Are we on the right track? Answers from a national survey of Thai graduates’ perceptions during the transition to the 6-year PharmD program

Figures & data

Table 1 Perceived professional core competencies (six domains) of Thai pharmacy graduates (N=1,744)

Confident in professional core competencies	Who agreed and strongly agreed, n	%
Domain 1 – Professional ethics: mean score (SD) =4.6 (0.51)
Concern on patient-centered care	1,666	95.5
Provide on-site services during service hours	1,627	93.3
Follow basic moral standards	1,575	90.3
Domain 2 – Pharmaceutical care services: mean score (SD) =4.0 (0.60)
Provide dispensing and counseling at an outpatient unit	1,451	83.2
Perform drug use evaluation and promote rational drug use	1,436	82.3
Screen prescriptions	1,395	80.0
Manage adverse drug reactions	1,373	78.7
Perform medical reconciliation	1,320	75.7
Provide clinical services at an inpatient unit	1,233	70.7
Advice on herbal and alternative medicines	1,067	61.2
Domain 3 – System management: mean score (SD) =4.0 (0.58)
Communicate and educate patients and health care team	1,489	85.4
Provide appropriate drug and health information	1,472	84.4
Work with interdisciplinary health care team	1,441	82.3
Develop a work project and resources planning	1,337	76.8
Manage on medication system for rational drug use	1,277	73.2
Understand about hospital accreditation	1,112	63.8
Participate in improving the hospital’s information technology system	1,063	61.0
Domain 4 – Medication selection and procurement: mean score (SD) =3.8 (0.62)
Apply knowledge of pharmaceutical dosage forms on drug selection and clinical practice	1,434	82.2
Prepare non-sterile pharmaceutical regimens for single patient use	1,210	69.4
Apply knowledge of pharmacopeias and certificate of analysis in drug selection	1,177	67.5
Apply knowledge of medicinal chemistry on drug selection and clinical practice	1,137	65.2
Apply knowledge of pharmaceutical quality control on drug selection and clinical practice	1,065	61.1
Manage medical system for drug storage, packing, and distribution	1,017	58.3
Domain 5 – Primary health care and consumer protection: mean score (SD) =3.8 (0.70)
Perform home health care services and primary care services	1,188	68.1
Conduct interventions to solve public health problems in rural community	1,146	65.7
Conduct proactive primary health care services	1,074	61.6
Conduct a consumer health protection services: pre-marketing control	1,021	58.5
Conduct a consumer health protection services: post-marketing control	1,018	58.4
Domain 6 – Pharmaceutical industry: mean score (SD) = 3.6 (0.73)
Understand drug laws and regulations	1,135	65.1
Understand good pharmaceutical practice	1,087	62.3
Understand pharmaceutical manufacturing, industry level	999	57.3
Understand drug development process	932	53.4
Understand drug regulation and product registration process	927	53.2
Develop pharmaceutical formulary	896	51.4
Develop a research protocol	877	50.3

Table 2 Respondent self-perception and perceptions toward pharmacy profession (N=1,744)

Perceptions	na	%
Self-perception
Proud to be a pharmacist	1,613	92.5
Apply knowledge and skills in real-world practice	1,543	88.5
Confident in performing tasks as a pharmacist-in-charge	1,502	86.1
Apply knowledge and skills to solve organizations’ problems	1,412	81.0
Computer skill	1,234	70.8
Life-long learning	1,145	65.7
English skill	876	50.2
Intend to pursue for postgraduate study	848	48.6
Perceptions toward pharmacy profession
Pharmacy profession contributes to patients’ health	1,591	91.2
Pharmacy profession contributes to rational drug use	1,582	90.7
Pharmacy profession has honor and is recognized by other professions	1,471	84.4
Professional peers have good relationship and support each other	1,402	80.4
Pharmacy professional organizations are strong and reliable	1,197	68.6
6-year program worth for future career	1,300	74.5
Intend to continue working in the preferred job without changing	1,127	64.6
Willing to be a preceptor	1,095	62.8
Pharmacy profession gained confidence from the public	859	49.3

Note:

a Those answered 4 (agree) and 5 (strongly agree) in 5-point Likert scale.

Table 3 Respondent characteristics (n=1,744)

Characteristics	n	%
Gender
Female	1,301	74.6
Male	443	25.4
Pharmacy program
6-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)	1,270	72.8
5-year Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm)	474	27.2
Specialty track
Pharmaceutical care	1,154	66.2
Industrial pharmacy	590	33.8
University
Public	1,202	68.9
Private	481	27.6
Unidentified	61	3.5
GPA, mean (SD)	3.06 (0.43)
Age (years), mean (SD)	25.0 (2.6)

Abbreviation: GPA, grade point average.

