Educational demands of pharmacists working in the pharmaceutical industry under the reformed 6-year pharmacy education system in Korea

Aims: Evidence is missing on educational demands from the perspective of pharmacists working in the pharmaceutical industry. We aimed to explore the educational demand by industry pharmacists under the reformed 6-year pharmacy education system in Korea to improve pharmacists' competencies in the pharmaceutical industry. Methods: A web-based self-administered survey was conducted with 95 pharmacists working in the pharmaceutical industry in Korea. Results: Social and administrative pharmacy (SAP) classes were ranked the highest among classes that respondents indicated necessary to prepare them to work in the pharmaceutical industry, followed by clinical pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, pharmacology, and life pharmacy. Overall, responses were consistent across different job functions (e.g., clinical research, research/development, sales/marketing, medical information, and price/reimbursement functions) and the length of industry career. Conclusion: We expect that the results of this investigation would be helpful as reference information to aid ongoing update of pharmacy education, particularly for pharmacy programs interested in cultivating industry pharmacists.