Health professions education concerns itself with providing students with the competencies and attributes required to function with the various health professions disciplines. Literature is rife with the potential implications of education on the quality of the health sector, making it an important area to place focus on so that patients may one day receive high quality treatment. Pharmacology education is an evolving field, which in turn, also evolves as the scopes of practice of health professionals change. In doing so, the professional identity of health professionals are subject to evolve, bringing with it new challenges, such as a growing need for interprative skills

with medicine in their scope, and the potential for prescribing authority. The research team focuses on determining

the pharmacological competencies needed by health professionals (particularly in the health sciences, dietetics,

and physiotherapy), the perceptions of health professionals towards pharmacology, the educational implications

of changes to the scopes of practice, and identity formation.

 

Collaborators: Dr Desmond Mathye (Physiotherapy, University of Pretoria; HPCSA); Ms Natascha Olivier (Human Nutrition, University of Pretoria); Prof Pieter du Toit (Humanities Education, University of Pretoria); Prof Dianne Manning (Dean's Office, University of Pretoria)

Applicable research levels: Social sciences research at BSc.Hons, MSc or PhD level

Minimum skillsets at MSc and PhD levels: Coding and thematic analysis in qualitative research; focus group and/or semi-structured interviews (at PhD level)