Historical review of pharmaceutical care and pharmacy education in Bulgaria

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF PHARMACEUTICAL CARE AND PHARMACY EDUCATION IN BULGARIA Petkova, Valentina 2-Dunav Str. 1000 SOFIA BULGARIA Dimitrova, Z. Antonova, J. The study aims to trace back the changes in the pharmaceutical sphere and especially those that led to improvement of the curriculum of the Faculty of Pharmacy-Sofia, Bulgaria. Most of the new study areas are taught in the Department of Social Pharmacy. In the beginning of 2000 a new course in Pharmaceutical care was introduced as free eligible subject in this department. The lectures and seminars of this subject were led during the first semester of the fifth year of the studies. The experience in this course shows that there is a great interest among the students on all the topics of the course. That interest changed the type of the course from free course to compulsory. This paper presents the circumstances and barriers that were overcome for a 7-years period of time. The initial outcomes from this new discipline are described.