Perspectives of pharmacy graduates toward an undergraduate ethics course and its potential impact on their professional practice

Purpose: The aim of this study was to gauge the opinions and attitudes of pharmacy graduates toward an undergraduate ethics course they received and to explore if the ethics course was relevant to their practice. Sample and Methods: This online questionnaire-based study involved pharmacy college graduates (alumni) who, at the time of the study, were practicing in different practice settings and who had all graduated from the same college of pharmacy in Qatar. An online questionnaire comprising 27 items related to attitudes, perceptions, and impact of the undergraduate ethics course on professional practice was distributed through email to all eligible alumni. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed for data analyses, with a p-value 0.05 for both). However, practicing in a hospital setting or completing postgraduate education had a significant influence on the perception of the impact of the course on professional practice (p=0.036 and p=0.035, respectively). Conclusion: A large proportion of pharmacy graduates value the ethics course received during their undergraduate program in pharmacy. The course appeared to have a positive influence on graduates' professional practice. Future studies should investigate specific areas that need to be reinforced in the curriculum and reliable reference resources should be developed and/or identified. 2019 Kheir et al.Scopu