Choice of pharmacy, professional perceptions, and career plans of students in three Nigerian schools of pharmacy

Abstract

Background: A progressive increase in the number of students admitted to study pharmacy in Nigeria has not been met with sufficient documented evidence of their preferences and motivations. Studies on this would aid in designing a programme that matches student expectations, whilst maintaining regulatory requirements. Aim: This study evaluated students’ preferences in wanting to study pharmacy, perceptions of the profession and career choice. Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among students of all study years across three Nigerian Schools of Pharmacy after obtaining approval from their managements. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The response rate of the study was 87.5%. Most students from the three universities reported a preference for pharmacy as their first choice of course: 733 (86.0%) for University of Nigeria (UNN), 66 (71.7%) for Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU) and 48 (45.3%) for Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The students’ mean perception of pharmacy was 77.6±13.5%. However, 69.1% (UNN), 64.1% (NAU) and 59.4% (ESUT) students preferred academic pharmacy to other practice areas in pharmacy. Conclusions: Pharmacy was the preferred course of choice for most students currently enrolled in the programme. The students had generally positive perceptions towards the profession.

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

“…Despite their positive attitudes however, findings from our study and others (Beedemariam et al, 2014;James et al, 2018;Isah et al, 2021;Sajjad et al, 2021) have also highlighted that many pharmacy students would not be willing to study pharmacy a second time.…”

“…Attitudes and perceptions of pharmacy students towards the profession have generally been reported to be positive. Just as in this study, several other studies (Beedemariam et al, 2014;James et al, 2018;Isah et al, 2021;Sajjad et al, 2021) all reported that majority of their respondents wanted a career in pharmacy, were proud to tell others that they were pharmacy students and were committed to the values of the profession. Similarly, although only one study (that we are aware of) has specifically assessed pharmacy students' satisfaction with their decision to study pharmacy (Shen et al, 2014), the investigators also reported that most of their respondents were satisfied.…”

“…The final category covers education related factors including good science background, role models etc. One or more factors from these categories have been reported as influencing choice of pharmacy by students all over the world (Hasan et al, 2010;Shen et al, 2014;Beedemariam et al, 2014;James et al, 2018;Al-Qudah et al, 2019;Alshehri et al, 2021;Isah et al, 2021;Sajjad et al, 2021). The most highly rated factors by respondents in this study largely fell within the first two groups (career/work related and intrinsic factors).…”

“…Lower first choice of pharmacy study rates have been reported in the literature, ranging from 15 -50 % in studies conducted in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia (Beedemariam et al, 2014;Loo et al, 2017;James et al, 2018;Alshehri et al, 2021;Sajjad et al, 2021). Interestingly however, another study conducted in Nigeria by Isah et al (2021) equally reported that pharmacy was the first-choice course for over 70% of their respondents, suggesting that there is good awareness of pharmacy as a choice for university study within our setting, and that it in fact a popular choice.…”

“…Not much is also known is about the career preferences of Nigerian pharmacy students. Available studies by Ubaka et al, (2013) and Isah et al, (2021) were all conducted in southeastern Nigeria and reported that majority of their respondents preferred to practice in either hospital or community pharmacy settings at the time their surveys were carried out. These studies respondents also cut across several study years i.e., they were not only final year students.…”