Evaluation of pharmacy students' perceptions of clinical pharmacy in South Africa

Introduction The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is integrating clinical, hospital‐based experiential learning into the final year of its pharmacy education. As clinical pharmacy continues to expand in South Africa, students' perceptions of the evolving field are not yet described in the literature. Objectives The purpose of this study was to describe UWC's pharmacy students' perceptions of clinical pharmacy practice as it continues to develop in South Africa. Methods This study was a cross‐sectional, observational study of second, third, and fourth year pharmacy students at UWC. The 18‐item questionnaire was distributed via an online survey tool to participants during the second semester of the 2018 academic year. Results One‐hundred forty nine (52%) students completed the survey. Ninety‐four percent of students had previous experience in a pharmacy setting but only 28.2% had experience observing a clinical pharmacist. UWC students felt that practicing clinical pharmacy is valuable (median 5 ± 0) and did not think it takes too much time and effort (median 2 ± 1), but also believed that there are barriers to its practice (median 4 ± 1). Overall, they did not think they had adequate training in clinical pharmacy (median 3 ± 2) and agreed that further training is required in order to practice clinical pharmacy (median 5 ± 1). Conclusion Pharmacy students at UWC had an overall positive outlook on the practice of clinical pharmacy. Students at UWC School of Pharmacy are exposed to an innovative clinical experiential program that may have influenced their perceptions of clinical pharmacy, but still feel further clinical training beyond their curricula is required to adequately practice clinical pharmacy. Future research should focus on other pharmacy students' and pharmacists' perceived barriers to practicing clinical pharmacy as the field continues to evolve in South Africa.