[Necessity of Disaster Medical Instructions in Pharmaceutical Education, and a Discussion of the Details of These Instructions].

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, municipalities, and medical organizations have made various revisions to medical systems employed at the time of a disaster. To educate pharmacists who can contribute to medical teams conducting healthcare activities at the time of disasters, there is a need to develop disaster medical instructions in pharmaceutical education. However, the "Model Core Curriculum for Pharmaceutical Education", a new curriculum, contains little disaster medical care education. In the present study, in cooperation with the Ehime Society of Hospital Pharmacists and Ehime Pharmaceutical Association, we surveyed pharmacists living in Ehime Prefecture in order to investigate their views regarding the necessity of disaster medical instructions in pharmaceutical education, and what they considered essential to be taught. Our subjects considered that there is a strong need for teaching disaster medical instruction in college. In addition, they regarded all of the 16 investigated items concerning disaster medical instruction as highly necessary. Factor analysis led to the classification of these items into "disaster medical activities performed by pharmacists" and "responses to secondary issues in affected areas". On the basis of this classification, we established specific goals. Disaster medical instructions should be taught as a part of pharmaceutical education in college. However, to develop these instructions, it is important for universities to cooperate with local pharmaceutical and hospital pharmacist associations, as it is difficult for universities to teach such instructions independently.