ABOUT THE CHANGE IN PHARMACY STUDENTS’ PROFESSIONAL PREFERENCES IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING PHARMACOGNOSY

Abstract

The article presents the analysis of changes in the understanding of professional preferences of Ryazan State Medical university students of different courses of the Faculty of Pharmacy, who are at the preparatory stages of professional personality formation. In this regard, students evaluated the content, forms and methods of a special discipline taught — pharmacognosy, using a questionnaire developed at the Department of Pharmacognosy. 152 students of the 2nd, the 3rd and the 5th year who were trained at the Department of Pharmacognosy in the 2020/2021 and 2017/2018 academic years took part in the survey. Students consider the role of pharmacognosy in the preparation of a pharmacist to be very significant and highly appreciate the importance of the discipline in the professional training of a specialist with a higher pharmaceutical education. However, students' understanding of the role of pharmacognosy and the significance of various methods and techniques of its development varies from course to course. The 5th year students, on the eve of graduation, give extremely positive feedback about the role of pharmacognosy in the preparation of a pharmacist and the most detailed answers showing the interrelation of the discipline with the practice of pharmaceutical work. They highly appreciate both traditional and active teaching methods. The students' answers to questions about the preferable place of work after graduating from the Faculty of Pharmacy revealed a tendency to structural changes in their professional preferences. So, the majority of students of previous years (more than 50%) were going to work at pharmacies, a little more than 14% — in pharmaceutical industry, 4.7% plan to be engaged in scientific and teaching work at the university. In comparison, among the students of the last academic year, more than 29% would like to work in pharmaceutical industry, more than 27% — at pharmacy, more than 16% — at the university. In this regard, the process of teaching and learning, including the discipline of pharmacognosy, which provides a significant amount of basic training, should respond quickly and flexibly to the changing labor market, providing students with modern updated knowledge and in-demand skills and competencies, including in research activities, with the use of science-oriented forms and methods of teaching, related to pharmaceutical production.