Career preferences and attitude of first year Doctor of Pharmacy students toward pharmacy profession

Abstract

Objectives:To evaluate first year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students' career preferences, factors involved in this selection, and attitude toward pharmacy profession. Materials and Methods: First year PharmD students enrolled at University of Peshawar were surveyed through administration of predesigned questionnaire. The anonymous questionnaire sought students' opinions on the factors influencing their career preferences, attitude and knowledge of pharmacy profession, and importance of pharmacy profession in healthcare system. Results: Overall response rate was 93.5%. Of the total 73 respondents, 38 (54.9%) were males and 35 (45.1%) were females. Only 12 (16.4%) students were aware of the scope of pharmacy before admission to the pharmacy program. A majority of the students (82%) believed that pharmacy education and practice affect the healthcare system. Very limited numbers of the students (16.4%) were interested in research, while the remaining students were either uninterested (69.8%) or unsure about their decision (13.6%). A significant number of students (61.6%) were unaware of different postgraduate prospects of pharmacy education. More than half of the students (58.9%) wished to undertake nonpharmacy career areas upon graduation. Drug regulation was opted as preferred career choice by 21 (28.7%) students, clinical pharmacy by 18 (24.6%), hospital pharmacy by 11 (15%), and teaching by 8 (10.5%). Factors involved in such selection were family influence (34.2%), anticipated income (24.6%), and personal interest (21.9%). Conclusions: First year PharmD students showed keen interest to choose drug regulation, clinical pharmacy, and hospital pharmacy as a career upon graduation. Family influence was the most important factor involved in this selection. Few of them were interested in pharmacy-related research activities while most of the students believed that pharmacy education and practice affect the healthcare system.

Assessment of the Quality of Education Received by Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in Selected Universities in Nigeria

“…This observation is corroborated by a study carried out in Pakistan which showed that more than half of the pharmacy graduates preferred non-pharmacy jobs. 4 In this study, nearly half of the respondents indicated interest to practice outside Nigeria. This is not surprising given the exodus of professionals, including pharmacists, from their native countries that have been witnessed in recent years.…”

“…Several studies have been done on the development of pharmacy education and pharmacy practice in some parts of the world including Malaysia, 3,4 Pakistan, 5 Jordan 6 and Sudan. 7 As with most countries where pharmaceutical care is in its early stage of development, a common deficiency noted in the pharmacy curriculum of the aforementioned countries is a lack of clinical training.…”

"Educational Awareness and Knowledge Concerning Field of Biotechnology among Biotechnology Students at Debre Birhan University, North Shewa, Ethiopia"

“…The outcomes of our research are related to different investigations that decided lacking information and awareness of college scholars toward biotechnology before they get admission [26][27][28][29][30]. A vast majority of studies were pointing to mindfulness and information toward biotechnology among the overall population.…”

Factors influencing choice of a pharmacy degree and career preferences of final year pharmacy students in Northern Nigeria: A multi-institutional study

“…The study instrument was a self-administered structured questionnaire. Items for this questionnaire were adapted from instruments used in similar studies in other countries (Hasan et al, 2010;Salman et al, 2013;Shakeel et al, 2013;Loo et al, 2017;James et al, 2018;Alhomoud et al, 2019;AlQudah et al, 2019). After the instrument was designed, it was assessed for face and content validity by two clinical pharmacy lecturers and found to be adequate.…”

“…These options could include careers in hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, veterinary pharmacy and so on. Several studies have been carried out in many countries to assess career options and the factors affecting these choices among pharmacy students (Hasan et al, 2010;Ubaka et al, 2013;Shakeel et al, 2013;Salman et al, 2013;Loo et al, 2017;James et al, 2018;Alhomoud et al, 2019;Al-Qudah et al, 2019;Jarab et al, 2021). As would be expected, most of these studies have reported varying results (both for career choices and the factors influencing these choices).…”