(376) Student Pharmacists’ Attitudes, Knowledge Levels, & Perceptions towards Physician Assisted Suicide.

Objective : This study aims to explore student pharmacists' attitudes, perceptions, and comfort levels towards physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and the ethical and legal considerations for pharmacists’ role in PAS. The second aim of this study is to investigate the extent of knowledge among student pharmacists regarding PAS laws and regulations, and explore educational resources utilized by student pharmacists to gain information about PAS.

Methods: An electronic email survey was administered to Shenandoah University's (SU) student pharmacists (P1-P4). The survey was voluntary and anonymous, and was approved by the SU IRB board. The survey was pre-tested to determine understandability, usability and length of time to complete the survey. Non-parametric and parametric statistical analyses were conducted to observe any associations between the study variables.

Results: Out of the 57 responses (response rate 28%) collected, 45.1% of student pharmacists had a favorable attitude towards PAS, with 55% agreeing that mentally competent, terminally ill patients should be granted the option for PAS. However, only 13% indicated feeling comfortable counseling patients regarding PAS. A mere 8.7% reported receiving any form of didactic education or experiential training relating to PAS, and 67.4% indicated a lack of awareness regarding drugs utilized for the purposes of PAS. Chi square analysis reported significant association between prior experience with end-of-life care and comfort levels with PAS counseling.

Conclusions: Our survey project demonstrated that while there was favorable student pharmacists’ attitudes towards pharmacists’ involvement in PAS, they reported a notable lack of knowledge and comfort level towards their role as a future pharmacist providing PAS. These findings emphasize the need for improvement in educational programs to better prepare our student pharmacists for our professional role in PAS.