Author(s)

Christopher L. Flanigan, Catherine Santanello^*

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) School of Pharmacy, Edwardsville, IL, USA.

Objectives: 1) To demonstrate that education outreach in public schools by students in pharmacy education programs is effective at increasing knowledge of important health topics; 2) To assess subject attitude towards pharmacy careers after education outreach. Study: A lecture was constructed providing participants with information about careers in pharmacy, diabetes, and information about health literacy. A multiple choice paper-based quiz covering the presented content both preceded and followed each delivery of the lecture. Increases in post-lecture scores of content-knowledge questions were seen in 10 of 11 questions, which indicated an overall increased knowledge from baseline. An additional question, which gauged student interest in pharmacy careers, showed a 10% increase in those who indicated they considered pharmacy as a career. Conclusions: The lectures, delivered by a student pharmacist, were effective in increasing awareness and knowledge of pharmacy as a career, diabetes as an important health issue, and health literacy as a problem pharmacists and other healthcare providers encounter on a daily basis.

Pharmacy, Education Outreach, Diabetes Education, Health Literacy

Flanigan, C. and Santanello, C. (2014) Education Outreach: Raising Awareness of Diabetes and Pharmacy Careers. Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 5, 944-949. doi: 10.4236/pp.2014.510106.