EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: A cross-sectional online survey involving second-year pharmacy students of Monash Malaysia (MA) and Monash Australia (PA) campuses was conducted. The survey consisted of 15 Likert-scale multiple-choice questions and an open-ended question. Data were analysed statistically.
FINDINGS: Students at both MA and PA campuses were satisfied with the remote online learning experienced during the pandemic but indicated a preference for a blended learning approach. Students at the MA campus felt that on-campus face-to-face classes were more engaging and advantageous for their learning and skills development (P
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: We present the approach to remote extemporaneous compounding teaching taken by three pharmacy schools: Monash University Malaysia, University of Michigan, and University of Maryland. Prior to delivery, students were either supplied with or asked to procure a set of easily accessible ingredients and equipment to conduct the extemporaneous practicals from home. We conducted lessons remotely using both synchronous and asynchronous delivery, and demonstrated, taught, and assessed practical lab skills using video conferencing modalities.
FINDINGS: We successfully conducted remote teaching of extemporaneous compounding, where similar learning outcomes to the face-to-face implementation were achieved. At Monash University Malaysia, > 90% of students responding to the post-activity surveys found the remote extemporaneous sessions useful for their learning, and qualitative comments supported these views. Mean scores from the remote extemporaneous labs in 2021 were similar to those when conducted physically in 2019, supporting the effectiveness of the approach. The different approaches attempted by the three institutions highlighted the flexibility in implementation that can be considered to achieve similar outcomes.
SUMMARY: Combining technology-based approaches with synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning methods can successfully deliver extemporaneous compounding skills remotely.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2021. An online survey, consisting of socio-demographic characteristics, Internet use, eHealth Literacy Scale and mobile health application utilisation, was distributed amongst pharmacy undergraduates in public and private universities in Malaysia. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance test, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test.
RESULTS: A total of 415 participants completed the survey (response rate = 82.5%). The median eHealth Literacy Scale score (out of 40) was 31.0 ± 3.0 (interquartile range). More than one-third of participants (34.7%) were found to have low eHealth literacy. Many lacked confidence in making health decisions from online information (42.4%) and skills in distinguishing between high-quality and low-quality health resources (35.2%). Only 70.4% of the participants had mobile health applications installed on their smartphones and/or tablets. Some students felt that they were neither knowledgeable nor skilful enough to utilise mobile health applications (24.8%), whereas 23.9% were unaware of the mobile health applications available.
CONCLUSION: In summary, the eHealth literacy of Malaysian pharmacy students can be further enhanced by incorporating eHealth literacy-focused programmes into the curriculum. Moreover, pharmacy students' mobile health application utilisation can be improved through increased awareness and support from universities.
METHODS: A qualitative research design was used. In-depth interviews with structured questions following the Context, Input, Process, and Product/Outcomes model framework were conducted with four academic staff, three alumni, and three alumni supervisors from six study sites in six countries. Interview questions were constructed in Thai and translated to English by using forward and backward translation. Verbatim transcriptions were used to perform thematic analysis with investigator triangulation.
RESULTS: Sixty participants were included. The context showed three main themes related to Burden of NCDs, Pharmacist Roles in NCDs, and Goals. The input showed three main themes of Teaching Methods, Development Plans for Academic Staff, and Budgets and Infrastructure. The process showed one main theme of Struggles in Teaching Methods. The outcomes/outputs showed three main themes of Individual, Organizational, and Professional Levels. Schools need curricula that focus on NCDs, pharmacist competency and skills, and academic preparation of students for practice. Gaps limiting achievement of goals included lack of well-trained academic staff, limited learning facilities, self-learning opportunities, acceptance from other health professionals, and career ladders.
CONCLUSIONS: The preparation of pharmacy students varied in six ASEAN countries. Pharmacy education programs must address existing gaps that limit achievement of goals related to NCDs.
METHODS: All fourth-year pharmacy students enrolled in Monash University in 2017 were provided access to MOVE. Cost-minimization analyses were performed to evaluate the cost of introducing MOVE in the pharmacy course using the smallest cohort size (Malaysia campus) of 40 students as the base case. We also determined under what circumstances MOVE would be more cost-effective, considering the different operational situations such as when student numbers increased or when the number of simulation modules created were increased.
