Assessing factors influencing pharmacy interns career choices in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background The number of students enrolled in the colleges of pharmacy in Saudi Arabia is high, and the number of pharmacy graduates expected to join the workforce in the coming years is expected to grow. There are limited number of studies that assess factors influencing pharmacy students’ career choices in Saudi Arabia in the literature. The aim of this study was to assess the factors that influence career goals and to investigate students’ perceptions about their career goals. Methods This study was a prospective cross-sectional survey targeting PharmD students in their last year (i.e. interns) in the academic year of 2018 – 2019. A questionnaire containing four parts and total questions of 32 was completed by interns. Data collected and analyzed using Qualtrics. This study was reviewed and approved by the Unit of Biomedical Ethics Research Committee at King Abdulaziz University. Results 93 were reachable via email and all of them attended the interview and completed the survey (100% response rate). The most important job considerations were: work environment (67.7%), advancement opportunities (55.9%), salary (52.7%), benefits (40.9%), flexible work schedule (34%), and finally geographic region (29%). The top ranked career goal upon graduation were in industry and drug company (35.5%), clinical pharmacy (26.9%), (14%) academics/research and hospital pharmacy setting (inpatient/outpatient) (14%) each, and regulatory and community pharmacy (3.2% and 4.3%, respectively) Conclusion This study showed that work environment, advancement opportunities, and salary were the most important job consideration for pharmacy interns. The top ranked career goals were industry and drug company followed by clinical pharmacy. Further studies across Saudi Arabia are needed to confirm our results.

Career Preference and Factors Influencing Career Choice among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students at University of Khartoum, Sudan

“…On the other hand, a high proportion of males showed a preference to working as medical sales representatives (13%), compared to females (1.6%). This finding agrees with reports from Jordan [8], and Saudi Arabia [38], where the influence of gender on future career choice was observed and attributed to cultural and social reasons [38]. Fieldwork, outstation trips, night shifts, and weekend hours that may be required to complete tasks, make the medical representative position more appealing to men [8].…”

Factors influencing future career interests of pharmacy interns in Saudi Arabia: a survey from 25 colleges of pharmacy

“…Interestingly, the study also found that curriculum content was another major influencing factor (70%) unlike our study that found that such factor had an impact on career choice of only 17.8% of the participants. A study from a large pharmacy college in Saudi Arabia found that work environment, advancement opportunities, and salary were the major factors influencing career choices [6]. Studies from Saudi Arabia and China demonstrated that salary, advancement opportunities, and a motivating environment for growth were particularly important to males, whereas a flexible and stable workplace was important to females [11,12].…”

“…Moreover, another single-institution study done in 2017 showed that the preferred career pathway for Saudi female pharmacy students was hospital pharmacy in government hospitals (50.9%) followed by academia (19.4%), whereas community pharmacy was the least preferred pathway [ 5 ]. Another single-institution study found that work environment, advancement opportunities, and salary were the most important factors guiding career selection [ 6 ]. Despite the interesting findings of these studies, none investigated the reasons or influencing factors behind the career choices made by the participants.…”

Pharmacy education in Saudi Arabia: Achievements and challenges during the last two decades with a focus on Taif University as a case study

“…This was followed by academia and research centres selected by 24.8%, whereas the pharmaceutical industry and community pharmacies were the least preferred selected by 7% and 2%; respectively. Nevertheless, a similar study conducted by Bannan et al (2021) , surveyed PharmD students in their last year (i.e., interns) in the academic year 2018–2019, found that the top ranked career goals of the interns were industry and drug company followed by clinical pharmacy. This finding reflects a change in the orientation among pharmacy students who are about to be graduated who would be reading the current situation and the future opportunities more carefully than the students from lower levels.…”