The Faculty of Pharmacy is rolling out the red carpet to Practicum

With Practicum, Sweden's largest environment for clinical and practical training in the life sciences, Uppsala University has taken the next step in preparing new generations of healthcare experts. Here, at the heart of the Biomedical Center, we find, among many things, the three authentically furnished training pharmacies and the drug storage room with inspiration from the Uppsala University Hospital, which have already become central elements in the Faculty of Pharmacy's education.

“Practicum is a complete resource to train customer meetings, and both students and teachers have taken these environments to heart. During the autumn, participants in the Complementary Programme for Pharmacists with a Foreign Degree and Prescriptionist students have participated in role plays. Tomorrow, the Pharmacy Management and Pharmaceutical Care course will take over for eight days of practical training, and everyone who enters the premises is overwhelmed,” states Karin Svensberg, coordinator of the Practicum and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Pharmacy.

The training pharmacies were constructed in collaboration with Apoteket AB, Apotek Hjärtat and Kronans Apotek, who contributed both knowledge and inventories. The premises are identical to any pharmacy on the streets of Uppsala, and when evaluating Self-Treatment and Communication – the first course to be completed in Practicum – the students awarded top marks: The role-play exercise receives 4.8 on a 5-point scale and the comments are characterized by variations on "Best in the course", "Love it" and "SUPER".

“Many of our students will experience careers as pharmacists and prescriptionists, and the fact that we now offer authentic environments in the same premises as the Faculty of Medicine will extend the scope for interprofessional learning, while in parallel open new possibilities for creativity and innovation in our own educations,” says Deputy Dean Anja Sandström.

Monday 16 December, the Faculty of Pharmacy invites to the official opening of the training pharmacies and the drug storage room. The new environments arouse interest far beyond the Biomedicinal Center and the guest list includes more than a hundred representatives of Swedish pharmacy chains, Uppsala University Hospital, Swedish Parliament, the Pharmaceutical Council, Uppsala University, Uppsala Municipality, Pharma companies and other industry associations and organizations.

“Without the impressive generosity of these pharmacy chains and the Uppsala University Hospital, Practicum's pharmaceutical areas would never have turned out this amazing resource we are currently standing in. Monday's ceremony is our way of expressing our gratitude for their efforts to accomplish all this - and my hope is that it will also be the starting point for a continued, mutually beneficial collaboration between academia and the pharmaceutical profession, says Anja Sandström.

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Magnus Alsne