RESULTS: The overall cost of setup and implementation of MOVE in the first year of implementation among 40 students was US $94.38 per student. In comparison, the face-to-face workshop cost was US $64.14 per student. On the second year of implementation, the ongoing cost of operation of MOVE was US $32.86 per student compared with US $58.97 per student using face-to-face workshop. A net benefit using MOVE was observed after the third year of implementation. Larger savings were noted when the cohort size extends larger than 100 students.
CONCLUSIONS: Monash OSCE Virtual Experience was a flexible and cost-effective approach to aid students in preparation for an OSCE and enhanced students' learning experience. The wider applicability of these findings will need to be explored in other settings.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate pharmacy students in 14 countries in Asia and the Middle East. The validated Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (the 14-item WEMWBS) was adopted to assess mental wellbeing. Data collection was performed online between February and April 2022. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used as appropriate.
RESULTS: A total of 2,665 responses were received, mainly from females (68.7%) with a higher presence of private universities (59.1%). About 34.9% had low mental wellbeing levels, while 57 and 8.1% had medium, and high levels, respectively. Binary logistic regression showed that males (AOR: 1.34; CI 95%: 1.11-1.61; p < 0.01) and students with no chronic illnesses (AOR: 2.01; CI 95%: 1.45-2.80; p < 0.001) were more likely to have higher mental wellbeing. Also, participants who did not engage in any exercise (AOR: 0.71; CI 95%: 0.52-0.98; p = 0.04) and those in public universities (AOR: 0.82; CI 95%: 0.69-0.97; p = 0.02) were less likely to have higher mental wellbeing. Additionally, students who had interest/passion for pharmacy (AOR: 1.69; CI 95%: 1.07-2.68; p = 0.02), and those who known pharmacists inspired (AOR: 1.81; CI 95%: 1.06-3.12; p = 0.03), were more likely to have higher mental wellbeing compared with those who had no specific reason for their choice to study pharmacy. The participants with excellent (AOR: 1.87; CI 95%: 1.29-2.70; p = 0.001) or very good self-reported academic performance (AOR: 1.57; CI 95%: 1.12-2.22; p = 0.01) were more likely to have higher mental wellbeing compared to those with fair academic performance.
CONCLUSION: More than a third of the participants had low mental wellbeing. Various demographic, lifestyle, medical and academic factors appeared to affect students' mental wellbeing. Careful consideration of these factors and their integration into the pharmacy schools' plans for student support services and academic advising would be essential to improve students' mental wellbeing.
METHODS: This qualitative interview study was conducted among final year pharmacy students. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling until data saturation (i.e., when additional interviews didn't lead to any new themes). All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and evaluated by thematic analysis.
KEY FINDINGS: Twenty-two final year pharmacy students were interviewed. Fifteen of them preferred the government sector as their choice training, three chose the community sector, two preferred private hospitals and another two preferred the pharmaceutical industry. The majority of the students gave positive feedback towards the liberalization of PRP training sites. Most of them chose clinical pharmacy as their preferred training site despite knowing of the saturation issue in government hospitals. This was mainly due to the opportunity to gain clinical experience and knowledge from the government sector. A small number of students preferred the pharmaceutical industry based on their personal interests and opportunities for career advancement.
CONCLUSION: Pharmacy students generally chose their PRP training site based on personal interest, future career advancement and working environment. A better understanding of career pathways and opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry by the students is required.
METHODS: A cross-sectional data analysis of Pharmacy students' learning environment from 2011-2015 based on data from module, faculty, IMU-REEM and Student Barometer Survey was applied. Feedback obtained from the data was triangulated to establish commonalities/differences of the issues.
RESULTS: Based on the analysis, issues affecting Pharmacy student learning experiences were identified. The identified issues included teaching by subject matter experts, pedagogical delivery and physical learning environment. Seven lessons were presented for educators to assess the practicality of the feedback.
CONCLUSIONS: The feedback serves as a means to improve the Pharmacy program. Nonetheless, the challenges lie between the ideal and realistic expectations of students in optimizing the learning experiences. Lessons acquired from the evaluation of the learning environment are essential for educators in managing and using the information.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing self-administered questionnaires among pharmacy students in Malaysia. Descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Spearman's correlation test were used for analysis.
