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ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Clerkship is full immersion learning experiences in practice-based facilities, where students have one-on-one patient interactions and application of clinical sciences under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner. 0BJECTIVE OF STUDY: The aim was to evaluate the impact of clinical pharmacy clerkship programme on the attitude and understanding of pharmaceutical care (PC) among pharmacy students of University of Benin. Methods: Descriptive prospective cross-sectional survey was used. The study was carried out at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, and the sample size was determined using Cochran’s formula for descriptive study. Clerkship programme starts second semester in fifth year for pharmacy students, and cuts across both semester for the sixth year. The study population of interest included fully registered fifth and sixth year pharmacy students. This study included those who started or have completed their posting for 2020/2021 academic session. Those who withdrew or did not participate were excluded from the study. The questionnaire for the study was designed by the investigator and is divided into three sections: socio-demographic data; attitude towards PC; and understanding of PC. The last two section of the questionnaire were anchored on 5-point likert-type scale. The data were collected between November and December 2022, entered into excel, and analyzed using SPSS. Results and Discussion: A total of 222 respondents (121 and 101 respondents from year five and six respectively) completed the survey. The difference in mean score between sixth and fifth year were positive for understanding of PC for all statement except, ‘PC providers need counseling rooms or other private areas to provide PC’, and ‘drug use can be monitored to improve drug treatment’. Also fifth year pharmacy students showed 47.1% and 52.9% poor and good understanding respectively, while sixth year showed 3.0% and 97.0% poor and good understanding respectively (p-value = 0.00). This is indicative of good understanding of PC by year six, which is higher, as compared to fifth year. In the statements for attitude, the difference in mean score between sixth and fifth year pharmacy students were all positive. Sixth year pharmacy students showed 14.0% and 85.1% negative and positive attitude respectively, whereas fifth year showed 3.0% and 97.0% negative and positive attitude respectively (p-value = 0.03). 4 Conclusion: Clinical pharmacy clerkship programme generally has a positive impact on the attitude of clinical pharmacy students towards PC. It’s impact also improves good understanding of PC. Sixth year clinical pharmacy students have higher good understanding than fifth year. The attitude of sixth year clinical pharmacy student towards PC was more positive compared to that of fifth year students.
