Factors that Influence Pharmacy Students when Choosing Career Paths

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine factors that influence the career aspirations of first and third year pharmacy students from the University of Arizona. We hypothesized that greater than 50% of first year Doctor of Pharmacy students from UA will plan on pursuing residencies upon graduation, more first year students will prefer clinical practice when compared to third year students, and the factor that contributes most to pharmacy students going into community practice is compensation. Methods: Surveys were administered during regularly scheduled classes to first and third year students. The questions contained in the data collection form consisted of demographic information and motivating factors that were implemented into the survey in the format of the Likert scale. Results: Questionnaires were completed by 83 1st year pharmacy students and 58 3rd year students. Seventeen students (29%) from the Class of 2009 and 19 students (23%) from the Class of 2011 stated that they would like to pursue a residency. First year students felt that applying clinical knowledge was the most important factor, while the third year students considered ideal geographical location to be the most important. However, the data was not statistically significant when the two groups were compared. Conclusions: The data demonstrated that pharmacy students’ preferences do not change drastically as they progress through pharmacy school. The similarity in responses from both groups may suggest that the students have not had adequate exposure to a variety of pharmacy practice settings. Both groups of students gave similar responses on their plans to pursue a residency, therefore, it did not support our hypothesis that a majority of the first year students would focus on this career path. The data does support our hypothesis of first year students’ preference of a clinical setting when compared to third year students. Salary compensation was not ranked in the top 4 most important factors, therefore, we concluded that it is not a significant aspect for students regardless of what career setting they would pursue.