Perceptions of pharmacy students and pharmacists on SOAP note education and utility in pharmacy practice

Objective: To assess the perceptions of pharmacy students and pharmacists in Asia on the education of SOAP notes and their use as a communication tool. Methods: This was a multicenter, cross-sectional study in which a questionnaire was administered to the final-year pharmacy students and the practicing pharmacists. Usefulness and importance of SOAP notes were measured via a 5-point Likert scale which ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Results: A total of 198 students and 119 practicing pharmacists were included. Both pharmacists and pharmacy students found SOAP notes to be useful (p=0.012) and important (p=0.023). Comparing to pharmacy students, practicing pharmacists were two times more agreeable to incorporate SOAP notes into the pharmacy curriculum (p = 0.004). Pharmacists agreed that the use of SOAP notes improves communication between pharmacy colleagues (63.9%), and between pharmacists and physicians (62.2%); however, fewer participants agreed that SOAP would improve communication between pharmacists and nurses (31.9%), or between pharmacists and allied health professionals (34.5%). Conclusion: In Asia, pharmacy students and practicing pharmacists agreed that SOAP note writing is an essential skill that should be taught in the pharmacy curriculum and practiced in the clinical settings. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.