BACKGROUND: Nurses play an important role in interprofessional pharmaceutical care. Curricula related to pharmaceutical care, however, vary a lot. Mapping the presence of pharmaceutical care related domains and competences in nurse educational programs can lead to a better understanding of the extent to which curricula fit expectations of the labour market. The aim of this study was to describe 1) the presence of pharmaceutical care oriented content in nursing curricula at different educational levels and 2) nursing students' perceived readiness to provide nurse pharmaceutical care in practice. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used. Nursing schools in 14 European countries offering educational programs for levels 4-7 students were approached between January and April 2021. Through an online survey final year students had to indicate to what extent pharmaceutical care topics were present in their curriculum. RESULTS: A total of 1807 students participated, of whom 8% had level 4-5, 80% level 6, 12% level 7. Up to 84% of the students indicated that pharmaceutical care content was insufficiently addressed in their curriculum. On average 14% [range 0-30] felt sufficiently prepared to achieve the required pharmaceutical care competences in practice. In level 5 curricula more pharmaceutical care domains were absent compared with other levels. CONCLUSIONS: Although several pharmaceutical care related courses are present in current curricula of level 4-7 nurses, its embedding should be extended. Too many students perceive an insufficient preparation to achieve pharmaceutical care competences required in practice. Existing gaps in pharmaceutical care should be addressed to offer more thoroughly prepared nurses to the labour market.

ANASTE Humanitas Foundation Rome Italy

Department of Nursing Alicante University Alicante Spain

Department of Nursing Faculty of Health Sciences University of Primorska Izola Slovenia

Department of Nursing Laboratory of Integrated Health Care University of Peloponnese Tripolis Greece

Department of Nursing Swansea University Swansea Wales UK

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences University of Antwerp Antwerp Belgium

Faculty of Nursing and Professional Health Studies Slovak Medical University in Bratislava Bratislava Slovakia

Higher School of Nursing of Coimbra Health Sciences Research Unit Nursing Coimbra Portugal

Institute of Nursing Sciences Basic Health Sciences and Health Visiting University of Pecs Faculty of Health Sciences Pecs Hungary

Institute of Nursing Theory and Practice 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Medical Faculty Institute of Health and Nursing Sciences Martin Luther Universitat Halle Wittenberg Halle Germany

Østfold University College Faculty of Health and Welfare Halden Norway

University of Applied Sciences Utrecht Research Group Care for the Chronically Ill Utrecht Netherlands

University St Kliment Ohridski Bitola Republic of North Macedonia

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