Pharmacy students' attitudes toward geriatric nursing home patients.

Objective: To determine the attitudes of second-year pharmacy students toward older people in general and geriatric patients in particular after attending an Early Pharmacy Practice Experiences 2 course.

Methods: One hundred forty-four second-year pharmacy students completed the Geriatrics Knowledge Test and Attitudes Survey between 2008 and 2010.

Results: On 11 of 14 items, most students had a favorable opinion of older people and providing geriatric care (mean > 3.0 on a 5-point scale). For example, students believed that treatment of chronically ill elderly patients is not hopeless ( 4.2 ± 1.0) and that most older people are pleasant to be with ( 3.8 ± 1.0). Gender, age, race/ethnicity, marital status, having children, and rural or non-rural upbringing were not related to the students' attitudes for most items.

Conclusion: Although the majority of second-year pharmacy students had favorable attitudes toward older people and geriatric care, the lack of research in this area suggests that further studies are needed.