The Role of the Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Pharmacy Education and Practice

A current major topic of conversation in academic pharmacy is "curricular hoarding", the overloading of the curriculum due to the steady addition of required knowledge and skills without a concomitant subtraction of existing content. It can be tempting to consider addressing hoarding by just reducing content in the foundational biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, or by shifting some foundational content into prerequisites for admission into the Doctor of Pharmacy program. The healthcare education literature suggests that this approach would negatively impact the development of the critical and clinical thinking skills needed by a modern pharmacist. This commentary is intended to inform conversations on curricular hoarding by affirming and demonstrating the reliance of pharmacists' clinical and critical thinking on the scientific concepts of the biomedical and pharmaceutical science disciplines, and reiterating the importance to the practicing pharmacist of a deep understanding of these concepts, conferred through a careful and intentional educational integration.