Factors influencing future career interests of pharmacy interns in Saudi Arabia: a survey from 25 colleges of pharmacy

BMC Medical Education

Research

Reem O. Alaqi¹  Muath A. Alsufyani²  Abrar K. Thabit³  Doaa I. Alghamdi³  Alaa A. Bagalagel³ 

[1] College of Pharmacy, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia;College of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia;Pharmacy Practice Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, 7027, Abdullah Al-Sulaiman Rd, 22254-2265, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;

关键词: Pharmacy;    Pharmacists;    Students, pharmacy;    Career choice;    Internship and residency;    Saudi Arabia;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-023-04022-9

 received in 2022-10-11, accepted in 2023-01-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHundreds of pharmacists graduate from pharmacy colleges in Saudi Arabia, and various factors influence their choice of career pathway. Very few single-institution studies assessed career choices of pharmacy students with or without evaluating the influencing factors. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate career choices and the associating factors of pharmacy interns from multiple colleges in Saudi Arabia.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study that surveyed pharmacy interns from 25 pharmacy colleges in Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire. The survey was sent during the last rotation month in the internship year (May–June 2022).ResultsOf 454 participants, 411 (90.5%) were enrolled in Doctor of Pharmacy programs. While most participants were interested in becoming clinical pharmacists (n = 183; 40.3%), a considerable number were also interested in working in different sectors of pharmaceutical companies and industry (n = 127; 28%). Internship training significantly correlated with selecting clinical pharmacy specialist career (r = 0.19; P = 0.0001), whereas salary/financial incentives significantly influenced the choice of working as sales and marketing representatives and pharmacy product specialists in pharmaceutical companies (r = 0.29 and 0.24; P < 0.0001 for both). College courses correlated with choosing academia in pharmaceutical sciences (r = 0.20; P < 0.0001), whereas summer training correlated with the community pharmacy career (r = 0.11; P = 0.02).ConclusionPharmacy colleges should utilize results from this study to enhance the exposure of pharmacy students during their academic years to different pharmacy career pathways by allowing the opportunity to shadow pharmacists from different sectors as part of college courses, inviting previous graduates, and activating the role of academic advisors in career orientation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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