(304) Improving the Public’s Perception of Pharmacy in West Virginia One Activity at a Time

Objective : To estimate the impact on public perception of student pharmacist involvement in the University of Charleston School of Pharmacy’s advocacy-based co-curricular activities during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Methods: University of Charleston School of Pharmacy students participate in a required badge system to document their co-curricular activities. Students must complete at least three applicable activities to earn each of the six badges. From August 2022 through March 2023, students participated in several activities that allowed them to interact with members of the public, giving them the opportunity to impact public perception of the pharmacy profession. The activities included Save-A-Life Day, Rural Health Day at the Capitol, Pharmacy Day at the Capitol, the Out of the Darkness Walk as well as various health fairs. By collecting data on the number of students and members of the public involved in the activities, we can estimate the impact on the public’s perception of pharmacy.

Results: Nearly 700 members of the public were impacted by selected activities coordinated by 77 students and 13 faculty/staff members during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Conclusions: Encouraging our student pharmacists to interact with the public and highlighting the capabilities of pharmacists will impact public perception of the profession. Survey data from those impacted by UCSOP students would be most ideal to measure the impact of activities and will be the focus of a future research activity to better inform UCSOP of their impact.