The impact of professional socialisation on pharmacy students' role perceptions

Objective - To evaluate pharmacy students' perceptions of the relative status of seven health professional groups: dentists, general medical practitioners (GPs), medical specialists, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and social workers. Method - A 56-item questionnaire was sent to 389 pharmacy undergraduate students, from the University of Queensland, Australia, and the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Key findings - In comparison with their Australian counterparts, students from Northern Ireland rated pharmacists significantly higher, and GPs, medical specialists, physiotherapists, and social workers significantly lower, on a measure of overall professional status. Respondents also rated pharmacists significantly higher, and GPs, physiotherapists and social workers significantly lower, on a professional potency dimension to the status measure. However, both student groups ranked pharmacists first on a receptivity dimension to the status measure, indicating their perception of pharmacy as an empathetic profession. Medical specialists were uniformly rated highest of the professions on the potency dimension and lowest on receptivity. Conclusion - It is posited that differences between the students' perceptions of the health professionals reflect both cultural and educational differences.