Prospects for the implementation of the dual form of pharmaceutical education.

Abstract

The increasing complexity of healthcare and pharmacists’ expanding clinical and social roles are further exposing the shortcomings of traditional classroom-based pharmaceutical education. Consequently, despite efforts to make programmes more responsive to industry needs, graduate readiness for real-world practice remains a concern and points to the need for models that systematically integrate learning into actual professional activity. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the theoretical, pedagogical and organisational arguments for introducing the dual concept of pharmaceutical education and, drawing on international and national experience, to outline realistic prospects, challenges and possible models for integrating dual elements into pharmacy programme content. The review indicates a strong international trend towards practice-based, competency-driven and experiential learning models in pharmacy; however, explicitly dual programmes remain rare, particularly in Ukraine. It shows how international standards for pharmacy educators and the pharmacy workforce, in conjunction with national competency models, constitute

No

1618

a theoretical framework on which university-based training can be aligned with workplace requirements. The findings demonstrate that clearly defined

competences for educational and practice supervisors, supported by well- structured supervision, are crucial if workplace placements are to become genuine

learning environments rather than mere time on site. Evidence from community and hospital pharmacy suggests that the structured application of workplace-based assessments, accompanied by focused feedback and graduated autonomy, can firmly link everyday performance with competence outcomes. Comparative studies of WBAs and OSCEs indicate that integrating these approaches allows assessment to be both authentic in evaluating real practice and sufficiently standardised as an objective measure of clinical competence. The article also highlights organisational and regulatory challenges such as weak legal frameworks, limited experience in long-term university practice partnerships and variability in quality assurance alongside emerging solutions including hybrid and virtual forms of experiential training piloted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In summary, dual pharmaceutical education is a promising but still underdeveloped approach that can be successfully implemented only under conditions of a coherent competence-based model, ongoing quality improvement, robust monitoring and assessment structures, and appropriately designed national pilot projects.