First Professional Pharm D Students' Inspiration to Join Pharmacy as a Career

The present study was aimed to investigate the factors that influence student's decision to pursue a degree of pharmacy and their attitude and commitment towards the profession of pharmacy in Pakistan. A previously developed and validated questionnaire was administered to first professional pharmacy undergraduate students of different universities of Karachi. The questionnaire sought the demographics of the students, their attitude towards the selection of pharmacy as a career and the institute of pharmacy, their commitment and attitude to pharmacy profession and status of pharmacy as compared to other health care professions. Descriptive statistics on the sample characteristics and percentages were calculated. Student t-test was used to observe influence of gender and institution on their opinions. Desire to get the medical degree, interest in science at school, good career opportunities, and family encouragement were the considerable motivating factors for choosing pharmacy as a career. Most of the respondents felt proud to tell others that they are studying pharmacy and strongly committed to the values and ideas of pharmacy profession. Majority of the students put general physicians having higher status than pharmacy while comparing with other allied health sciences. There is a further need of awareness through campaigns among the students of secondary schools and colleges regarding the benefits to be a pharmacist and increasing their awareness towards the pharmacy.