Factors Influencing Fourth-Year Pharmacy Students’ Decisions to Pursue a Hospital Pharmacy Residency

Abstract

Background:The Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists promotes the recruitment of residency-trained pharmacists for work in hospitals and related health care settings. However, Quebec hospitals are still hiring non-residency trained pharmacists, in part because of a severe shortage of hospital pharmacists. To date, no studies have examined the factors influencing the career choices of fourth-year pharmacy students in Canada.

Relationship between pharmacy residency examination rank and specialty choice for French pharmacy residency-admitted students

“…Beyond the examination rank, the exact nature of the motivations of French pharmacy students to do residency pharmacy and to prefer one residency specialty comparatively to the others, remain therefore to be clarified. This may likely be performed through a survey addressing these issues with pharmacy residency candidates, as already done for identifying predictors for postgraduate matching success in USA14 or factors motivating students to pursue a hospital residency in Canada 19. With respect to our tentative ranking of university hospitals and affiliated faculties of pharmacy, it is noteworthy that such a ranking is based on only one criteria, i.e., pharmacy residency selectivity; it has therefore rather a limited value and has to be improved in a major manner by considering various other criteria as already done in USA 34.…”

“…This may likely be performed through a survey addressing these issues with pharmacy residency candidates, as already done for identifying predictors for postgraduate matching success in USA 14 or factors motivating students to pursue a hospital residency in Canada. 19 With respect to our tentative ranking of university hospitals and affiliated faculties of pharmacy, it is noteworthy that such a ranking is based on only one criteria, i.e., pharmacy residency selectivity; it has therefore rather a limited value and has to be improved in a major manner by considering various other criteria as already done in USA. 34 In particular, the rate of success to residency for each faculty of Pharmacy, i.e., the ratio number of admitted candidates versus number of initial candidates from each faculty, is likely an important factor that remains to be established.…”

“…Reasons for which pharmacist students decide to pursue a hospital pharmacy residency have also been investigated in North America 18,19. By contrast, little data, if any, about these issues have been reported for French pharmacy residency, notably with respect to the factors involved in the choice of the professional program by residency-admitted applicants.…”

“… 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 Reasons for which pharmacist students decide to pursue a hospital pharmacy residency have also been investigated in North America. 18 , 19 By contrast, little data, if any, about these issues have been reported for French pharmacy residency, notably with respect to the factors involved in the choice of the professional program by residency-admitted applicants. The present study was designed to gain insights about this point, through focusing on the relationship between the national residency examination ranks and the specialty to which French pharmacy residency-postulants were finally admitted.…”