Usefulness of Classes and Practice Session on Medicines for Children Led by Pharmacy Students

Abstract

We held classes and practice sessions on medicines for pupils and parents at elementary schools with the aim of promoting appropriate drug use. Pharmacy students participated in this project as volunteers where they taught pupils and learned and improved their communication skills at an early stage in their professional development. To evaluate whether pupils improved their medicine-related knowledge after attending these classes and practice sessions, we conducted medicine-related questionnaires (pre- and post-questionnaires) before and after the classes and practice sessions. Positive answers for the post-questionnaire were significantly higher than those for the pre-questionnaire, suggesting that the medicine-related knowledge of pupils was improved by attending the classes and practice sessions. The present results suggest that this activity benefits the education of pupils regarding appropriate drug use in Japan.