2011 Volume 37 Issue 4 Pages 233-240
In 2006 the Faculty of Pharmacy of Meijo University introduced an early exposure program into the first-year curriculum of the 6-year pharmacy course,with the aim of increasing motivation towards pharmaceutical education.The approaches of “student-directed education”,“small group learning (SGL)”,and“age-mixing”are used in the program.
The results of questionnaire surveys conducted just after the training programs in 2006 and 2007 verified that students had a good understanding of the purpose of the program and recognized the effectiveness of SGL.They also indicated that the first-year students were very satisfied with our program as means of enhancing motivation towards the 6-year pharmacy course.
To evaluate the influence of the early exposure program on students with regard to deciding on a career path or changing to another one,a factor indicating motivation towards pharmaceutical education,we also conducted recall questionnaire surveys 2 or 3 years after students had taken the program.The results clearly indicated that the early exposure program did affect first-year students with respect to deciding on a career path or changing one.Unfortunately,the results indicated that the program did not increase motivation towards basic pharmacy subjects very much.
To maintain the high motivation due to the early exposure program,it is very important to teach the students that the importance of the basic pharmacy subjects since clinical pharmacy is founded upon them.
