeable. Working as a community pharmacist leads to lasting relationships with people. Pharmacists are expected to resolve doubts about medications. Also, the pharmacist needs to know a lot about the medicine in order to communicate with the patient. Pharmacist working in pharmaceutical industry should be technically self-sufficient. Thus, there must be a perfect pharmacist in all respect regarding knowledge of medicine so that it can help to save many lives. For this, while studying pharmacy, every student needs to study medicine information in depth. Because we need to realize that we are committed to the health of the society. As part of this, the Pharmacy Council of India has recently announced an exit exam for pharmacy students to register as pharmacist.

PCI acting president had proposed to make exit examination compulsory for students passing out B Pharm to evaluate knowledge before their entry in the pharmacy industry. He said that the Pharmacy Council submitted a proposal to the Union Health Minister recently to revamp the pharmacy education in India. It may be noted that the number of pharmacy colleges and candidates have increased in the country during the last few years compared to engineering. Several State-level Pharmacy Councils received complaints about unethical practices of pharmacy colleges and students. It is observed that many candidates lacked basic knowledge of pharmacy even after the completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy. The PCI took serious note of the incidents and proposed to hold a professional test before issuing the registration certificate. The Council decided to implement the proposed test from this academic year. After passing the degree course, a candidate will have to take the exit examination to be eligible for registration of his/her degree with the State Pharmacy Council.

An exit examination is a test that pharmacy students must pass to receive their registration certificate as a pharmacist. It is a good move as it will improve the quality of pharmacist in near future. It will boost the self confidence of a Pharmacy student. If the pharmacy students study regularly, they can easily qualify the exam. Exam will help them in revising the course. Already, the PCI has issued the draft Diploma in Pharmacy Exit Examination Regulations (DPEE), 2018 to ensure that only proficient D Pharm pass outs having an adequate comprehension and capability on the essential professional skills to get registered with the State Pharmacy Councils.

The primary purpose of the exit exams is to assess educational achievements of pharmacy students in the courses in their major area of program study. The exam is supposed to measures the learning outputs of the program as a whole and not the individual courses. Such objective examinations should assess the knowledge that one must have from the study of these subjects regardless of who teaches the course and where the course is taught. An exit examination tests students at the end of their program of study for attainment of the programs intended learning outcomes. Also known as an end of course test, an exit exam may help a college or university make pertinent decisions to improve the quality of institution-wide education and, in some cases, can help assess the standard of education in specific courses or departments. The goal for implementing exit exams is to encourage students to put effort into their learning. Considering the growth of healthcare sector in India, the pharmacists have a lot of career opportunities if they can cope up with the ever-increasing demand of innovation, research, skills, knowledge and talent required in the profession. The pharmacy profession is moving dynamically as we are heading towards becoming the pharmacy of the world. Exit exams can be a good quality indicator for academic program reviews and for educational institutes teaching standards. Compulsion of exit exam will set into place new standards intended to increase the learning of all students. Such exams result in positive effects on student achievement. Execution of exit exams in India definitely will revamp the pharmacy profession. (Note: Views expressed represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of www.pharmalifeacademy.com).