Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes in pharmacy graduate students' (PhGS) lives. While pharmacy graduate programs across the U.S. have reported adjustments due to the pandemic, there is currently no data on the PhGS’ wellness, and the impact on and extent to which offered supports and guidance has met PhGS needs.

Objective

This study's objectives were 1) to explore PhGS′ perspectives on their challenges and the impact of these challenges on their wellness, and 2) to identify PhGS′ suggestions for pharmacy graduate programs to improve guidance and support offered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

This study conducted semi-structured interviews based on the Objective, Reflective, Interpretative, Decisional (ORID) methodology. Pharmacy students working on completing a PhD in programs across the United States were invited to participate. All interviews were conducted using the Zoom platform between May and June 2020. Digital audio recordings were auto transcribed using the Trint platform. Thematic analysis was conducted using the six-dimensional model of wellness developed by Hettler as a guide, while open coding of the PhGS’ suggestions was conducted inductively.

Results

Thirteen PhGS across six universities in the U.S. were interviewed. During the pandemic, all six dimensions of the Wellness model were found to be challenged for PhGS. PhGS′ challenges differed based on their laboratory-based vs. non-laboratory-based research settings. International PhGS reported differing challenges from domestic PhGS. PhGS also provided 18 practical suggestions for improving the teaching process and facilitating student's academic growth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, graduate programs should continue developing a robust and tailored system to encourage and maintain mentorship programs to facilitate graduate students’ successful path through their doctoral studies. Moreover, the suggestions offered by the PhGS participants in this study, when appropriately implemented, can also position graduate program success post-pandemic.

中文翻译：

---

绘制 COVID-19 大流行对药学研究生健康的影响

背景

COVID-19 大流行导致药学研究生 (PhGS) 的生活发生重大变化。虽然美国各地的药学研究生项目都报告了因大流行而进行的调整，但目前没有关于 PhGS 健康状况的数据，以及所提供的支持和指导对满足 PhGS 需求的影响和程度。

客观的

本研究的目标是 1) 探讨 PhGS 对其挑战的看法以及这些挑战对其健康的影响，以及 2) 确定 PhGS 对药学研究生课程的建议，以改进 COVID-19 大流行期间提供的指导和支持。

方法

本研究基于客观、反思、解释、决策 (ORID) 方法进行了半结构化访谈。在美国各地攻读博士学位的药学学生受邀参加。所有采访均在 2020 年 5 月至 2020 年 6 月期间使用 Zoom 平台进行。数字录音是使用 Trint 平台自动转录的。使用 Hettler 开发的六维健康模型作为指导进行主题分析，同时对 PhGS 的建议进行归纳式开放编码。

结果

美国六所大学的 13 名 PhGS 接受了采访。在大流行期间，发现健康模型的所有六个维度都受到 PhGS 的挑战。PhGS 的挑战因基于实验室和非实验室的研究环境而异。国际 PhGS 报告了与国内 PhGS 不同的挑战。PhGS 还提供了 18 条实用建议，以在 COVID-19 大流行的背景下改进教学过程并促进学生的学业成长。

结论

尽管发生了 COVID-19 大流行，研究生项目仍应继续开发一个强大且量身定制的系统，以鼓励和维持指导项目，以促进研究生顺利完成博士研究。此外，PhGS 参与者在本研究中提供的建议，如果得到适当实施，也可以定位大流行后研究生课程的成功。