Expanding Dress Code Requirements in the Doctor of Pharmacy Program

To the Editor: We appreciate the perspective of Dr. Fargo in her response to our article, “Expanding Dress Code Requirements in the Doctor of Pharmacy Program.”¹ We initiated this article to address both the potential advantages and disadvantages to implementing a dress code to facilitate a discussion surrounding this topic and to assist programs that might be considering this in their curriculum. However, it was not our intention to recommend one argument over the other in this article.

Dr. Fargo is correct that our conclusions supporting a dress code were based on articles not written with the professional pharmacy student in mind. We point out in our methods statement that it was necessary to expand our literature search to include other health professions and educational environments due to the limited number of scientific articles specific to pharmacy students. Thus, we confined our support for a professional dress code to only potential benefits that may result.

One thing is clear, there is little evidence for or against the adoption of a dress code in PharmD programs, and there may be opportunities for further research and investigation into the effect this has on professionalism and educational outcomes.

• © 2017 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy