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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Collecting Sleep, Circadian, Fatigue, and Performance Data in Complex Operational Environments
Published on: August 8, 2019
Sleep quality among pharmacy students
Marshall E Cates1, Andraya Clark2, Thomas W Woolley3
1Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Birmingham, Alabama.
Objective:
To determine the quality of sleep among pharmacy students in the didactic portion of the curriculum at one school of pharmacy.
Methods:
The study consisted of an anonymous, voluntary survey that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a self-rated instrument that measures sleep habits for a month.
Results:
The survey was completed by 253 students. Students in the lower grade point average (GPA) category had higher scores on 2 of 7 components of the PSQI and on the global score. Poor sleep quality, indicated by a global PSQI score of greater than 5, was reported by 140 students. The rate of poor sleeping was higher among students in the lower GPA category.
Conclusion:
Poor sleep quality was pervasive among surveyed pharmacy students in the didactic portion of the pharmacy school curriculum, especially among those with lower GPAs.
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