New practical training environment at Medicine and Pharmacy

Uppsala Biomedical Centre has a new training environment, Practicum, for students from different Medicine and Pharmacy programmes. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.
In autumn 2024, Practicum, a new training environment at Uppsala Biomedical Centre, has got up and running. The training environment brings together students from different professional qualification programmes at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy to learn practical components and collaborate across programmes and courses.
Practicum is a new training environment for clinical and practical training at Uppsala Biomedical Centre, which gives students the opportunity to hone their practical skills. The environment offers apartment interiors with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room. There are training pharmacies with authentic interiors from different pharmacy chains and examination and treatment rooms.
“This will give students the conditions to feel confident in their training and prepared for their respective professions,” explains Matts Olovsson, acting vice-dean for Bachelor’s and Master’s education at the Faculty of Medicine.
Brings together multiple programmes
In autumn 2024, the occupational therapist programme at Uppsala University was launched, and Practicum is an important part of the preparations for that programme. Occupational therapists work on health promotion, prevention and rehabilitation and need to be able to test and train in realistic environments as part of their training. In connection with the needs of the occupational therapist programme, the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy also took the opportunity to involve several educational programmes in Practicum.
The fact that several programmes can use the site at the same time gives students even better conditions to meet each other during their education, which is also an important preparation for professional life as many professionals work together in healthcare during different phases of a patient’s journey.
“The environments and contexts are reminiscent of the actual situations that a working occupational therapist, physiotherapist, pharmacist, doctor or nurse will experience in their working life,” notes Olovsson.

In Practicum, much of the practical work is conducted by older students teaching and practising with younger students. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.
Practical exercises and role play
At Practicum, students will be able to practise different skills and conduct role plays in the modern facilities. It is a clinical practice training environment for students on several programmes such as the Physiotherapy Programme, Bachelor of Science Programme in Pharmacy, Master of Science Programme in Pharmacy and the Medicine Programme.
Teachers on each programme have been involved in incorporating many different scenarios that need to be included in several of the programmes for the regulated professions.
The training environment will give students the chance to practise, ask questions and observe each other in order to feel more confident and secure.
1200.jpg)
Students of the Master of Science Programme in Pharmacy practising in authentic pharmacies set up in the Practicum training environment. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.
Training pharmacies
Several programmes have shown interest in using Practicum. Pharmacists have also joined the initiative, helping to design training pharmacies and medical stores found in hospital environments.
“We have managed to get the pharmacy chains involved in this project. They have donated furnishings and medical packaging that make it feel completely true to reality. Students can feel safe here before they even start their internship,” notes Anja Sandström, vice-dean of Bachelor’s and Master’s education at the Faculty of Pharmacy.
A concrete example of the type of training pharmacy students need is training in personalised pharmaceutical advice in an authentic setting and in dealing with different types of customers.
Modern AV technology
By allowing students from different programmes to use the same premises at the same time, they can interact and benefit from each other in the form of interprofessional learning. It is also an important preparation for professional life as many health professions work together.
The premises are also equipped with modern AV technology. For example, there are cameras in all spaces, allowing students to carry out role plays which in turn can be followed in another room by students or teachers who can discuss what is happening without distraction.
Anders Berndt