Pharmacy Students’ Perceptions of Pharmaceutical Care in Retail and Clinic Settings

Objectives. To determine whether completion of a patient counseling course improved pharmacy students’ perceptions of the importance of pharmaceutical care and whether there was a difference in students’ perceptions of pharmaceutical care provided in retail settings compared to that provided in clinic settings. Methods. A pre-course and post-course survey instrument was designed to measure students’ perceptions of the importance of pharmacists’ performing 20 items describing pharmaceutical care. Also, each student wrote a technical report describing a counseling encounter observed between a pharmacist and a patient. This report was subject to content analysis. Results. After taking a patient counseling course, students perceived five out of 20 pharmaceutical care tasks performed by pharmacists to be most important. Also, student analyses of pharmacist/patient interactions indicated that barriers to communication were fewer, students’ experiences were more educational, and privacy, monitoring and assessment were better in clinic settings. According to students’ perceptions, the application of pharmaceutical care was different between clinic and retail settings. Conclusions. Therefore, teaching the concept of pharmaceutical care and incorporating it into a patient counseling course is more educational when a clinic setting is used.