Pharmacy students’ perception of their preparedness to counsel patients about medical devices: An exploratory study from Saudi Arabia

Context: Evidence have shown high rates of errors among patients in the use of very common medical devices. Educational interventions to improve device use among patients are effective. This necessitates the preparedness of healthcare providers including pharmacists. Aims: The aim of the present study was to assess pharmacy students’ knowledge of and perceived preparedness to counsel patients about medical devices. Settings and Design: This was an exploratory survey-based cross-sectional study that was conducted among 4^th-, 5^th-, and 6^th-year PharmD pharmacy students from a college in Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods: An online-version survey was used to collect data using Google forms. Each student was provided with pictures of 10 medical devices followed by questions about the name, ability to use, and ability to counsel patients about its use. Statistical analysis: Data were analyzed and presented descriptively and comparatively. Student’s t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were used for inferential analyses. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. 

Results: Seventy-three pharmacy students responded to the online survey. They showed moderate knowledge of medical devices. Participants perceived their preparedness to counsel patients about medical devices to be high to moderate.  Students’ overall scores on knowledge of and preparedness were not different by age, gender, or year of study. Conclusions: Pharmacy students showed moderate knowledge and reported high to moderate perceived preparedness to counsel patients about medical devices. Students’ perceived ability to use medical devices and perceived ability to counsel were highly correlated.