Professor Borut Božič is head of the Department for Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, and in July 2024 became president of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP). He talks to Saša Janković about the role of pharmacy education in supporting changes and planning for the future of the profession, practice and patient care.
From precision medicine and AI to automation and virtual care, the pharmacy landscape is experiencing significant innovations and challenges. As hospital and clinical pharmacy continues to evolve, pharmacy education and training must also adapt to support best practice, multidisciplinary collaboration and optimal patient care. Alongside this, it’s also important to improve awareness of the hospital pharmacist’s role among patients and colleagues, reinforcing their reputation as a core part of frontline care.
It’s a big task, but one that Professor Borut Božič, head of the Department for Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, and president of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP), is already tackling head on.
Key challenges facing hospital and clinical pharmacy
For Professor Božič, person-centred care sits as a fundamental principle that must guide all aspects of pharmacy practice. ‘Healthcare should prioritise the individual’s needs, preferences and values, placing them at the centre of the care process,’ he explains, ‘which means pharmacists must take a holistic approach, seeing beyond disease management to consider the entire patient journey.’
Emphasising that pharmacists have ‘a unique role in managing medicines across their entire lifecycle, from research and development to pharmacovigilance and patient adherence’, Professor Božič says there is still work to be done on moving ‘beyond the traditional black-and-white view of pharmacy as either patient-oriented or drug-oriented to, instead, embracing a patient-centred approach that integrates both perspectives.’
However, a person-centred approach comes with challenges. ‘Hospital pharmacists must also be equipped to recognise rare side effects, improve medication adherence and develop innovative pharmaceutical services,’ says Professor Božič.
But he warns that workforce pressure and increasing demands on healthcare systems add further complexity. One solution, he says, is that ‘pharmacists must be prepared to optimise resources while maintaining high standards of care, and this requires a strong foundation in both clinical and scientific competencies’.
Evolving pharmacy education
To this end, Professor Božič says education and training programmes must be designed to prepare pharmacists for real-world challenges. ‘Pharmacy curricula should balance scientific knowledge with practical skills, ensuring that graduates are equipped for lifelong learning and innovation,’ he says.
Indeed, EAFP, in collaboration with other organisations, has outlined four core pillars that should underpin pharmacy education:
- Science-practice balance: translating scientific advancements into practical applications
- Lifelong learning: ensuring pharmacists continue to develop professionally
- Innovation-driven teaching: engaging students through hands-on, experiential learning
- Competency-based training: preparing graduates for immediate professional roles as team players.
‘Pharmacy education must prepare students for a career of continuous learning, not just to pass exams. A five-year degree is not enough to create specialists; we must instil a mindset of ongoing development,’ Professor Božič stresses.
Independent prescribing: a growing role for pharmacists
While independent prescribing is still in its infancy in continental Europe, Professor Božič sees its potential for improving patient outcomes. ‘Independent prescribing allows pharmacists to take greater responsibility for managing medication regimens, but it cannot be implemented without the right regulatory framework,’ he explains.
He notes that resistance from other healthcare professionals and policymakers also remains a significant barrier. ‘This is not about pharmacists wanting to expand their role for the sake of it; it is about recognising the benefits to society of empowering pharmacists as prescribers,’ he says. ‘Pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare professionals, as we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, and there is a strong case for enabling them to prescribe within their competencies.’
Nonetheless, Professor Božič stresses that independent prescribing must be backed by structured education and training. ‘This should not be an activity for a first-day pharmacist, so of course we need specialised training programmes in place to ensure patient safety and effective prescribing practice,’ he states.
The digital transformation of pharmacy
With technology rapidly changing how pharmacists work, Professor Božič also believes that digitalisation offers significant benefits to the profession, and to patients.
‘Digital tools allow healthcare professionals to work more effectively across borders, support real-time data sharing, and enable more equitable healthcare,’ he says. ‘However, interoperability remains a challenge. The lack of standardisation across countries and healthcare systems limits the potential of digital solutions, so governments and regulatory bodies must work together to create a seamless digital healthcare infrastructure,’ he argues.
Artificial intelligence is another area of interest for pharmacy. ‘AI-driven clinical decision support systems can help pharmacists optimise workflows, predict medication adherence and enhance patient safety,’ explains Professor Božič. And while he sees potential in AI-assisted telemedicine and chatbot-driven consultations he cautions that human oversight remains essential, adding: ‘Some functions should always stay within human responsibility, particularly those involving complex clinical decision-making.’
A further benefit of digitalisation and AI is to help address healthcare inequalities. ‘These technologies can bridge gaps between high- and low-resource healthcare systems, offering new solutions for underserved populations,’ says Professor Božič, citing the example of AI-driven medication management, which can predict patient adherence and recommend interventions.
‘This is especially useful for patients with chronic conditions, who often struggle to articulate their healthcare needs,’ he says. But that also comes with a warning as ‘AI systems must undergo rigorous validation to avoid bias and ensure safety, and regulatory frameworks must be established to oversee these technologies effectively.’
The role of pharmacy education in driving change
Professor Božič sees a crucial role for education institutions in shaping the future of pharmacy practice. He highlights that recent updates to European pharmacy education regulations have introduced a stronger focus on clinical and social pharmacy, but without diminishing the importance of fundamental natural science subjects such as genetics, chemistry and immunology.
‘These changes reflect the growing importance of pharmaceutical care and patient-centred practice,’ he says, ‘and EAFP’s continued aim is to be a platform for collaboration, supporting faculties in developing best practices for pharmacy education.’
As such, Professor Božič says: ‘EAFP is committed to fostering innovation in teaching, sharing successful models, and ensuring that students graduate with the skills they need to thrive in an evolving healthcare landscape. We will continue to follow the vision and mission of the organisation, which is to lead the advancement of pharmacy education and research reflecting developments in pharmacy and the needs of patients and citizens in a healthy society.’
Recognising that pharmacy education also drives innovations in pharmaceutical sciences and a skill-based transformation in pharmacy practice, Professor Božič is keen to stress that while ‘EAFP is certainly not a magic wand to solve all problems’, it is an ‘excellent tool to effectively address the challenges’ and is a place to share views and experiences.
‘Positive and negative, successful and unsuccessful, we as educators know how important it is to learn from mistakes,’ he says. ‘So, EAFP is a place to discuss pedagogical approaches and a place to address the changing characteristics of the generations entering pharmacy studies, the changes in the world of work in general and in the diverse field of pharmacy in particular.
‘Pharmacy is evolving rapidly, and we must ensure that education, regulation and practice evolve with it.’
