Of Pharmacy Career Explorers

Impact Of Pharmacy Career Explorers Program On High School Students' - Perceptions Of The Pharmacy Profession

Objective

To determine the effect of Pharmacy Career Explorers 5 week Program (CEP) on high school students' perceptions of pharmacists' characteristics, duties, and training.

Methods

A 16-item survey instrument with attitudinal, frequency, and relative quantity response options was completed by all of Pharmacy Career Explorers students on the first and last day of the program. The survey assessed students' attitudes concerning pharmacist characteristics, duties, and training.

Results

All students who participated in the CEP in 2003 completed the survey instrument (n = 50). Seventy percent of respondents' answers to the attitudinal subscale questions significantly changed from preassessment to postassessment.

Conclusion

A 5-week CEP provided high school students with more realistic perceptions of pharmacists' roles, duties, and training before the students entered the pharmacy program.

CEP students' attitudes and opinions regarding several aspects of pharmacist characteristics, duties, and training changed during the course of Pharmacy Career Explorers program. Awareness of the profession increased among the students and many of the participants' negative stereotypes about pharmacy and pharmacists were dispelled.

Throughout high school, students attempt to determine what the future holds for them upon graduation but it is challenging to make life-altering decisions with limited awareness of available careers. The CEP provides students considering pharmacy as a career with the opportunity to experience the pharmacy profession, thus preparing CEP students to make a more informed career choice. The CEP may be used as a template for program creation at other schools of pharmacy.