Assessment of the nutritional knowledge of undergraduate pharmacy students: The need to advance nutrition education in the training of pharmacy students

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess pharmacy students’ knowledge of aspects of nutrition relevant to pharmacy practice and as a means of imparting information through feedback to support learning and professional development. Method: 230 pharmacy students completed a 30-item nutritional informal assessment questionnaire, along with confidence assessment questions. Students were asked about the sources of information they used to answer the knowledge assessment questions, their learning experience with regards to nutrition, and their inclination to learn more about nutrition. Results: Generally, Year four pharmacy students had significantly higher scores than Year two students. However, their overall performance was still lower than that expected of graduate pharmacists. About 75.0% of the study participants agreed that they would like to learn more about nutrition. Conclusion: This study indicates the need to integrate better nutritional education into the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum. The results also suggest a need for Malaysian schools of pharmacy to offer focused learning on nutrition aligned with national health priorities and the competency level in relation to nutrition of pharmacy graduates in the country.