Introduction:

It is known that in countries like United States, Canada or Spain, pharmacists are well recognized as important members of the healthcare team, in both community and hospital settings, due to their vital role in caring for patients' medication safety. In Mexico, just a short time ago, pharmacists were recognized in this manner. The objective to this study is to compare professional pharmacy training programs and healthcare systems in the United States, Canada, Spain and Mexico.

Methods:

A convenience sample of four universities were selected due to the authors' extensive knowledge of the content and development of the profession.

Results:

Pharmacy curricula in the United States and Canada are very similar. They have many clinical pharmacy subjects, such as pharmacotherapy, therapeutics, pharmaceutical care, drug calculations and skills-based lab courses. In Spain and Mexico, however, while some of the coursework is similar, Spain has an experiential rotation program and Mexico does not. Mexican universities allow students practice in workshops to simulate pharmacy practice.

Conclusion:

It will be important to develop pharmacist training programs in Mexico (químico, farmacéutico biólogo), with more clinical pharmacy subjects as well as patient-centered communication skills to strengthen the profession and be able to contribute within the health team and provide better patient care.

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