Perspectives of Pharmacy Graduates Toward an Undergraduate Ethics Course and Its Potential Impact on Their Professional Practice

Nadir Kheir; Ahmed Awaisu; Sohayla Ibrahim; Sara Murshid Al-Dulaimi; Hoda Gad

doi:10.2147/AMEP.S224093

Perspectives of Pharmacy Graduates Toward an Undergraduate Ethics Course and Its Potential Impact on Their Professional Practice

Adv Med Educ Pract. 2019 Dec 13:10:1047-1056. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S224093. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Nadir Kheir¹, Ahmed Awaisu², Sohayla Ibrahim², Sara Murshid Al-Dulaimi³, Hoda Gad⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Pharmacy, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates.
² College of Pharmacy, Qatar University Health, Doha, Qatar.
³ Pharmacy Department, Women Wellness and Research Center, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Weil Cornell University, Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to gauge the opinions and attitudes of pharmacy graduates toward an undergraduate ethics course they received and to explore if the ethics course was relevant to their practice.

Sample and methods: This online questionnaire-based study involved pharmacy college graduates (alumni) who, at the time of the study, were practicing in different practice settings and who had all graduated from the same college of pharmacy in Qatar. An online questionnaire comprising 27 items related to attitudes, perceptions, and impact of the undergraduate ethics course on professional practice was distributed through email to all eligible alumni. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed for data analyses, with a p-value <0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results: Of 119 invited graduates, 62 (52.1%) responded to the survey. About 73% of the respondents were satisfied with the ethics course received and 77.5% agreed that the course helped them in applying ethical principles in practice. Over 57% of the respondents discussed ethical issues in practice and 84.2% of these reported that the discussions were influenced by having had the ethics course. Barriers to applying ethical principles and discussing ethical issues in practice included lack of time (41%) and lack of reliable resources (23.1%). Participants' years of experience did not influence their attitudes toward the ethics course and its impact on professional practice (p>0.05 for both). However, practicing in a hospital setting or completing postgraduate education had a significant influence on the perception of the impact of the course on professional practice (p=0.036 and p=0.035, respectively).

Conclusion: A large proportion of pharmacy graduates value the ethics course received during their undergraduate program in pharmacy. The course appeared to have a positive influence on graduates' professional practice. Future studies should investigate specific areas that need to be reinforced in the curriculum and reliable reference resources should be developed and/or identified.

Keywords: alumni; ethics; pharmacy education; professionalism.