Smartphone use and acceptability amongst undergraduate pharmacy students

Abstract

Background: Smartphones offer unique resources useful for practicing pharmacists; however their acceptance among students within pharmacy educational institutions as learning tools remains unclear. Method: A 30-point questionnaire was administered to pharmacy students, with descriptive statistics used to calculate frequencies and percentages. Results: Data were obtained from 81 pharmacy students. All responding students owned a smartphone; 56.1% of respondents reported using their smartphone for educational purposes at least twice weekly. Ninety-five point eight per cent of students believed that resources offered on the smartphone were more easily accessible compared to traditional textbooks. However, 87.5% believed that faculty might think students are using non-medical applications if these devices should be allowed in the classroom setting. Conclusion: This report highlighted that smartphone usage is prominent among pharmacy students and indicates agreement on benefits and barriers should these devices be allowed in the educational setting. - 2018 FIP.