The effects of pharmacy commitment on the development of job satisfaction and organisational commitment

Objective — To determine how professional commitment at the time of graduation affects the later development of professional commitment, job satisfaction and organisational commitment in pharmacy graduates. Method — Sixty‐one pharmacy students at Prince of Songkla university, Thailand, completed a first survey questionnaire administered two weeks before graduation and a second survey questionnaire eight months after graduation. Results — At eight months after graduation, the level of professional commitment remained unchanged. Professional commitment at graduation was the strongest predictor of professional commitment eight months later. It was also a predictor of job satisfaction. However, its effect on job satisfaction was less than those of skill utilisation and satisfaction with workload. Professional commitment at graduation did not emerge as a significant predictor for organisational commitment, when several job factors were controlled. Conclusion — Pharmacy commitment developed from schools seems to be stable at eight months after graduation. It is less influential than job factors in the formation of organisational commitment and job satisfaction.     

Evolution of primary health care in Thailand: what policies worked?

Thailand has a long history of primary health care (PHC) developmentwhich started before the Declaration of Alma Ata in 1978. TheNational PHC programme was implemented nation-wide as part ofthe Fourth National Health Development Plan (1977–1981)focusing on the training of ‘grass-root’ PHC workersconsisting of village health communicators and village healthvolunteers. Since then PHC has evolved through many innovativehealth activities: community organization, community self-financingand management, the restructuring of the health system and multisectoralco-ordination. Many of the essential elements of PHC have beenachieved. Improvements in the nutritional status of childrenunder five households accessiblity to clean water, immunizationcoverage, and the availablity of essential drugs have been observed.PHC has been successful in Thailand because of community involvementin health, collaboration between govermment and non-govermmentorganizations, the integration of the PHC programme, the decentralizationof planning and management, intersectors collaboration at operationallevels, resource allocation in favour of PHC, the managementand continuous supervision of the PHC programme from the nationaldown to the district level, and the horizontal teaining of villagersto villagers.