Course satisfaction and perception of Malaysian provisionally registered pharmacists towards their training: A qualitative study

Abstract

In Malaysia, it is compulsory for pharmacy graduates to undergo a one year provisionally registered pharmacist (PRP) training. The liberalisation of PRP training following the saturation of governmental institutions has raised many concerns about the transformation of the training into a scheme for exploiting the fresh pharmacy graduates without a systematic training as its initial purpose. The objective of this study is to explore the experiences and perceptions of Malaysian pharmacists about PRP training at different settings, after the liberalisation of PRP training.A qualitative study was conducted in West Malaysia, mainly in Klang Valley. Through maximum variation purposeful sampling, data were gathered from 33 participants from different settings included government hospital, private hospital, health clinic, community pharmacy, manufacturing pharmaceutical industry, non-manufacturing pharmaceutical industry and research and development (academia) using semi-structured in-depth interview method. All the interviews were audio-recorded and conducted in English. The data were analyzed according to framework approach.A total of 4 themes and 24 codes were identified in this study, the themes included placement, payment, working condition and training. The findings indicated a balance of positive and negative perceptions towards the PRP training in various settings. The participated pharmacists believed that PRP training was a necessary exposure to gain required experiences, despite all difficulties and challenges. The focus of government in the past few years was to resolve the saturation of PRP placement in government hospitals through the liberalisation of PRP training. Emphasis should be in improving the inconsistency of quality in PRP training program in different practice settings in order to improve the experiences and perceptions of future PRPs in their training.