The Degree in Pharmacy at the UCLM began to be taught in Albacete in the 2010-2011 academic year. It requires five years of full-time study with a high degree of experimentation (200 hours of experimentation in the first four years of the degree and 6 months of external internships in community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy). In addition, from the beginning of their studies, students have the opportunity to carry out numerous extracurricular activities related to professional opportunities in the sector, and the UCLM pharmacy degree currently offers two of its own degrees and participates in several postgraduate master's degrees.
The main objective of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the UCLM is to train graduates with a solid scientific base that allows them a multiplicity of options, from the cultivation of basic sciences to the practice of the most diverse and technified specialities related to medicines, always after appropriate postgraduate training and subsequent practice of the various specialities. Our studies enable them to apply the scientific method, to continue their training throughout their lives, to develop teamwork skills and a permanent attitude of considering the human being - healthy or ill - not as an isolated individual, but in their true social, family and work environment. In this sense, the main axes of training correspond to that of a regulated health profession according to the situations required by Law 44/2003, of 21 November, on the Regulation of Health Professions.
The objectives of the Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy are regulated by Order CIN 2137/2008, which establishes that graduates in Pharmacy must acquire the following competences:
- Identify, design, obtain, analyse, control and produce drugs and medicines, as well as other products and raw materials of health interest for human or veterinary use.
- Assess therapeutic and toxic effects of substances with pharmacological activity.
- Know how to apply the scientific method and acquire skills in the handling of legislation, sources of information, bibliography and the preparation of protocols.
- Design, prepare, supply and dispense medicines and other products of health interest.
- Provide therapeutic advice in pharmacotherapy and diet therapy, as well as in the field of nutrition and food.
- Promote the rational use of medicines and health products and acquire basic knowledge in clinical management, health economics and efficient use of health resources.
- Identify, evaluate and assess problems related to drugs and medicines and participate in pharmacovigilance activities.
- Carry out clinical and social pharmacy activities, following the pharmaceutical care cycle.
- Intervene in health promotion and disease prevention activities, at individual and community level.
- Design, apply and evaluate reagents, methods and clinical analytical techniques, knowing the basic fundamentals of clinical analysis and the characteristics and contents of laboratory diagnostic reports.
- Assess the toxicological effects of substances and design and apply the corresponding tests and analyses.
- Develop hygienic-sanitary analyses in the environmental and food fields.
- Develop communication and information skills in order to deal with patients and users of the centre where he/she carries out his/her professional activity.
- Promote work and collaboration skills in multidisciplinary teams and those related to other health professionals.
- Know the ethical and deontological principles according to the legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions that govern professional practice, understanding the ethical implications of health in a changing social context.
- Recognise one's own limitations and the need to maintain and update professional competence, giving special importance to self-learning of new knowledge based on the available scientific evidence.
The profession of pharmacist is one of the few professions whose attributions are legally regulated and published in the Official State Gazette (Law 44/2003, of 21 November, on the Regulation of Health Professions, BOE 22-11-2003).
Many of these duties are exclusive to pharmacists and cannot be carried out by any other professional. Graduates in Pharmacy are experts in everything related to drugs and medicines, both in their chemical and biological aspects and in their application in healthcare, and are therefore responsible for activities aimed at the production, conservation and dispensing of medicines, as well as collaboration in analytical, pharmacotherapeutic and public health monitoring processes.
The Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy has high employment prospects due to its multidisciplinary nature, enabling graduates to work in a wide range of job opportunities in the labour market.
In addition to community pharmacy, graduates are qualified to work in the distribution of medicines, in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics, medical devices, orthopaedics, hospital pharmacy, clinical analysis, environmental health, professional and business associations, in hospital and non-hospital specialisations, in health analysis laboratories, in health management and in teaching and research activities. Specifically, they can access public administration bodies, whose access is exclusive to pharmacists, such as the body of head pharmacists, pharmaceutical inspectors of the public health and health planning services of the autonomous communities, primary care pharmacists or military pharmacists, among others.