RESULTS: A total of 328 pharmacy students enrolled in this study, and 84.1% (n = 276) had video game experience. Students usually played video games using mobile phones (n = 231, 70%). Pharmacy students showed positive perceptions regarding serious games with a mean score of 3.69. However, limited awareness and knowledge of serious games was observed among pharmacy students. The most preferred game genres were role-playing and strategy (n = 174, 53%). Pharmacy students also preferred playing a cooperative game style (n = 113, 34.5%) with scores as a reward system (n = 204, 62.6%). Over three quarters (n = 292, 89.3%) wanted to see the results of the assessment after the game.
CONCLUSIONS: This research provided information on serious games preferences of local pharmacy students. Further study should evaluate the acceptance and effectiveness of the implementation of serious games among pharmacy students in Malaysia.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at a public university in Malaysia. Data were collected using an electronic, validated, pre-tested modified version of the short Grit scale between December 2019 and January 2020. Correlation between grit and self-reported cumulative grade point average (CGPA) was examined.
RESULTS: Of 444 students invited to participate, 247 completed the questionnaire (response rate 55.6%). Mean age was 21.4 ± 1.5 years, and 70.6% were female. The mean grit score was 3.1 ± 0.4 (out of 5.0). Students had higher scores in the perseverance of effort subscale (3.3 ± 0.7) than the consistency of interest subscale (2.9 ± 0.5). Students with self-reported CGPAs ≥3.50 had higher mean grit (3.3 ± 0.4) than those with CGPAs of 3.00 to 3.49 (3.0 ± 0.4) and
Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted via a web-based survey in May 2020. All pharmacy students enrolled at Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, were invited to take part in the study.
Results: A total of 232 out of 460 students took part in the study, giving a response rate of 50.43%. The mean total knowledge score was 9.87 ± 2.04 (maximum attainable score, 12). The majority of the participants (n=163; 70.3%) believed COVID-19 is a health threat to their community in the early months of the pandemic. Moreover, the majority (93%) also believed that the lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic was necessary to contain the pandemic. Encouragingly, 86.6% reported that they did not go to any crowded places during the pandemic with more female students avoiding crowded places compared to male students (91.6% versus 78.7%, respectively, P = 0.005). The majority (91%) also reported that they were following the strategies recommended by the authorities to prevent the spread of the virus. Encouragingly, 54.3% reported that the pandemic either had no effect or just a limited effect on their studies. However, 38.5% reported that they always felt or frequently felt nervous or anxious during the pandemic.
Conclusion: The study showed that pharmacy students had good knowledge as well as positive attitudes and good practices towards COVID-19 and the preventive measures. However, during the early months, the pandemic did have a negative psychological impact on a number of students. Consequently, proactive psychological and social support services to the students should be considered during the current and future pandemics. In addition, it is important to consider and proactively address key issues that could cause stress and anxiety among students when shifting to distance learning and assessments.
Objective: The current study aimed to assess the beliefs and implementations of community pharmacists in the UAE regarding evidence-based practice (EBP) and to explore the significant factors governing their EBP.
Setting: Community pharmacies in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, UAE.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted over six months between December 2017 and June 2018. Community pharmacists who had three months' professional experience or more and were registered with one of three regulatory bodies (Ministry of Health, Health Authority Abu Dhabi, or Dubai Health Authority) were interviewed by three trained final-year pharmacy students. Face-to-face interviews were then carried out and a structured questionnaire was used.
Metrics: The average beliefs score was 36% (95% CI: [34%, 39%]) compared to an implementation score of 35% (95% CI: [33%, 37%]).
Results: A total of 505 subjects participated in the study and completed the entire questionnaire. On average, participants scored higher in beliefs score than implementation score. The results of the statistical modelling showed that younger, female, higher-position pharmacists with more experience and with low percentages of full-time working, and graduates from international/regional universities were more likely to believe in and implement the concept of EBP.
Conclusion: A gap was identified between the beliefs and implementation of EBP. Developing educational EBP courses in undergraduate pharmacy curricula is of high importance, not only to increase knowledge levels but also to encourage commitment in those pharmacists to strive for professionalism and to support the provided patient care with evidence.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved third- and fourth-year pharmacy students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. A validated self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students who had taken a vOSCE a week before.
