Assessment of drug information resource preferences by pharmacy students and faculty

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.