Preferences of Thai head pharmacists for pharmacy technician education: Certification versus Bachelor’s degree program

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate Thai hospital pharmacists’ preferences for a proposed bachelor’s degree curriculum for pharmacy technicians (PhTs), preparing PhTs to fill an advanced role in pharmacy, compared to the existing High Vocational Certificate (HVC) curriculum for PhTs. Method: A labelled Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) questionnaire was sent by post to head pharmacists of 814 Thai Ministry of Public Health hospitals over a two-month period. Respondents’ preferences for the proposed bachelor’s degree or the existing HVC of PhT were determined based on their selections among three attributes: competency in pharmaceutical information services, competency in pharmaceutical inventory management and starting salary. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate preferences. Results: A total of 205 head pharmacists (mean age 41.0 years, SD = 0.089) completed the survey. Almost 86% of head pharmacists worked in a community hospital. The utility of all attributes equal, the proposed PhT bachelor’s degree was preferred to the existing HVC. However, certain competencies under the HVC were preferred to the bachelor‘s degree qualification. Conclusions: The DCE approach revealed a preference among hospitals’ head pharmacists for upgrading pharmacy technician training to the proposed bachelor’s degree level. An advanced role for hospital PhT should be further reviewed.

:TJPS-2020-0160.R2