Knowledge of students in the ultimate year of undergraduate pharmacy school about basic pediatric pharmacy

Background; Drug use in children is more challenging than in the adult population because of associated difference in drug handling.

Objectives; This study assessed the level of knowledge and competency of pharmacy students in the ultimate year on basic pediatric pharmacy as well as the impact of an educational intervention.

Methods; Baseline self-reported knowledge and competence of respondents on pediatric pharmacy was assessed with a questionnaire. An educational training was administered by a pharmacist who is a faculty member; thereafter knowledge and competence of the participants were re-assessed to determine the effect of the training.

Results; All the respondents were familiar with "Pediatrics", 40 (65.6%) learnt the term before getting admitted to study pharmacy while 21 (34.4%) got to know it during the course of their study. Thirty-four (56%) respondents were affirmative in responding to whether they had taken courses in pediatric dosing. Only 7 (11.5%) had poor knowledge of pediatric pharmacy while 57 (93.4%) had poor competency in handling issues relating to drug dosing and administration. Fifty-four (88.5%) respondents opined to addition of more pediatric-based courses in their curriculum. The mean scores in three of ten knowledge questions and in 5 of 6 competency questions were significantly improved post-intervention with values ranging between P <0.001 and P=0.047.

Conclusion; Pharmacy students in the ultimate year in a Nigerian university had appreciable basic knowledge in pediatric pharmacy but competency in handling dosing and drug administration issues in pediatric patients was poor. A training on basics of drug use in the pediatric population improved knowledge fairly and competency scores significantly.