48 Assessment of drug information resource preferences by pharmacy students and faculty

Monday, October 22, 2012
Westin Diplomat Resort
Sabrina W. Cole, PharmD, BCPS and Conor T. Hanrahan, PharmD
Wingate University School of Pharmacy, Wingate, NC

Purpose: To evaluate accessibility and use of drug information (DI) resources by students and faculty.

Methods: A 39-item survey instrument was distributed to faculty and students at Wingate University School of Pharmacy. The survey consisted of multiple choice and rank-based questions designed to assess usage of DI resources, as well as respondent preferences for accessing information.

Results: Data were obtained for 80% (n = 257) of students and 86% (n = 32) of faculty. Although the majority of all respondents own and access electronic DI resources with a laptop/notebook computer (98%) and smartphone (62%), more faculty own and use tablet computers compared to students (30% vs. 14%, respectively). Additionally, more faculty expressed interest in obtaining DI on a tablet than did students (64% vs. 33%, respectively). When asked about preferences, both faculty and P2-P4 students prefer to access information via laptop/desktop computers (67% and 75%, respectively), followed by smartphones (27% and 22%, respectively) and tablets (7% and 2%, respectively). With respect to textbooks, both students and faculty prefer electronic access (66% and 61%, respectively). However, the majority of faculty (57%) prefer to print material from the electronic resource, while students (60%) prefer to read from the electronic device. In general, most students and faculty prefer using electronic instead of print resources (62% and 71%, respectively).

Conclusions: Use of DI resources is similar between pharmacy students and faculty, with both groups preferring electronic access. Laptop/desktop computers are the preferred platform for accessing DI compared to smartphones and tablets. These results suggest that more library funds should be allocated to electronic resources.