School of Pharmacy

The School of Pharmacy of Ahfad University for Women (AUW) was carefully planned for over a period of more than two years. A number of meetings were held in which the question of whether the Sudanese educational system and the Sudanese medical field and pharmaceutical environment would require a new school of pharmacy beside the ones already in existence in the Sudan. These meetings were held at the Ahfad campus and were attended by a number of outstanding professionals from the various pharmaceutical fields, the academic field, industry, retailing and the realm of drug importation. After lengthy discussions, the consensus was a strong yes, particularly in a university specialising in female education.

Since the profession of pharmacy is rapidly changing and the role of the pharmacist is extending much further than his dispensary and becoming more patient – centered rather than only drug centered, pharmacy education must adapt to meet these changes. Consequently, the aim of the five-year Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm.) course offered at the School of Pharmacy, AUW, is to produce graduates with a wide knowledge and understanding of the sciences, technologies and practices which substantiate pharmacy as a profession. This knowledge, together with the clinical skills gained by the graduates in the eight clinical pharmacy courses taught at this school, will enable them to acquire the competencies suitable for their registration as pharmacists capable of building a career in any branch of the many branches of pharmacy. Any pre-registration practical training carried out by the student as part of her learning process is considered as an essential educational link between the undergraduate course and the graduate’s work as a registered pharmacist.

The academic courses occupy five years of full-time study. This school follows the semester system (two semesters per year) and, as the laws of the Ahfad University require, each semester will be treated separately in terms of the courses results. The second semester of the last year will be devoted to a research project to be carried out by each student. Each science course consists of two parts: theoretical and practical. The duration of the lecture is 50 minutes and each lecture is given the load of one credit hour. A laboratory practical, whether two or three hours, is considered one credit hour. Each courses is given a course title, course designation, and a load in terms of credit hours.

As is clear from the course descriptions presented below, all the traditional disciplines of a pharmacy curriculum are offered. However, the policy of this school is to place special emphasis on Clinical Pharmacy, a field, it is hoped, this school will pioneer. For this reason a short discourse about this discipline is presented below.

The practice of clinical pharmacy aims at helping to maximize drug efficacy, minimize drug toxicity and promote cost-effectiveness. In order to achieve this, pharmacists should require working as fully – integrated members of the health care team. Both as team members and members of their own professional body, pharmacists are accountable to patients for the services they provide.

Pharmaceutical care is defined as the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient’s quality of life. Both direct and indirect patient care activities are involved. Direct patient care activities include responding to symptoms, medication review and patient counseling and advice. Indirect patient care activities include the influencing of prescribing through participation in drug and therapeutics committees, ward rounds, other clinical meetings and studies on medication errors. Clinical pharmacists are recognized and used as sources of advice on health and medicines.

On the completion of the prescribed courses, the graduate must have demonstrated:

1. Sound knowledge of physiology, pathology, pharmacology and therapeutics which will provide him/her with the ability to identify clinical problems related to drug therapy of disease states and to suggest possible solution.
2. An appreciation of the role of the pharmacist in the health care team and the practice of the clinical pharmacy,
3. The ability to develop the interpersonal skills of communication, team working and to undertake structured problem-solving,
4. The ability to design, improve and operate within standard operating procedures,
5. The ability to undertake a research project and to report on it.

These are eight courses spanning the period from the second semester of the first year till the first semester of the fifth year. They consist of:

• Lectures are used to review the content of the syllabus and to outline the depth of knowledge required. To cover certain parts of some syllabuses, printed handout material may also be supplied. In the last year of the course, the lectures also serve to integrate knowledge taught in different subject areas.
• The general aims of the course work (practical or non-practical) are to broaden the students’ educational experience by the use of a variety of teaching techniques other than didactic exposition and/or assessed by formal written examination. Non-practicals include tutorials, seminars and assignments.
• Managed student-centered learning is used to facilitate the student’s achievement of learning objectives. It usually takes the form of specified activities including the use of computer aided learning packages, directed reading and numerical problem solving for the purpose of expanding or reinforcing.

