Krassimira Zaykova¹, Hristo Zaykov², Silviya Nikolova³ and Asena Serbezova⁴*

¹Faculty of Medicine, Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria
²Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria
³Faculty of Public Health, Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria
⁴Faculty of Public Health, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria

*Corresponding Author: Asena Serbezova, Professor, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Received: October 25, 2022; Published: November 30, 2022

Abstract

There are various reasons why individuals choose a particular career path. Awareness of motivational factors could enhance student recruitment strategies as well as helping them to focus on specializations/elective disciplines while studying. The objective was to investigate what factors influenced students to study pharmacy. Comparisons were conducted to ascertain whether gender, age, year of study and city where students received their education affected responses. Data were collected in September using a Google-based questionnaire developed with reference to the published literature. Responses were coded and entered into Jamovi software v.2.2.5 for statistical analysis. Responses were received from 289 pharmacists and pharmacy students. 70.4% of the participants were female. 31.7% were last year’s students and 16.5% - first-year students. 87% responded that the desire to work in the health sector was very important/important for their decision to choose pharmacy. Only 8.1% answered that the orientation from career consultation centers was important for their choice of pharmacy study. Students’ and pharmacists’ reasons for choosing pharmacy focused mainly on the desire to work in the health sector, the possibility to improve people’s health, the variety of opportunities for professional realization (pharmacies, manufacturing, clinical trials, labs, pharmaceutical marketing, etc.), job security, high recognition and status of the pharmacy profession in the society. Shortage of pharmacists and flexible working hours have less importance on the choice to study pharmacy. Advice from classmates, friends and family members and positive personal experience as a patient from pharmacies/pharmacists have least influence. 

Keywords: Pharmacy; Education; University; Students; Career; Choice

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Citation

Citation: Asena Serbezova., et al. “Influences When Deciding to Study Pharmacy in Bulgaria: A Survey Amongst Pharmacists and Pharmacy Students". Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 6.12 (2022): 51-59.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Asena Serbezova., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.