Had a conversation last night with a friend taking his PharmD in the US. He was asking me if the curriculum here in the PH is parallel to US. He said most of their new grads are PharmD while foreign grads are usually BSP. He also added that their program has strong (1/n)

background on clinical practice that he feels very confident when asked by other healthcare providers. Their Clinical pharmacists are integrated in the rounds/floor/team and usually provides recommendations on patient's drug regimen being trusted fully by doctors and nurses (2/n)

His scenario is completely different from what we have in the Philippines. Only a few unis offer PharmD or ClinPhar and they are treated to be postbacc courses in addition to your BSP. Not to mention, these unis are mostly motivated to send their graduates abroad (3/n)

I can't fully blame the educ system. They try to provide and follow the lead of other countries only to have our graduates be added to the workforce abroad. What we lack is opportunity for them to serve in the PH. The PH health system has not yet fully embraced our worth. (4/n)

Majority of the hospital or community pharmacies are incapable of hiring ClinPhar or PharmD graduates. Most of them can't differentiate the roles of the BSPs and the PharmDs, primarily because we have been underutilized and stereotyped to be "botikero" or "licensed tindera" (5/n)

And shall we also add how for the longest time, the MDs and RNs are glorified to be the only "frontliners" in healthcare. This also adds to how most of our patients see our profession. We have been under valued and its difficult to change their mindset towards our work. (6/n)

The focal point of the pharmacy practice in PH is not similar to the US. Majority of the workforce here is devoted to community practice. A perfect opportunity to introduce our counseling and recommending skills. Only its not feasible because we are still product oriented. (7/n)

I'm not putting all the blame in other people. Why our pharmacy practice in PH is fucked up is not entirely because of how we are perceived by our patients, but how we allowed ourselves to be seen as someone so little. That our contributions are not substantial. (8/n)

When I hear stories of disrespect to our profession, I get frustrated. However, I can't take it against those who doesn't know our line of work. To educate and not feel hate is difficult but its better to let them know of what we are capable than to let hate consume us (9/n)

Yes, we deserve to be treated better. We may be disrespected at times but it doesn't change the fact that we must heed to the call of service to our countrymen. In every opportunity given, I wish you'll be proud that you are a PHARMACIST in these challenging times.
(n/n)