A Cohort Retrospective Study on the Necessity of a Faculty Development Program for Pharmacy Colleges in Khammam

Abstract

The important asset of any educational institution, more so of those imparting professional knowledge and skill is its faculty members (Bligh, 2005). Pharmacy is one such professional course witnessing constant research and developments. Therefore, updating of knowledge is of paramount importance for faculty members to keep in pace with these fast developments (Cline 2003). The most effective way of training the faculty is by what is called as faculty development program (FDP). A cohort retrospective study with 2000 students and 88 faculty members from 9 colleges were evaluated on various aspects with the help of a score scale of 0-3. Pearsons coefficient of correlation (R) was applied to the data. Results indicate a significant correlation exists and between student score vs. institutional score for FDP(R=0.8237) and faculty performances vs. institutional score for FDP (R=0.9385) indicating that students and faculty from institutions having an FDP committee and conducting regular FDPs performed well, were more confident and competing well in their carriers. The need for FDP has already been felt in developed countries and necessary steps were taken to establish institutional FDP committees improve educational skills. Studies are very limited for the Indian scenario except an occasional paper (S. S. Agarwal, 2010). Therefore, the present study greatly substantiates other studies concluding that FDPs greatly enhanced teaching performance by instructors and improved learning outcomes for students, high satisfaction and change in the attitude of faculty towards teaching and development of educational skills and their efficient tackling of student diversity with varying cultural and academic background. This study concludes and recommends that educational bodies controlling pharmacy education in India should make FDP committee mandatory in every pharmacy college for better development of the profession.