Pharmacy Interns' Experiences in an Out-patient Medication Counseling Program at a Tertiary Government Hospital

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The provision of health and medication information is one of the key functions of pharmacists under the Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) standards. To prepare interns for their future roles as pharmacists, the University of the Philippines College of Pharmacy (UPCP), with support from the Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA) Foundation, collaborated with the Pharmacy Department of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in improving the PGH Patient Medication Counseling Program for outpatients. This paper aimed to evaluate the initial implementation of the internship program by describing the perception and experiences of the fourth year pharmacy interns about the program.

Methods: Under the supervision of pharmacy faculty members, interns were rotated to perform patient medication counseling services on weekdays at the PGH Out-patient Department (OPD) Pharmacy and Main Pharmacy. A descriptive program evaluation was conducted by asking the interns to fill out a questionnaire consisting of both open and closed questions about the patient medication problems they encountered and addressed, the extent of their contribution based on self-assessment, and their observations and recommendations about the program at the end of their internship.

Results and Conclusions: A majority of the interns were able to recognize and respond to patient medication problems. While the interns' perception of the program was generally positive, they were also able to give recommendations to further improve the implementation of the program. The information gathered from this evaluation can be used to improve not only the internship program but also the training of pharmacy students in order to perform GPP.