Modeling Doctor of Pharmacy Students’ Stress, Satisfaction, and Professionalism over Time

Objective. To gauge multiple dimensions of pharmacy students' professionalism, stress, and satisfaction with the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Methods. An online survey of first-through fourth-year pharmacy students was conducted from 2015-2018 to gauge the degree of students' professionalism (personal reflection, patient-centric care focus, cultural and interprofessional competencies), program stress (levels, sources, and burnout syndrome), and satisfaction. Multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) determined the relationship between stress and satisfaction, and the degree to which these impacted levels of professionalism after adjusting for potential correlates (age, sex, financial stress, relationship status, race, and employment status). Results. Seven hundred sixty-four responses to the survey were received across the four calendar years. Of the students in the sample, 51% were female with a mean (SD) age of 26.6 (3.4) years. The overall response rate to the surveys was 86.2%. Professionalism was most strongly indicated by the measures of community-centeredness, patient-centeredness, and perceived benefits of being part of a team-based environment. The SEM model demonstrated an inverse relationship between the two composite latent constructs of stress and satisfaction. When modeled simultaneously, program satisfaction was found to be the more significant predictor of professionalism than stress after adjusting for associations with age, sex, and relationship status. Conclusion. Professionalism of pharmacy students is positively associated with students' satisfaction with the program, but professionalism is not independently significantly predicted by stress. Students who have positive responses to community- and patient-centeredness and who feel they benefit from engaging in a team-based environment are most likely to have greater professionalism.