CAUSES THAT PROLONG THE STAYING BY PHARMACY STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA

The causes that provoke long staying of students in a college career is an important issue because it is a dynamic and complex phenomenon which change according to the context. The aim of this qualitative study was to know the opinion of active students, teachers, graduates, administrative staff and other students who left the pharmacy degree. All those people related to the pharmacy degree at the University of Costa Rica were invited to participate voluntarily to answer five questions. The people were invited to participate using different mechanisms (orally, by email, posters and phone calls). 158 people agreed to participate in the study as key informants: 116 active students of professional pharmacy degree, 20 teachers, 11 administrative staff, 5 graduated and 6 leaving career students. The responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti and with respect to the causes of the prolongation of the studies were established in dimensions (Academy, bio-psychosocial, economic, geographic and family), categories, subcategories and from these major subcategories, a set of factors. The bio-psychosocial dimensions along with the academic aspects are reported as the main causes of the prolongation of studies. The most important factors are related to students, teachers, student-teacher duo and the academic environment. It was shown that the causes which prolong the retention of students in the career is a multifaceted problem, where academics, curriculum and pedagogy are categories involved. In addition to academic skills and bio-psychosocial subcategories, during the educational process, are the most important causes of phenomenon. It requires further research to quantify the magnitude of these factors.