Pharmacy career deciding: making choice a “good fit”

Willis, Sarah; Shann, Phillip; Hassell, Karen

doi:10.1108/14777260910942579

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Interestingly, the study found that dissatisfaction with career decision was prevalent amongst students who chose pharmacy due to pragmatic reasons such as high income, or those who sought alternative career pathways such as health policy or medicine/dentistry. Previous research has highlighted that those who undertake pharmacy study not as a final career destination and have alternate degrees such as medicine in mind, are less satisfied with their career choice and thus continue to plan exit avenues into other careers 20,34. Further research is required to test the likelihood of these students staying in pharmacy for a better understanding of workforce retention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Course experiences, satisfaction and career intent of final year pre-registration Australian pharmacy students

Shen

Fois

Nissen

et al. 2014

Pharmacy Practice (Internet)

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BackgroundIn Australia, the profession of pharmacy has undergone many changes to adapt to the needs of the community. In recent years, concerns have been raised with evidence emerging of workforce saturation in traditional pharmacy practice sectors. It is not known how current final year pharmacy students’ perceive the different pharmacy career paths in this changing environment. Hence investigating students’ current experiences with their pharmacy course, interaction with the profession and developing an understanding of their career intentions would be an important step, as these students would make up a large proportion of future pharmacy workforce.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was thus to investigate final year students’ career perspectives and the reasons for choosing pharmacy, satisfaction with this choice of pharmacy as a tertiary course and a possible future career, factors affecting satisfaction and intention of future career paths.MethodsA quantitative cross sectional survey of final year students from 3 Australian universities followed by a qualitative semi-structured interview of a convenience sample of final year students from the University of Sydney.Results‘Interest in health and medicine’ was the most important reason for choosing pharmacy (n=238). The majority of students were ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the choice of pharmacy (35.7%) as a course and possible future career. Positive associations were found between satisfaction and reasons for joining pharmacy such as ‘felt pharmacy is a good profession’ (p=0.003) while negative associations included ‘joined pharmacy as a gateway to medicine or dentistry’ (p=0.001). Quantitate and qualitative results showed the most frequent perception of community pharmacy was ‘changing’ while hospital and pharmaceutical industry was described as ‘competitive’ and ‘research’ respectively. The highest career intention was community followed by hospital pharmacy.ConclusionComplex factors including university experiences are involved in shaping students’ satisfaction and perception of career. This may relate to challenges in the community pharmacy sector, job opportunities in hospital and limited understanding of the pharmaceutical industry. The results offer insight for the profession in terms of entry into various roles and also to pharmacy educators for their roles in shaping curricula and placement experiences that attract future graduates to defined career pathways in pharmacy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Course experiences, satisfaction and career intent of final year pre-registration Australian pharmacy students

Shen

Fois

Nissen

et al. 2014

Pharmacy Practice (Internet)

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“…Most importantly their socio-economic status and the type of health care systems all over the world 9 . Also, pharmacy students' undergraduate curriculum and their experiences in the final year of their graduate study can be an impact on their decisions 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intentions and Perceptions of Iraqi Pharmacy Students Toward Postgraduate Education

Ahmed¹,

Kadhim²,

Ali³

2018

Int. Res. J. Pharm.

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Background: An evolving need for highly qualified pharmacists is encountered recently in pharmacy practice; as a result, an increasing number of pharmacists considered a postgraduate study to improve their careers. Objectives: to identify the pharmacy students' intentions and perceptions toward postgraduate study and the factors influencing their decision. Methods: A questionnaire was answered by final year pharmacy students' in the College of Pharmacy/ University of Baghdad. Numbers and percent used to measure the frequency of responses and a 5-point Likert scale were used to assess factors influencing students' preferences. Results: out of 182 students, about 84.1% intended to join the residency program in Iraq, a small percentage wanted to pursue postgraduate study directly post-graduation (4.95% in Iraq vs. 2.75% abroad). After the residency program, most students intended to pursue postgraduate studies in Iraq (62.1%) vs. (9.9%) abroad; a considerable percent (28%) decided not to pursue further study. Funding was mostly influencing students' intentions to study. University grades were a determinant in choosing higher education over residency program. The 3 most preferable areas of specialization were clinical pharmacy, pharmacology and quality control of drugs, in order to get a better job opportunity. Conclusions: pharmacy students had the intentions to pursue postgraduate studies in Iraq but after completing their residency program. Getting married is the main obstacle against studying abroad. Unaffordable cost was the most influencing factor against studying directly after graduation. The most effective motive for pursuing postgraduate study was to get better job opportunities.

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“…As a result, despite making curriculum changes to support the development of patient-centred pharmacists, there are a number of studies which suggest that graduates are unable (or find it difficult) to enact patient-centred ways of being a pharmacist 7,8. Health professional education (including medicine and nursing) and other professions (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Becoming a pharmacist: the role of curriculum in professional identity formation

Noble

Coombes

Shaw

et al. 2014

Pharmacy Practice (Internet)

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ObjectiveTo understand how the formal curriculum experience of an Australian undergraduate pharmacy program supports students’ professional identity formation.MethodsA qualitative ethnographic study was conducted over four weeks using participant observation and examined the ‘typical’ student experience from the perspective of a pharmacist. A one-week period of observation was undertaken with each of the four year groups (that is, for years one to four) comprising the undergraduate curriculum. Data were collected through observation of the formal curriculum experience using field notes, a reflective journal and informal interviews with 38 pharmacy students. Data were analyzed thematically using an a priori analytical framework.ResultsOur findings showed that the observed curriculum was a conventional curricular experience which focused on the provision of technical knowledge and provided some opportunities for practical engagement. There were some opportunities for students to imagine themselves as pharmacists, for example, when the lecture content related to practice or teaching staff described their approach to practice problems. However, there were limited opportunities for students to observe pharmacist role models, experiment with being a pharmacist or evaluate their professional identities. While curricular learning activities were available for students to develop as pharmacists e.g. patient counseling, there was no contact with patients and pharmacist academic staff tended to role model as educators with little evidence of their pharmacist selves.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the current conventional approach to the curriculum design may not be fully enabling learning experiences which support students in successfully negotiating their professional identities. Instead it appeared to reinforce their identities as students with a naïve understanding of professional practice, making their future transition to professional practice challenging.

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Pharmacy career deciding: making choice a “good fit”

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

Course experiences, satisfaction and career intent of final year pre-registration Australian pharmacy students

Course experiences, satisfaction and career intent of final year pre-registration Australian pharmacy students

Intentions and Perceptions of Iraqi Pharmacy Students Toward Postgraduate Education

Becoming a pharmacist: the role of curriculum in professional identity formation

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