Pharmacoinformatics course for bachelor and master of pharmacy degrees: assessment of topics relevance / Nur Amirah Abo Karim

Objective: To assess the level of importance of the suggested topics for pharmacoinformatics course for Bachelor and Master of pharmacy degrees. Besides that, this study serves to provide review on new subjects or topics for pharmacoinformatics course. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted from March until May 2014. Survey participants were lecturers in pharmacy practice department and pharmacists work in a hospital from each state in Malaysia. The validated and pilot-tested questionnaire consisted of two parts: demographic data and potential topics deemed important to be included in pharmacoinformatics course. The data obtain was analysed descriptively using SPSS version 17.0. Key findings: Altogether 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 190 returned (response rate: 63.3%). For B.Pharm program, 18 of the proposed topics were found to be moderately required while 4 topics found to be highly required. "Handling of drug information request (documentation, analysis and response" was found to be the most highly required topic with percentage of 64. 7%. Among the moderately required topics, "Understanding prescribing and dispensing of medications via internet/Online pharmacy" was rated with the least percentage of 43.2%.