Motivations for pharmacy students to join professional organizations

Student membership and leadership within professional organizations are key components to advancing the profession of pharmacy. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Draft Standards 2016 state in Guideline 9c that colleges or schools of pharmacy should support, “…student, faculty, administrators, preceptors and staff participation in, as appropriate, local, state, and national pharmacy, scientific, and other professional organizations.” At the present, no data exist regarding what motivates students to join professional pharmacy organizations. In this article, we describe a survey that was distributed to PharmD candidates across the United States to identify what motivates them to join professional pharmacy organizations while in school. We learned that several factors had an effect on student motivation to join a professional organization. To encourage student involvement in organizations, pharmacy schools and professional pharmacy organizations should promote the types of pharmacists they serve, provide opportunities for networking, and offer valuable student programming at meetings. It is the school/college of pharmacy and the organization’s challenge to identify these interests and seek to accommodate them, while accomplishing their independent mission and goals.