Statistical Analysis of Pharmacy Students Admissions to Iranian Pharmacy Schools According to Macro-zoning for Medical Education

Background: Quality improvement of and easy access to healthcare services, especially for the deprived fraction of the society, are the two most important priorities of healthcare system in Iran. This study was performed to evaluate the number of admissions to Iranian pharmacy schools in 2015 according to the country divisions, as well as macro-zoning for medical education.
Methods: This descriptive analytical study was performed by using the information of field selection booklet of university entrance exam in Iran in 2015. The information was separated by free or public universities or private campus admissions for each province and city. In addition, the admission per capita of each province and each medical education macro-zone was calculated. The population of each province was extracted from the national census of 2011.
Results: Currently, there are 25 medical universities in 31 provinces, training pharmacy students in Iran. Totally, the capacity of pharmacy student admission to Iranian universities is 1245 individuals in 2015, which with regards to the country population of 75,130,000 people represents annual admission per capita rate of pharmacy (admission per thousand population) to be 0.02. Considering the population of each province, the highest admission per capita of pharmacy was in Zanjan (0.07), Yazd (0.05), Ardebil (0.04), Hamedan (0.04), Mazandaran (0.03) and Kermanshah (0.03), the lowest rate was in Markazi (0.002), Semnan (0.003) and Kurdistan (0.003), while there was no admission in North Khorasan, Bushehr, Qazvin, Qom, Golestan and Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad. Based on the ten macro-zones for medical education, the lowest admission per capita was in the macro-zones 4, 6, 9 (0.01) and the highest rate was in macro-zone 3 (0.03).
Conclusion: Regarding to the significant difference between the rate of admission per capita in distinct areas of the country, there is a need for adjustment and balance in the distribution of human resources, so that all provinces will receive appropriate pharmaceutical services.