Abstract
BackgroundMaternal and child mortality is a global concern and one of South Africa’s quadruple burdens of disease. As easily accessible frontline healthcare workers, pharmacists play an important role in the continuum of maternal and child health (MCH) care according to recommendations by international health regulatory bodies. Pharmacy schools are obliged to train pharmacy students to meet the priority health needs of the population so that graduates are ‘fit for purpose’. The baseline study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and skills of 2017 final year pharmacy students who were exposed to a fragmented MCH care curriculum at a university in South Africa to inform curriculum review.MethodsA descriptive, quantitative, non-randomized study was conducted among final year pharmacy students using a self-administered structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed in sections to assess participants’ knowledge of reproductive and sexual health (RSH), maternal and antenatal care (MAC), neonatal and child care (NCC) and skills related to infant growth assessment procedures. Data was analysed descriptively using frequencies and percentages. A score of 50% in each section of the questionnaire indicated a pass. Participants assessed their exposure to MCH topics in the curriculum.ResultsOf the 89 available students, 61% consented to participate in the study. The average scores attained for each section were; 62.4% for RSH, 54.5% for MAC, 50.4% for NCC and 25.3% for infant growth assessment. The pass rate was 78% for RSH, 56% for MAC, 57% for NCC, and 19% for infant growth assessment. About 13% of the participants passed all the knowledge and the skills sections. Age, gender, being a parent or doing locums did not have any influence on participants’ performance. Participants reported that they had more on-campus curriculum content exposure to RSH compared to other MCH care topics.ConclusionFinal year pharmacy students showed adequate knowledge of RSH with adequate curriculum exposure. Average knowledge of MAC, NCC and poor skills in infant growth assessment which corresponded to curriculum exposure was observed. The results suggest the need for improvement in the current curriculum in the affected areas to adequately equip students to render desirable services.
Highlights
Maternal and child mortality is a global concern and one of South Africa’s quadruple burdens of disease
On excluding the eight students who participated in the pilot study, 89 registered final year students were available for the main study
The skewed interest in research participation does not indicate that females have better knowledge and skills in maternal and child health care as the current study found no association among knowledge scores and age, gender, parental or locum status
Summary
Maternal and child mortality is a global concern and one of South Africa’s quadruple burdens of disease. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 has targets for reducing maternal mortality, under 5 mortality and providing universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services [3]. These targets are focal points that are aimed at increasing the global declines observed between 1990 and 2015 [3]. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the slowest reduction in maternal and child mortality rates and account for the highest burden of deaths in the world [3]. The observed decline was attributed to improved access to skilled health care professionals and healthcare services [3]
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