pharming_in_korea | Pharmacy Education in Korea

Currently, there are no PharmD programs in Korea. Many pharmacy students (BS or graduate) are very interested in learning about PharmD programs in the U.S. Those who trained and received the PharmD degree are highly regarded for their clinical skillsets. In fact, there are two graduate students in Dr. Oh’s lab who have returned from training in the U.S. as PharmD’s (or equivalent) and are now working on their PhD’s here.

There is a demand for clinical pharmacists in Korea. Upon graduation, the majority of the pharmacists go into the community pharmacy workforce. The remaining pharmacists who work in industry or in academia are heavily focused on clinical research.

Currently, the scope of clinical pharmacists in the hospital setting seems limited and the opportunities for clinical pharmacists seem scant. But a big part of the reason is actually because there aren’t enough pharmacists to meet the demands. With a bigger workforce, the pharmacy departments at hospitals will be able to provide more of the valuable clinical services aside from the basic responsibility of dispensing products.

During my discussion with my preceptor, I learned that there are about thirty pharmacy schools and about 3,000 pharmacists in Korea now. Just several years ago, there were only about twenty pharmacy schools. With a growing demand for clinical pharmacists in hospitals and ambulatory care clinics, the country is in the process of expanding the number of pharmacy programs and improving pharmacy education (e.g. 2+4 pharmacy program mentioned in a previous post)

- Tae