A Study of a Change in the Training Program from Two-weeks to Four-weeks of Fourth-year Undergraduates at the Pharmacy Division, Nagoya City University Hospital

Abstract

In Nagoya City University Hospital, a two-week training program for senior students in pharmacy training was carried out up until 1999. The large majority of senior students took a passive role in this pharmacy training course and therefore did not understand that importance of such training. Therefore, the pharmacy training period was extended from two-weeks to four-weeks in 2000. We thus evaluated what differences there were after the training was increased from two-weeks to four-weeks.
The four-week training program was found to increase student motivation toward the pharmacy training. Our survey concluded that approximately 69 % of all senior students were interested in pharmacy training and 75% of senior students understood the role of the pharmacist. In addition, 87% of senior students had an improved image of pharmacists after the new pharmacy training. The reason for such an increase was that the senior students gained a better understanding of the reasons for training and also obtained practical experience in pharmaceutical care. These findings suggest that the four-week training program with self-learning exercises was useful for normally passive senior students. It also enabled hospital pharmacists to make an even greater contribution to the pharmacy training program.