3-Year PharmD Program vs. 4-Year PharmD Program. What is the Impact on Students and Faculty?

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a three- versus four-year pharmacy program from a student and faculty perspective with respect to school- and work-life balance. The primary outcome is to evaluate the impact of a three- versus a four-year PharmD program from a student and faculty perspective with respect to school- and work-life balance. The secondary outcome is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a three- versus a four-year PharmD program, considering financial matters, student involvement in leadership position(s), employment during academic year(s) and having the opportunity to participate in research projects.

This is a cross-sectional observational study with quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected from students and faculty members from three- versus a four-year pharmacy programs. This is conducted through a questionnaire administered via SurveyMonkey. Descriptive data analysis was employed, and a Fisher’s exact t-test was conducted to analyze the data. A significance level of p < 0.05 was used to determine statistical significance.

The rate of students and faculty in a four-year PharmD program (4yp) have a higher average quality of life (qol) compared to those in a three-year PharmD program (3yp). Statistical analysis using Fisher’s exact t-test yielded a highly significant p-value (9.07 x 10^-10 for students and 2.3 x 10^-3 for faculty).

Four-year pharmacy programs demonstrate higher reported quality of life. However, it is crucial to acknowledge a limitation in this study. The response rate of the three-year pharmacy program was comparatively lower than that of the four-year program, potentially introducing bias into the findings. Conducting further analysis to assess the impact of low responders is necessary to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the disparities between the different programs.