ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES. CASE STUDY

Abstract

Introduction:
The environmental training of pharmacists is a priority, given the growing environmental impact of medication waste and their professional work to identify, prevent and manage it.
Objectives:
To identify the degree of environmental knowledge of Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences students at Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas in Cuba and analyze the internalization of basic knowledge or knowledge generated in the
professional environment and the impact of the study on their environmental training.
Materials and Methods:
An exploratory cross-sectional case study was carried out between september and december 2024. A questionnaire for each academic year was designed and applied on the Moodle interactive platform. Another on paper obtained the assessment on the first instrument.
Results and Discussion:
The environmental knowledge of the students is discordant with respect to the importance of environmental training. There is a slight predominance of the internalization of knowledge generated in the professional environment over the basic ones. The questionnaires encouraged the acquisition of new knowledge among the
participants. They point out the importance of the topic addressed, but consider the questionnaires to be long and difficult.
Conclusions:
The basic extracurricular environmental knowledge of Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences students and the environmental focus of basic curricular aspects must be increased. It is necessary to take advantage of the potential of the pre-professional environment and the capabilities of students to increase their environmental training.
Although they can be improved, interactive questionnaires constitute a useful tool for
self-assessment and acquisition of environmental knowledge associated with the profession.