Paul Marvin T. Quizon
Objective: This study was conducted to determine the perspectives of pharmacy students (freshmen and lateral entrants, AY 2011-2012) of the University of the Philippines Manila College of Pharmacy on the Return Service Agreement (RSA) program.
Methods: The freshmen class and all lateral entrants totaling to 102 students, were requested to voluntarily answer a questionnaire at the start of the first semester. Demographic and other quantitative data were encoded and processed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis.
Results: A total of 94 students responded (92.16%) to the survey conducted at the start of the first semester. Almost half of the students (45.74%) answered that they chose pharmacy as a pre-medicine course. Majority of them (86.17%) responded that they will stay in the Philippines after graduation and specifically answered hospital pharmacy as their future area of practice in the country. Majority of the respondents (62.77%) were in favor of the RSA program.
Conclusion: The results showed that the RSA program was acceptable to most of the respondents. However, curricular interventions must be implemented in order for the students to fully accept their social accountability as future health professionals for the country.
