The case for a shift in pharmacists' activities and pharmacy education.

In Japan, pharmacists' activities for the most part consist of dispensing although in some University Hospitals they are directly involved in patient care. In the United States, pharmacists' activities have evolved over forty years in providing drug therapy and have now expanded to improvement in the patient's quality of life. In addition, a six-year pharmacy education program based on patient care is now in place nationally. Furthermore, World Health Organization (WHO) and International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) have made recommendations on pharmacists' activities. Shifting to a six-year pharmacy education in Japan has now been decided, and new approaches are being proposed. For pharmacists to serve society in their role as health care professionals, one needs to examine the activities they are expected to perform and pharmacy education necessary to develop these skills. In this paper, pharmacy education was examined by analyzing and comparing Western countries and Japan, with a focus on Canadian pharmacists' activities and pharmacy education in Alberta.