About us
With the recent development in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in almost every scientific field, especially the healthcare and education services there were a challenge to establish distinguished medical and scientific schools to play its role in the development of the society service. For this specific purpose, the Faculty of Pharmacy including its different departments was founded on 29/4/2001 under the law # 89 issued by the Ministry of Higher Education. The Faculty of Pharmacy of King Abdulaziz University is the second pharmacy school in the Kingdom following the Faculty of Pharmacy of King Saud University in Riyadh. The program of PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) of this young pharmacy school is considered to be well-developed, unique and exclusive in its type within the Arabian region because it was established according to the most recent approaches in pharmacy education. All successfully graduates of this program are granted the degree of doctor of pharmacy (PharmD). The curriculum of the PharmD is designed to provide its graduates with comprehensive theoretical knowledge and extensive practical experience necessary to render pharmaceutical care in a changing health care system. They can take a role as an effective members of the medical team, capable of understanding the medical diagnosis and thus to selecting the appropriate drug therapy with the correct route and dosage. They are also skilled in seeking other alternative therapies as necessary. PharmD graduates can deal effectively with other members of the medical team as well as the patients. This is what is called clinical pharmacy. This characteristic role of clinical pharmacists will have great impact on healthcare services and can prevent further drug misuse and can decrease healthcare cost. PharmD graduates are capable to practice not only in a clinical pharmacy, but also to pursue a wide range of career opportunities, such as working in community pharmacies within a hospital or in a community pharmacy, pharmaceutical industry, drug development, academic and research centers concerned with pharmaceutical sciences. The curriculum of the studying plan of the Faculty of Pharmacy of King Abdulaziz University is set to be six academic years and is divided into 3 stages:
- Stage 1: The first two years. Basic medical sciences are taught in this stage.
- Stage 2: The third, fourth, and fifth years. This stage involves the teaching of practical medical and pharmaceutical sciences of pharmacy and clinical pharmacy.
- Stage 3: Is the sixth year. This stage is the practical stage, where students are having clinical rotations in hospitals. Stage 3 is divided into 5 clinical rotations, each of which is concerned with a different medical specialty. PharmD candidates in this stage are involved with the medical team in understanding medical diagnosis and participating in setting the treatment regimens and dealing with the patients in order to provide an excellent healthcare to the patients.
PharmD candidates in this stage are asked to prepare a graduation project in any practical pharmaceutical science under the supervision of a member of the school faculty.