Material delivered during lectures or coursework sessions. Teaching techniques include: the use of audiovisual aids, use of computer – assisted learning material with inbuilt formative assessment; audiovisual and computer simulations of experimental and clinical situations; demonstrations, students directed assignments, clinical case problems; tutorials; practical exercises assessment exercises and clinical visits.

Skills which are developed and assessed include: scientific report writing including appropriate presentation and statistical analysis of data; oral communication; ability to work effectively in a team; effective use of sources of information; problem identification and solution; and clinical awareness.

Practical competence in a limited number of techniques of potential use to pharmacists such as blood pressure determination, tests of human respiratory function; blood glucose and cholesterol determination are included.

The curriculum outline follows. It must be emphasized that this curriculum, like the curricula of the other schools of this university, is a dynamic one, not static. Consequently, it will be reviewed periodically and up dated in accordance with the new development in knowledge and scientific discoveries. We are aware that certain subjects, such as nutrition for pharmacists, business administration for pharmacists and a short course on ethics, need to be included and we are working on that.

Semester 1

Semester 2

Semester 3

Semester 4

Semester 5

Semester 6

Semester 7

Semester 8

Semester 9

Semester 10

Research Project

• Toxicology
• Radio Pharmacy
• Quality Assurance
• Industrial Pharmacy
• Biotechnology
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Hospital Pharmacy
• Phytotherapy (Sudanese Flora)

 

 

Classrooms

The classrooms are furnished with individual, comfortable seats with well-adjusted arms for easy writing, and green wide blackboards. All the furniture is imported. The rooms are well illuminated and fitted with dark screens to be losed when an overhead projector or other means of teaching that require dark space are in use.

Laboratories

The laboratories for teaching the practical of chemistry, physics, botany, zoology and computer are already operational. They are equipped with all the necessary glassware and instruments. The specification of lighting, fume removal and ventilation are met. The laboratories for teaching the practicals of Pharmaceutics I and Pharmacognosy I, that are offered in the second semester of first year, are presently being equipped and made ready for use by the beginning of July of this year. That of Physiology practical, which is also offered in the second semester of the first year, is already operational. Laboratories for practicals of higher classes will be equipped with up-to-date instruments and made ready for use in due time.

School Permanent Buildings

The School of Pharmacy is presently situated in the buildings of the sister School of Medicine. Its permanent buildings are currently under construction and the work on them is going at a fast rate. It is hoped that they will be ready for use by June – July for this year. The new buildings will house the administration and faculty offices, class rooms and computers room. The laboratories buildings, as indicated above, are already in existence.

The following faculty members and staff members are either full-time participants in teaching in this school, or they belong to other schools of the AUW and teach their respective courses at this school, i.e. none of them comes from outside this university. They are:

Hassan. M.A. Hassan, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, Dean B. Pharm, American University of Beirut, Lebanon (1966), Ph.D., University of London England (1972), Assist. Prof., Dean. Joined AUW in 1997
Gasim Badri, BA. American University of Beirut (1968) MA AUB (1971) Advanced Certificate in Education, Oxford, UK (1974) MA, University of California (1977) Ph.D. University of California (1978) Professor. Joined AUW in 1968
Ahmed M.Abdel Majeed, Ph.D., Zoology, Joined AUW in 1982
Ahmed Ismail, Ph.D., Botany Joined AUW in 2000
Ahmed Al Nasri, Ph.D., Physiology Joined AUW in 1993
Huda Ahmed Ridda Farid, B.Sc. AUW (1987), M.Sc. University of Reading, (1991) PhD Natural Sciences, Chemistry, Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Karl Franzens University, Graz, Austria (2001) Joined AUW in1987
Ashraf Badri, Ph.D., Physiology
Ahmed Al Jamal, Ph.D., Pharmacognosy
Abo Bakr Oro, Ph.D., Biochemistry.
A/ Rahman Dosa, Ph.D., Microbiology
Hiba Alla Baha, M.Sc., Physics.
Yaser Al Tijani, M.Sc. Mathematics
Amna Ahmed Al Ebeid, B.Sc., Demonstrator, Botany

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