Pharmacy students' perceptions on the health and pharmaceutical care needs of older adults.

INTRODUCTION

Perceptions of pharmacy students as future health care providers can enhance the health and pharmaceutical care (PC) needs of older adults. The objective of this study was to investigate pharmacy students' awareness and perceptions of the health and PC needs of older adults.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among pharmacy students in Southwest, Nigeria for four weeks using a 39-item structured questionnaire. Unpaired t-tests and one-way analysis of variance were performed. A P < .05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

Based on 422 completed questionnaires, 299 (70.9%) were females, 283 (67.1%) were 20 to 24 years, 123 (29.2%) were in 200 Level, 402 (95.3%) had heard of PC with their first source of information being pharmacy school, 352 (83.4%). Reliability of the instrument was 0.92 (Cronbach's alpha). Mean + SD of pharmacy students' perceived health and PC needs of older adults were 3.73 ± 1.176 and 4.21 ± 1.031, respectively. The majority, 355 (84.2%), agreed on the importance of health care providers understanding their geriatric patients' family circumstances and social environment and 381 (90.3%) perceived that such will strengthen their professional relationship with older adults.

CONCLUSIONS

Pharmacy students were aware of PC and indicated positive attitudes towards caring for older adults but few had provided care. Reinforcement of PC training and emphasis on geriatric topics in pharmacy curriculum are reiterated.