Table 4 Graduates’ planned workplace

Planned workplace	First rank		Second rank		Third rank		Total scorea	Average total scoreb
	n	%	N	%	n	%
Hospital	626	35.9	240	13.8	158	9.1	2,516	35.8
Community pharmacy	288	16.5	671	38.5	174	10.0	2,380	33.9
Pharmaceutical sales and marketing	121	6.9	108	6.2	217	12.4	796	11.3
Pharmaceutical industry	100	5.7	74	4.2	157	9.0	605	8.6
University lecturer	27	1.6	56	3.2	180	10.3	37.3	5.3
Product regulation and consumer protection	24	1.4	39	2.2	207	11.9	357	5.1
							7,027	100

Notes:

a Total score = (n of first rank × 3) + (n of second rank × 2) + (n of third rank × 1).

b Average total score = total score × 100/sum of total score.

Table 5 Differences in perceptions and planned workplace of graduates from 5-year BPharm to 6-year PharmD program with specialty tracks

Perceptions	Odds ratioa (95% CI)
	6-year PharmD program (Ref.: 5-year BPharm)		Pharmaceutical care track (Ref.: industrial pharmacy track)
Professional competency domain
Professional ethics	2.64b	(1.43, 4.90)	0.94	(0.62, 1.42)
Pharmaceutical care services	0.80	(0.56, 1.13)	2.29b	(1.83, 2.87)
Primary health care and consumer protection	0.77	(0.55, 1.09)	1.36b	(1.09, 1.70)
System management	1.05	(0.747, 1.48)	1.31b	(1.05, 1.64)
Medication selection and procurement	1.25	(0.89, 1.76)	0.62b	(0.50, 0.77)
Pharmaceutical industry	1.07	(0.75, 1.53)	0.46b	(0.37, 0.58)
Proud to be a pharmacist	1.95b	(1.04, 3.66)	1.29	(0.85, 1.94)
Confident in performing tasks as a pharmacy in charge	1.85b	(1.13, 3.05)	1.007	(0.728, 1.39)
Pharmacy profession contributes to patients’ health	3.28b	(1.76, 6.12)	0.73	(0.48, 1.12)
Pharmacy profession contributes to rational drug use	2.48b	(1.35, 4.53)	0.84	(0.56, 1.25)
6-year program worth for future career	1.67b	(1.13, 2.47)	1.70b	(1.33, 2.19)
Retention in preferred job	1.07	(0.75, 1.55)	1.71b	(1.36, 2.15)
Willingness to be a preceptor	1.33	(0.93, 1.90)	1.67b	(1.09, 1.72)
Planned workplace
Hospital	1.18	(0.79, 1.74)	3.92b	(3.00, 5.13)
Community pharmacy	1.04	(0.68, 1.58)	0.85	(0.64, 1.14)
Pharmaceutical industry	4.95b	(2.29, 10.73)	0.04b	(0.02, 0.07)
Product regulation and consumer protection	1.75	(0.46, 6.59)	0.31b	(0.13, 0.73)
Pharmaceutical sales and marketing	0.73	(0.38, 1.40)	0.35b	(0.23, 0.53)
University lecturer	0.64	(0.15, 2.72)	0.44b	(0.19, 0.97)

Notes:

a Adjusted for gender, GPA, academic program (5-year BPharm or 6-year PharmD), specialty track (pharmaceutical care or industrial pharmacy), type of university (public or private).

b Statistically significant at P<0.05. All bold odds ratio’s are statistically significant.

Abbreviation: GPA, grade point average.

Table S1 Factor analysis for Thai pharmacy core professional competencies

Domain	Component
Professional ethics
Follow basic moral standards	0.648
Provide on-site services during service hours	0.793
Concern on patient-centered care	0.809
Systems management
Develop a work project and resource planning	0.548
Understand about hospital accreditation	0.758
Participate in improving the hospital’s information technology system	0.775
Manage on medication system for rational drug use	0.720
Work with interdisciplinary health care team	0.630
Communicate with and educate patients and health care team	0.553
Provide appropriate drug and health information	0.475
Medication selection and procurement
Apply knowledge of pharmaceutical dosage forms on drug selection and clinical practice	0.577
Apply knowledge of medicinal chemistry on drug selection and clinical practice	0.654
Apply knowledge of pharmaceutical quality control on drug selection and clinical practice	0.675
Apply knowledge of pharmacopoeias and certificate of analysis in drug selection	0.666
Manage the medical system for drug storage, packing, and distribution	0.604
Prepare nonsterile pharmaceutical regimens for single patient use	0.531
Pharmaceutical care services
Perform drug use evaluation and promote rational drug use	0.723
Manage adverse drug reactions	0.757
Provide dispensing and counseling at an outpatient unit	0.782
Provide clinical services at an inpatient unit	0.741
Screen prescriptions	0.775
Perform medical reconciliation	0.735
Advice on herbal and alternative medicines	0.461
Primary health care and consumer protection
Conduct interventions to solve public health problems in rural community	0.690
Perform home health care services and primary care services	0.758
Conduct proactive primary health care services	0.756
Conduct consumer health protection services: pre-marketing control	0.751
Conduct consumer health protection services: post-marketing control	0.733
Pharmaceutical industry
Develop a research protocol	0.718
Develop pharmaceutical formulary	0.786
Understand drug development process	0.777
Understand good pharmaceutical practice	0.807
Understand pharmaceutical manufacturing, industry level	0.828
Understand drug regulation and product registration process	0.769
Understand drug laws and regulations	0.643

Notes: Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization.