College of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, PO Box 15000, 5968 College Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada.
School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9018, New Zealand.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2023 Jun;15(6):593-598. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2023.06.008. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Applications to pharmacy programs are declining worldwide. Previous research suggests that positioning of recruitment material according to prospective students' preferences may increase interest in the profession and entry-to-practice programs. The aim of this study was to determine messaging preferences for the role of the pharmacist.
This was a best-worst choice survey conducted at one institution in one country. Participants included prospective students, current pharmacy students, and others representing the general public. Thirteen statements (plus one control) describing the role of the pharmacist were extracted from pharmacy program websites. Survey participants completed the best-worst choice analysis, and a conditional logit model was used to estimate statement preference coefficients.
A total of 150 complete survey responses were collected. The top ranked statement was, "Pharmacists are health care professionals who are experts in medicines" and the least ranked statement was the control statement, "Pharmacists are experts in dispensing medications and counting tablets." No differences were observed between the different groups of survey respondents. Other highly ranked statements spoke to the expertise of the pharmacist and promoted a well-defined role. Catchy statements, such as "Pharmacists are medicines superheroes," were not ranked highly.
This study found that current and prospective pharmacy students preferred descriptive and explicit messages that align with pharmacists' professional identity for promotion of the pharmacist's role.
全球范围内，申请药学专业的人数正在下降。先前的研究表明，根据潜在学生的偏好来定位招生材料可能会增加他们对该专业和从业项目的兴趣。本研究旨在确定药剂师角色的信息传递偏好。
这是在一个国家的一个机构进行的最佳最差选择调查。参与者包括潜在学生、当前药学学生和代表公众的其他人。从药学课程网站上提取了 13 个描述药剂师角色的陈述（加一个对照陈述）。调查参与者完成了最佳最差选择分析，并使用条件逻辑回归模型估计陈述偏好系数。
共收集了 150 份完整的调查回复。排名最高的陈述是“药剂师是药品方面的医疗保健专业人员，是专家”，排名最低的陈述是对照陈述“药剂师是分发药物和计算药片的专家”。不同组别的调查受访者之间没有观察到差异。其他排名较高的陈述涉及药剂师的专业知识，并强调了明确的角色定位。像“药剂师是药品超级英雄”这样引人注目的说法并没有得到很高的评价。
本研究发现，当前和未来的药学学生更喜欢描述性和明确的信息，这些信息与药剂师的专业身份一致，有助于推广药剂师的角色。
