Background The limited exposure of pharmacy students to evidence of the role and impact of pharmacists does not contribute to encouraging the prospective evaluation and participation of pharmacy students in such research.

Purpose The main objective was to assess the exposure of pharmacy students to the literature on the role and impact of pharmacists. The secondary objective was to assess their opinion of the website Impact-Pharmacie, an international platform for such evidence.

Material and methods We developed a questionnaire of 29 questions designed to explore students’ exposure to the literature on the role and impact of pharmacists. Students’ opinions of the website Impact-Pharmacie were assessed with a scale from 1 to 10. We used an Annual Meeting of the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation, held in Portugal 2014–08–05, to introduce a cohort of pharmacy students to the literature on the role and impact of pharmacists during a workshop. The website Impact-Pharmacie served as support for the presentation. We administered the questionnaire on a voluntary basis; descriptive statistics were performed.

Results Thirty students participated in the survey (57% of participants). Respondents were from 15 different countries: Armenia, Austria, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom. Concerning exposure, 40% (12/30) of students had never read articles describing the role and impact of pharmacists, 43% (13/30) of students had read between 1 and 5 articles. Pharmacy students were in favour of using the best evidence on pharmacy practice models. Respondents considered the website Impact-Pharmacie to be clear (average score of 6.6), relevant (6.8) and applicable (5.9) for use in pharmacy curriculums.

Conclusion Pharmacy students have limited exposure to the literature on the role and impact of the pharmacist. Students’ found the website Impact-Pharmacie useful as a portal for this literature.

Reference

1. Guérin A, et al. Website on the impact of pharmacists. Eur J Hosp Pharm 2014;21:192

ReferenceNo conflict of interest.