Pharmacy students’ readiness and preparedness to contribute during disasters: a cross-sectional two institutional study from the UAE
Main Article Content
Keywords
disaster management, pharmacy student knowledge, , pharmacy student attitude, pharmacy student readiness, pharmacists
Abstract
Background: Pharmacists involvement in disaster management has been acknowledged in the literature for their involvement in various clinical and non-clinical services. Future pharmacists are expected to be skill full in handling medicine disasters. This study aimed at investigating the knowledge, attitude, and readiness of pharmacy students to contribute to disasters in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, crosssectional study was conducted in two pharmacy colleges in the UAE using a pre-validated electronic questionnaire. Data were collected using simple random sampling from February 2021 to November 2021. The questionnaire consisted of five sections: demographic information, knowledge, attitude, and readiness to practice with perceived barriers. The Likert data were not normally distributed (Shapiro-Wilk test, p<0.05) and hence analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test at alpha=0.05. Results: A total of 258 pharmacy students were surveyed. The majority were fourthyear students (51.2%, n = 132) with a mean (SD) age of 20.46 [2.35] years. The average score for total knowledge was 155.3 (60.2%), with no statistical differences between groups. The median interquartile range (IQR) scores for total attitude, total readiness to practice, and barriers to disaster medicine were 4. Conclusions: Students exhibited varying levels of knowledge and expressed a positive attitude and willingness to practice disaster medicine. Inclusion of various educational modules in pharmacy curricula could help to better prepare students for the practice of disaster medicine.
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9. Raza MA, Aziz S, Noreen M, et al. Role of Pharmacist in Disaster Management: A Quantitative Content Analysis Approach. Innov Pharm. 2021;12(4):9. https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v12i4.4359
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13. Ford H, von Waldner T, Perri M. Pharmacists’ Roles in Post-September 11th Disasters: A Content Analysis of Pharmacy Literature. J Pharm Pract. 2014;27(4):350-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0897190013507081
14. Aburas W, Alshammari TM. Pharmacists’ roles in emergency and disasters: COVID-19 as an example. Saudi Pharm J SPJ. 2020;28(12):1797-1816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2020.11.006
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17. Griebe K, Jiang C, To L, et al. Pharmacy emergency preparedness training as a PGY2 longitudinal rotation. Am J Health-Syst Pharm AJHP. Published online February 17, 2021;zxab044. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/zxab044
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19. Al-Azzawi A. Pharmacy Education in Emerging Health Care Systems: Clinical Training in the United Arab Emirates. J Comp Int High Educ. 2021;12(6S1). https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v12i6S1.3069
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org/10.3390/ijerph17062027
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324. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2019.157
33. Kori Sauser MD, Rita V, Burke P, et al. Upperman MD. Disaster preparedness among medical students: A survey assessment. Am J Disaster Med. 2010;5(5):275-284. https://doi.org/10.5055/ajdm.2010.0033
34. WHO/Europe | Health emergencies - Preparedness. Accessed May 24, 2022. https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics health-emergencies/from-disaster-preparedness-and-response/policy/preparedness
35. Basheti IA, Nassar R, Barakat M, et al. Pharmacists’ perceived barriers towards delivering their emergency roles during the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived policymakers’ responsibilities. J Pharm Policy Pract. 2020;13(1):62. https://doi.org/10.1186/
s40545-020-00254-y
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Jun 21, 2023
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Pharmacy students’ readiness and preparedness to contribute during disasters: a cross-sectional two institutional study from the UAE. Pharm Pract (Granada) [Internet]. 2023 Jun. 21 [cited 2024 Oct. 4];21(2):1-8. Available from: https://www.pharmacypractice.org/index.php/pp/article/view/2817
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How to Cite
1.
Pharmacy students’ readiness and preparedness to contribute during disasters: a cross-sectional two institutional study from the UAE. Pharm Pract (Granada) [Internet]. 2023 Jun. 21 [cited 2024 Oct. 4];21(2):1-8. Available from: https://www.pharmacypractice.org/index.php/pp/article/view/2817