Pharmacoeconomic education in US schools of pharmacy

The purpose of this paper was to survey U.S. schools of pharmacy to determine the extent of pharmacoeconomic education offered during the 1996-97 academic year. A survey was sent to all 79 U.S. schools of pharmacy in June 1997 using a combination of survey techniques (electronic-mail, facsimiles, and phone calls). A 100 percent response rate was achieved within two months. Of the 79 schools, 64 (81 percent) offered pharmacoeconomic education at Some level during the 1996-97 academic year. Sixty-three (80 percent) schools offered pharmacoeconomic education at the BS and/or PharmD level. Of the 55 schools of pharmacy that offer MS and/or PhD degrees, 36 (65 percent) offered pharmacoeconomic education at this level. In addition six respondents reported that their school would begin to offer pharmacoeconomics before the year 2000, and four reported their school planned to increase the number of hours of pharmacoeconomics education in the near future. The results of this survey indicate that pharmacoeconomic education in U.S. schools of pharmacy is on the rise.