Pharmacy Student Absenteeism and Academic Performance

Objectives: To assess the association of pharmacy students' personal characteristics with absenteeism and academic performance.

Methods: A survey instrument was distributed to first- (P1) and second-year (P2) pharmacy students to gather characteristics including employment status, travel time to school, and primary source of educational funding. In addition, absences from specific courses and reasons for not attending classes were assessed. Participants were divided into "high" and "low" performers based on grade point average.

Results: One hundred sixty survey instruments were completed and 135 (84.3%) were included in the study analysis. Low performers were significantly more likely than high performers to have missed more than 8 hours in therapeutics courses. Low performers were significantly more likely than high performers to miss class when the class was held before or after an examination and low performers were significantly more likely to believe that participating in class did not benefit them.

Conclusions: There was a negative association between the number of hours students' missed and their performance in specific courses. These findings provide further insight into the reasons for students' absenteeism in a college or school of pharmacy setting.