Self-­‐Assessment of Drug Information Skills by Third and Fourth Year Pharmacy Students

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To determine and compare the ability and confidence of pharmacy students’ drug information skills at the end of their third and fourth years of pharmacy school. METHODS: This study used a self-­‐assessment questionnaire that was distributed to third and fourth year doctor of pharmacy candidates at the end of the academic year. The questionnaire consisted of 22 items using a 5-­‐point scale that ranged from excellent (5) to poor (1) and 5 demographic questions. The topics included five categories: communication issues, resource use, critical evaluation, questions and answers, and miscellaneous items. RESULTS: Seventy-­‐one of 86 (82.6%) third year students and 51 of 79 (64.6%) fourth year students participated in the study. Fourth year students were found to be more confident than third year students in their abilities to provide drug information responses in 21 of 22 questions and in all 5 category topics (p < 0.001 for each comparison). Compared to women, men were more comfortable in speaking with health care professionals about drug information requests (p = 0.047), and were more confident in their ability to use International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (p = 0.035), to prepare an appropriate recommendation when conflicting information was found in the literature (p = 0.040), and in evaluating meta-­‐analysis literature (p = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Additional drug information requirements and experiences during the fourth year clinical rotations were associated with higher confidence in the self-­‐perception of drug information skills compared to third year pharmacy students who only had didactic courses in drug information. More studies need to be completed that compare different types of drug information rotations and requirements.