An Analysis of Diploma of Public Health Program (Technical Pharmacy) based on Professional Competence

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to analyze the Diploma of Public Health Program (Technical Pharmacy) based on professional competence and to measure competence level of the curriculum. All course syllabi under the Diploma Program of Public Health were data sources of the study. Data to be collected were behavioral objectives and credit hours of each course classified across pharmacy technician competence, professional competence, and level of competence. The results illustrated that the core requirement of the program consisted of 31 subjects with a total of 80 credit hours. Fifteen subjects accounted for 38 credit hours under technical pharmacy area could be divided into 15.76, 9.62, 9.54, and 3.08 credit hours of pharmacy service, public health pharmacy, pharmaceutical production, and pharmaceutical inventory management, respectively. The curriculum contained all 5 professional competence domains with 75% of the required credit hours focusing on knowledge/cognitive and functional competences. The assessment on competence level reflected that the curriculum put more weights on “knows how” level at 36.58 credit hours. The study concluded that the curriculum possessed all dimensions of competences, however the proportion shared by each element needed further justification.