The University of Ljubljana Faculty of Pharmacy is the sole provider of pharmacy education in Slovenia at the tertiary level. The programme aims at a comprehensive acquisition of competencies necessary for pursuing pharmaceutical professions within the national and European labour market, thereby addressing the labour market demands in both the public and private sectors. In Slovenia, there has been a shortage of community pharmacists for some time, stemming from increased workload in the sector and the freedom of career choice after completing a pharmacy degree. Such a situation can jeopardize the provision of healthcare services. We wanted to identify possible causes for this imbalance in the pharmacy studies themselves and in other informal interactions with the pharmaceutical environment during the study, when students gather information to make employment decisions.
The objective of this study is to gain insights into the nature of pharmacy education from the perspective of students and explore potential influences on their choice of study and subsequent career decisions. Through a questionnaire, we assessed the factors influencing the choice and progression of pharmacy studies, as well as subsequent career choices among pharmacy students, considering existing research adapted to the Slovenian context. Data were collected by distributing an online questionnaire to students from all academic years between June 26 and July 11, 2023. To evaluate the research results, we categorized cohorts based on demographic information and examined differences between academic years and among groups based on certain outcomes, such as desired employment after completing their studies, and gender.
The questionnaire and master's thesis are structured into three parts, encompassing the examination of factors influencing study choices, the perception of the study programme, and employment choices. The impact of choice factors and sources of information was assessed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods, and we sought to comprehend the results through an analysis of responses to open-ended questions, which were aggregated into meaningful clusters. It was found that the most significant motivators for choosing pharmacy studies included the assurance of financial stability associated with education and job prospects, as well as an interest in pharmaceutical sciences. Students predominantly obtain information about the programme from a limited set of sources, and their perception of the programme often forms during the course of their studies. The primary source of information is the annual Faculty »Open House« event, while other sources are relatively unfamiliar. Overall, students express satisfaction with the curriculum and the faculty, although they believe that certain content is outdated, repetitive, and insufficient in providing the necessary knowledge for independent professional practice, particularly in pharmacy settings. Regarding employment decisions, students primarily seek information from employers, practical training in the 5th year of study, and the experiences of other students. The study revealed that the proportion of students gaining work experience through part-time employment steadily increases until the 5th year, with approximately 70% of students gaining work experience in at least one pharmaceutical-related setting by that time.
In the master's thesis, we evaluated some of the most important influences on the course of study. From the results, we can conclude that financial security is very important to students, which they can achieve through completing their studies and employment in pharmaceutical professions. In the pursuit of this motivation, there can be a significant difference between the private and public sectors in favor of higher-paying private jobs. The public sector, in particular, will need to develop a strategy in response to the persistent shortage of personnel, which can address students in new and different ways and bring them closer to the field of work. Among other things, they can also rely on some of the study's findings, especially regarding the wider dissemination of work values in the public service, the recognized lack of communication regarding study and employment, and the significant importance of student work in career choice. At the same time, in the long term, we do not exclude the need for a solution in the form of broader reorganization of the pharmacy sector.
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