Comparing perceptions of professionalism by pharmacy students, faculty, and staff during didactic education.

INTRODUCTION: The objectives were to describe pharmacy students' perceptions of professionalism and to compare students and faculty/staff perceptions of professionalism during the didactic years at Touro University California College of Pharmacy in California (TUC COP). METHODS: A two-part online survey was administered to the TUC COP faculty/staff and first-year (P1) and second-professional year (P2) students in May 2016. The first part of the survey collected demographic information, assessment of faculty/staff and students' overall opinions on behavior and conduct displayed by P1 and P2 students, students' responses about the average of missed lectures per month, and the average number of days of late arrival to lecture per week. The second part assessed professionalism perceptions responses to 20 scenarios using a 4-point Likert rating. RESULTS: The study included 37 (88.4%) faculty/staff and 181 (96.4%) P1 and P2 students, for a 98% response rate. Of the faculty/staff, 59.5% perceived the students' overall behaviors and conduct as acceptable whereas 35.3% of students perceived the overall behavior of P1 and P2 students as acceptable, with the majority of students self-reporting missing on average fewer than five lectures per month (65.2%) and arriving late to lecture fewer than one day each week (71.8%). There were statistically significant differences between faculty/staff and students' responses in 9 of the 20 scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in responses between faculty/staff and students regarding what is considered professional suggest that there is a gap in professionalism perceptions that should be addressed during didactic years.

Relationship of Burnout and Engagement to Pharmacy Students' Perception of Their Academic Ability.

Objective. To assess burnout and engagement in first- and second-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students and to investigate their relationships to students' perception of their academic ability. Methods. An online survey that included three validated scales was administered in May 2017 to first- and second-year pharmacy students enrolled in didactic coursework at Touro University California College of Pharmacy. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to assess burnout and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale was used to measure student engagement. To characterize academic ability, Academic Self-Perception, a subscale of the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised, was used. Regression analysis was performed using statistical software. Results. One hundred sixty-two students (81.4% response rate) completed the survey. Emotional exhaustion and professional inefficacy were negatively correlated with students' academic self-perception. Dedication was positively correlated with academic self-perception. Conclusion. In pharmacy students completing the didactic portion of the PharmD curriculum, various engagement and burnout parameters correlated with academic self-perception.