Inclusion of pharmacy students in an interprofessional training ward placement for health care students in Sweden

• What was done?: Final year undergraduate pharmacy students, specialising clinical pharmacy,were given the opportunity to spend two weeks of their six months pharmacypractice to participate in an interprofessional training ward placement(ITWP) together with medical, nursing and physiotherapy students. During thistwo-week clinical placement, the students were collaboratively responsiblefor managing the care of geriatric inpatients while under supervision oflicensed practitioners.Why was it done?: ITWP for health care students is established at various teaching hospitals.However, to our knowledge, no such program in Scandinavia has includedpharmacy students. Clinical pharmacy is a growing profession in Sweden andother health care students will in the future work alongside with clinicalpharmacists. Therefore we set out to add pharmacy students to the ITWP team,believing that it would be a valuable experience for them to collaborate andshare knowledge with students from other health care professions. Equallyimportant, it is a way to promote the pharmacist’s competence andcontribution to the multiprofessional health care team, prior to graduation.How was it done?: A working group was formed consisting of teachers from the faculty ofpharmacy, a student representative and a working clinical pharmacist. Thegroup developed the initiative, including among other things, prerequisites,an evaluation plan, a workflow tool for clinical rounds and suggested tasksfor pharmacy students during the placement.What has been achieved?: The program has been running for three semesters and 6–8 pharmacy studentshave participated in the ITWP each semester. The initiative has beenevaluated using surveys. Participating pharmacy students expressed gainingnew knowledge and better insight into nursing care and the roles of the otherprofessions. Nursing students appreciated the support in medicationmanagement and medical students found the pharmacy students to be valuablediscussion partners that could challenge their drug-related decisions. Tutorsexpressed that the pharmacy students brought a beneficial dynamic to the ITWPteam.What next?: The opportunity for students from different professions to work together witha common objective in a real-life setting gives them valuable insight in eachother’s professional roles early in their careers. This good practiceinitiative could be used in other interprofessional training ward placementswishing to involve pharmacy students.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Samhällsfarmaci och klinisk farmaci (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Social and Clinical Pharmacy (hsv//eng)

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