The Pharmacy at Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus
Did you know that there is a pharmacy available for use by the general local community at the entrance of Building 3 of the Faculty of Pharmacy on the Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus?
As of 2019, there are 78 pharmaceutical universities nationwide, but only eight of them have an attached pharmacy. Among these, the ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ Faculty of Pharmacy University Community Pharmacy was established in 2001 as the first on-campus type in the country, following a six-year preparation period by this faculty (formerly Kyoritsu College of Pharmacy). Many university pharmacies are established as satellites located away from the Faculty of Pharmacy buildings. This is because university campuses are generally large, and even if a pharmacy is established on campus, the distance from public roads to the pharmacy would be too far for general users to visit, preventing it from functioning as a pharmacy.
On the other hand, because the Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus is located in the city center, the campus is not large; conversely, the entrance to the Faculty of Pharmacy is close to public roads, allowing general users to easily access the University Community Pharmacy even though it is on campus. For this reason, our University Community Pharmacy is the only one that, while being an on-campus type, actually functions as a health insurance pharmacy used by local residents for prescription dispensing and the purchase of OTC (over-the-counter) drugs.
The greatest merit of having the University Community Pharmacy within the Faculty of Pharmacy campus is the excellent access for ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students and faculty members. Taking advantage of this merit, fourth-year clinical preparation education includes medication counseling practice at the pharmacy's dispensing counter, surrounded by actual patients in an environment filled with a sense of realism and tension. It is also used as a facility for fifth-year pharmacy practice rotations. Furthermore, it serves as a pharmacy where graduate students with pharmacist licenses and clinical faculty members perform duties as insurance pharmacists to acquire, maintain, and improve their practical experience.
The University Community Pharmacy also plays a role as a family pharmacy for local residents. To support the maintenance and promotion of residents' health, activities include measuring blood samples taken from visitors' fingertips to inform them of their blood sugar and cholesterol levels¡ªpromoting the prevention and early detection of lifestyle-related diseases¡ªand measuring the oral environment from saliva to raise awareness for the prevention of oral diseases.
Furthermore, as an annual event held with the cooperation of Shiba Daijingu Shrine, a health event is held on the shrine grounds. By measuring participants' oral environments, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels, the pharmacy conducts activities to raise awareness for the early detection and treatment of lifestyle-related diseases.
As the University Community Pharmacy is also equipped with a dedicated parking lot, ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni have begun to use it as their family pharmacy alongside local residents, and it is becoming a new point of contact with ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni.
(Yoshiaki Ishii, Administrative Director of Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus)
*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.