RESULTS: Out of the 253 students who were approached, 231 (91.3%) completed the questionnaire. More than 75% of the participants agreed that the instructions and preparations were clear and helpful in familiarizing them with the vOSCE flow. It was found that 53.2% of the respondents were satisfied with the flow and conduct of the vOSCE. However, only approximately one-third of the respondents believed that the tasks provided in the vOSCE were more convenient, less stressful, and easier to perform than those in the conventional OSCE. Furthermore, 49.7% of the students favored not having a vOSCE in the future when conducting a conventional OSCE becomes feasible again. Internet connection was reported as a problem hindering the performance of the vOSCE by 51.9% of the participants. Students who were interested in clinical pharmacy courses were more satisfied than other students with the preparation and operation of the vOSCE, the faculty support, and the allocated time.
CONCLUSION: Students were satisfied with the organization and operation of the vOSCE. However, they still preferred the conventional OSCE over the vOSCE. These findings might indicate a further need to expose students to telehealthcare models.
OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the implementation of a full cohort IPE activity for medical and pharmacy students delivered at both the Australian and Malaysian campuses of Monash University.
DESIGN: We designed a 150-minute, blended learning activity centred around asthma care for second-year medical and pharmacy students. Student perceptions were measured with a pre- and post-activity survey using the validated ten-item, three-factor, SPICE-R2 instrument. Analysis focused on differences between professions and countries.
RESULTS: All second-year medicine (N = 301 in Australia and N = 107 in Malaysia) and pharmacy students (N = 168 in Australia and N = 117 in Malaysia) participated in the learning activity. A total of 326/693 (47%) students participated in the associated research by completing both the pre- and post-activity surveys. The pre-activity survey showed significant differences in four items between medicine and pharmacy students in Australia and two items in Malaysia. Post-activity, we observed significant changes in 8/10 items when the two professions were combined. Specifically, we noted changes across the countries in perceptions of roles and responsibilities for collaborative practice and patient outcomes from collaborative practice.
CONCLUSIONS: IPE across different professions and countries is feasible. Positive outcomes in role understanding and perceived patient outcomes are achievable through a context-sensitive, locally driven approach to implementation. Longitudinal experiences may be required to influence perceptions of teamwork and team-based care.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective online questionnaire based survey was carried out among the pharmacy students about knowledge, attitude perception and practice of antibiotics using 5-point "Likert scale" and true/false responses. The responses range from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and always to never were recorded. The data were analysed by using simple descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: Out of 300 students approached 212 responded and the response rate was found to be 71%. In this study, most (95%) of the students were aware of the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance due to inappropriate use of antibiotics. Majority (89%) of the students agreed the inappropriate use of antibiotics can increase the overall cost of treatment. However, over half of the (54%) students were not aware of the antibiotic resistance that may be a nation-wide problem of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The net positive response (NPR) and net other response (NOR) of all items in perception on antibiotics received more or less equal responses.
CONCLUSION: The knowledge of antibiotics usage among the students are considerably good compared with previous studies. However, the attitude, perception and practice on antibiotics usage among the pharmacy students are very poor. It alarms the need of appropriate education to enlighten antibiotic awareness for the better disease prevention and health outcomes for the benefit of patient community.
Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among 482 medical, dental, and pharmacy students of 3rd- and 4th-year degree program of Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University to assess their KAP about HB infection using 34 prevalidated questions by convenient sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to the students, and their responses were measured at "yes" and "no" scale. Students' responses were entered in SPSS version 22, and quantitative analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests at P < 0.05.
Findings: The medical, dental, and pharmacy students had good knowledge and practice with positive attitude about HB infection. Mann-Whitney U-test determined a significant difference in knowledge (P < 0.001) and practice (P < 0.001) scores between medical and pharmacy, attitude (P < 0.001) scores between medical and dental, and attitude (P < 0.001) and practice (P < 0.001) scores between pharmacy and dental students. Students' age was correlated with their attitude, practice, and KAP scores and family income with their knowledge, attitude, practice, and KAP scores.
Conclusion: Although students' knowledge and practice were good with positive attitude, all the students did not participate in health education program, screening, and vaccination of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection which makes them more vulnerable to occupational HBV infection. Hence, it is recommended to organize a regular health education program for the students on screening and vaccination against HBV to prevent its infection.