Survey on the Perception of Pharmacists among High School Students and Guardians

In recent years, pharmacists have shifted their approach from a non-personal to an interpersonal one, with communication skills becoming essential for their daily work. It is not clear how much high school students, at the age at which they have to plan their careers, are aware of pharmacists ʼ work. The purpose of this study was to clarify the perception of pharmacists among high school students and guardians, which may influence their career paths. In July 2020, an online survey involving 300 high school students and 300 guardians of the students was conducted to examine their perception of pharmacists. The survey included questions about the image of pharmacists (hospital and community pharmacists separately), their tasks, need for knowledge, importance of aptitude, and need for communication. Both high school students and guardians had low awareness of interpersonal work such as consultation other than medicine (46.0 ％ –52.0 ％ ), home visitation (30.7 ％ –44.0 ％ ), and multidisciplinary cooperation of community pharmacists (39.7 ％ –45.3 ％ ). Moreover, they did not consider that the job particularly required communication skills. It is suggested that pharmacists should make efforts to raise the awareness of high school students and guardians about the pharmacy profession and actively engage with patients, their families, and the community.