The 2 nd Survey on the Actual Conditions of Pharmacist Faculties in Pharmacy Schools in Japan

In 2012 we conducted a questionnaire survey to clarify the current state of pharmacy-related universities and clinical faculties and identify problem areas in pharmacy education and research. The survey was sent to 74 universities nationwide; responses were received from 488 out of 530 faculties distributed at 59 universities. The male/female ratio of the respondents was 3:1 and the age breakdown was 24% aged 30-years or younger, 61% aged 40-50-years. Regarding interest in education and research, 62% of the respondents emphasized education over research; the weekly average time devoted to these respective activities was 21 hours for education and 13 hours for research. Of the respondents, 46% had not even practiced once in 2012, while 61% out of the responders who had practiced (52%) had engaged in practice in a clinical setting one day per week or more. As for research, 83% and 20% of respondents supervised undergraduate and PhD students, respectively. Despite the fact that roughly half of all respondents do not fully engage in practice and research, satisfaction with the current situation on a 5-point scale was 35% for “satisfied” and “somewhat satisfied” combined, and 40% for “acceptable.” Clinical faculties should not be content with the present situation and should strive to advance education and research by enhancing motivation to train the next generation. It is hoped that future discussions will lead to the revitalization of practice/education/research among clinical faculties, and also to the training of staff in clinical faculties, in whose footsteps the pharmacy students and/or next generation pharmacists can aspire to follow.