A survey on student pharmacists' knowledge, attitude and perceptions about drug and poison information elective rotation in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Drug and poison information (DPI) elective rotation develops interns into drug information experts, educators, and policymakers. DPI is an important pharmaceutical service built on technical skills, knowledge and expertise. Aim: A pre- and post-rotation survey to assess the current knowledge, attitude and perceptions of student pharmacists about DPI rotation. Methods: Three cohorts of student pharmacists responded to the survey, which was composed of closed- and open-ended questions. Descriptive statistics, McNemar's test, and Chi-square test were utilised for data analysis. Results: Knowledge of primary resources increased from 37.2% to 85.6% at the end of the rotation. In the beginning, only 13.8% were aware of Pharmacy and Therapeutic committee related activities, and 15.9% considered identification adverse drug reactions as auxiliary responsibilities. However, the proportion increased to 82% and 83.5% by the end of the rotation. Both at the beginning and the end, student pharmacists felt the training was essential to appraise literature. Twice the number of respondents expressed that there were job opportunities in the DPI centre post-rotation compared with the pre-rotation response (p<0.001). The perception of responding to queries at their own pace was significantly reversed post-rotation (p<0.001). A significant association was found between opportunities in DPI centre and motivation to choose this rotation (p<0.05). Also, knowledge of primary resources with previous research was significantly associated (p<0.05). Conclusion: Interventions such as journal club, guest lectures and visit to the DPI centre significantly improved the knowledge, attitude and perceptions of student pharmacists towards this DPI rotation.