Clinical Placement of Saudi Intern Pharmacists at Coronary Care Unit

Introduction: The first batch of pharmacy students at Jazan University start their internship year and it is important to hear from interns about their opinion regarding internship year's clinical placements. The study tries to explore intern pharmacists’ perceptions and opinions about their clinical placement at coronary care unit of King Fahd Central Hospital, Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: one questionnaire consists of 10 items was sent to all intern pharmacists of college of pharmacy- Jazan University who trained for 1 month at coronary care unit of king Fahd central hospital as a part of their internship year training program

Results: A majority of responses (86%) rate the internship year as extremely important in shaping their future career. All the received responses describe transition from classroom-based education to initial clinical placement at coronary care unit as difficult. Many responses (60%) do not know any cardiology clinical pharmacy knowledge resources. Finally, intern pharmacists perceive smart phone application as the best design for a cardiology clinical pharmacy knowledge resource.

Conclusions: Saudi intern pharmacists involved in our study are able to realize the importance of their internship year in shaping their future professional career and express their need for clinical knowledge support tools in their coronary care rotation which is preferred to be designed as smart phone applications because of availability, easy use and accessibility