Educational Program Involving Communication with Elderly People and Children Conducted by Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fukuyama University-Cultivating students' communication and hospitality skills

Since the six-year education system for pharmacy students was established in 2006,educational programs to cultivate humanism in pharmacists have been an important part of the curriculum in each year.In Fukuyama University,a program providing contact with elderly people in day-care centers and children in nursery schools was introduced for second-year under graduate pharmacy students in 2007,in order to cultivate students’ability to communicate and empathize with them.Analysis of the results of a questionnaire survey on the effects of the exchange education program that we conducted for 3 years revealed the following.On the first visit,many students could not communicate well with either the elderly people or the children but from the 2nd visit onwards,almost all students were able to communicate and control the level of their voice better,and have more eye contact.As the communication program went on,students were able to build close relationships with their partners.The results of the questionnaire also showed that almost all students were satisfied with the communication education program at both facilities and their partners were also satisfied with it.In addition,good cooperation with the facilities produced a stepwise increase in student satisfaction rates over the three years.These results suggest that communication education plays an important role by cultivating hospitality skills and having students think about their behavior as medical professionals.