Pharmacy students as agents of medicine education in schools

Introduction: Pharmacy students have since 2014 given medicine education lessons in schools during their internship after the third study year in Finland. Students choose the content of lessons from two modules: for grade 4–6 (pupils 7–12 years) “What do you need to know about your own medicine?” and grade 7–9 (pupils 13–16 years) “Where can you find reliable information about medicines?”. They are instructed to piggyback assignments of medicine education website (www.laakekasvatus.fi, in Finnish and Swedish). The role of students’ supervisors in pharmacies is to contact the school and support the student in planning the visit. Objectives: To explore the experiences of students, supervisors and teachers about medicine education lessons given by pharmacy students and co-operation in organizing them. Methods: Students (n=315), supervisors (n=169) and teachers (n=115) filled in Internet questionnaires targeted to each group. Experiences were assessed by multiple-choice questions with a 5-point Likert scale (fully agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, fully disagree). Results: Medicine education lessons were given in 203 schools during 2014–2016. Teachers expressed that the topics of the lessons suited well for the specific age group of pupils (fully agree or agree 90%) and curriculum (90%). Teaching methods were considered appropriate by both teachers (93%) and students (84 %). Especially teachers (84% vs students 66%) estimated that pupils enjoyed the lessons. All respondent groups assessed students' competence sufficient (supervisors 98%, teachers 97%, students 89%). Co-operation in organizing students’ visits to schools was considered as a positive experience (teachers 98%, supervisors, 93%, students 71%) and students fit easily into the school environment (students and teachers 90%). The majority of teachers (83%) expressed willingness to continue this type of co-operation. Also supervisors were interested in continuing co-operation in medicine education, especially if the lessons are given by students (85% vs lessons given by pharmacists 34%). Discussion and conclusions: Medicine education lessons given by pharmacy students are a feasible way to increase medicine education in schools and to increase teachers’ awareness of the importance to include correct use of medicines in health education. This type of visits to schools are also a good way to increase collaboration between local schools and pharmacies, and to make pharmacy sector more known among pupils. Further research is needed about the impact of medicine education on pupils’ knowledge and skills