Academic Recognition of Pharmacy Assistants in Spain: from the professional diploma to the official degree (1939-2015)

Abstract

From the beginning of the 20th century, Spanish pharmacy assistants tried -unsuccessfully – to claim a title that would grant them social prestige and that would protect them as health professionals. Their claims were legitimized by the provisions of the Instrucción General de Sanidad Pública of 1904 and were inspired by the professional recognition that the auxiliary professions of Medicine had been receiving since the end of the 18th century. In this work we show the path followed by the pharmacy assistants in striving for the recognition of their title, as well as the results achieved, from the end of our Civil War until recent years. We start with the creation of the Cuerpo Auxiliar de Practicantes de Farmacia  Militar and what this legislation meant for the professional recognition of the military pharmacy assistants. We continue with the claims of civilian pharmacy practitioners, once the Reglamentación Nacional de Trabajo en Farmacias (1948) was published, which recognized the legitimacy of the professional training for pharmacy workers, as well as their  corresponding degree or diploma. And we end with the bulk of the work, in which we analyse the diploma promoted and managed by the Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de  Farmacéuticos during the 1960s and 1970s, and the inclusion of pharmacy assistant studies within the educational framework of the Formación Profesional.