The impact of COVID-19 on pharmacy education: Perspectives of Nigerian undergraduate pharmacy students

Abstract

Context: Globally, every school and college of pharmacy is challenged to respond to the impact of COVID-19 on pharmacy education and must find ways to continue to communicate with colleagues and educate their students. Aims: To describe the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate pharmacy students’ education and learning in Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with an online questionnaire. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data from the students. Associations between learning and respondents’ characteristics were determined with either chi-square test or fisher’s exact test at p<0.05. Results: Most of the students (91.0%, n=343/377) were not taught during COVID-19 school closures in Nigeria. The school closures had a significant effect on the academic lives of most students (99.2%, p<0.05). Extension of graduation year was the highest (24.2%) academic impact. High cost of internet data (28.6%) was the most common challenge with online learning among the students. A marked proportion (70.9%, (p<0.05) of the students preferred a combination of online and face-to-face learning methods after the pandemic. Conclusions: COVID-19 has impacted pharmacy education in Nigeria due to the discontinuity of learning, a lack of effective online learning, and an extension of students’ expected year of graduation. A combination of online and face-to-face learning methods was perceived to be better after the pandemic. This finding highlights the need for Nigerian pharmacy educators to tap into the opportunities presented by the pandemic to improve pharmacy education and ultimately pharmacy practice in the country.