Comparative study between China 2018 national accreditation standard for teaching quality of clinical pharmacy and ACPE 2015 accreditation standards and guidelines

Background: Rapid development of the China economy has gradually increase the demand of the medical resources. To please this increasing demand for enhanced medical services, National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China has set an “Interim Provisions Administration of Pharmaceutical Affairs in Medical Institutions” in 2002 stated that “the clinical pharmacist should take part in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, provide pharmaceutical care and improve the quality of medical care”. According to these recommendations many colleges and universities have established training programs that are corresponding to the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D) curriculum in the United States but these universities/ colleges until 2018 have not implemented any uniform curriculum standards for program duration and degree titles. So, in March 2018, China Teaching committee for pharmacy specialty has made a considerable progression decision to improve clinical pharmacy education by providing the first national accreditation standards offered by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (MOE).

Materials and Methods: This paper has used descriptive and comparative method to evaluate and compare national accreditation standard for teaching quality of pharmacy in China. According to the ACPE 2015 accreditation standards and guidelines (25 elements).

Conclusion: some recommendations and suggestion are stated to enhance and develop this Accreditation to the level of Pharm.D program such as foundational knowledge core, summarized annual assessments of student achievement of relevant didactic and dean responsibilities and other administrative leadership team members tasks need to be clearly stated.