ABSTRACT
Background: The pandemic COVID-19 requires collaborative teamwork by all healthcare professionals including Pharmacists who could help in combating epidemic diseases by providing several pharmaceutical services. Nevertheless, public perception of pharmacist's role in providing health service is controversial Methods: A cross-sectional web-based design validated survey of 25 items was used to explore patients' opinion about pharmacist's ability to provide different health services during COVID-19 pandemic. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to evaluate the best model for the questionnaire. The association between different demographic variables and awareness about pharmacist's role was evaluated using Pearson correlation, Mann-Whitney u test and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance. Result(s): A total of 668 persons participated in the study. The mean (SD) of the respondent questionnaire scores was 97.1 (12.6) and the possible maximum score was 115 (12.9). Higher awareness score was associated with increased age, female gender, lower educational level, living out of Amman the capital, being college or university student or being employed in medical field. Conclusion(s): The positive public perception toward pharmacist role shown in the present study enlighten the need to expand pharmacist role to be more engaged in providing different health services during the disaster or normal conditions. Copyright © 2022 DSR Publishers/The University of Jordan. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The study aims to evaluate the impact of distance education on Pharmacy, Pharm.D and postgraduate students' satisfaction and its associated factors during COVID-19 pandemic. Method(s): A cross-sectional web-based survey was distributed online for Pharmacy, Pharm.D and postgraduate Diploma and Master Students across Jordanian universities. Expiratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach's alpha were conducted to examine the validity and the internal consistency of the survey, respectively. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), Chi square test and t-test were conducted to evaluate the variables associated with students' satisfaction with distance learning. Result(s): A total of 860 students completed the survey. The EFA generated a three-factor model including positive impact, negative impact and general impact. The mean scores of the factors were 2.84 (SD=1.03), 2.78 (SD=0.92) and 2.34 (SD=1.22) respectively. Several factors were associated with students' level of satisfaction with distant learning including gender, nationality, university type and field of study. Conclusion(s): Distance education had negative impact on Pharmacy and Pharm.D. students' satisfaction, which opens the doors for the necessity to improve the distance education for university students. Variables including gender, nationality, university type and field of study were associated with students' level of satisfaction. Copyright © 2022 DSR Publishers/The University of Jordan. All Rights Reserved.