My name is Yasmin and I am a fourth-year pharmacy student at Trinity College Dublin. I carried out an incredible four-month placement with the IPU. Placements for the MPharm programme are organised by the Affiliation for Pharmacy Practice Experiential Learning (APPEL), giving students the opportunity to work in community, hospital, industry or role-emerging-practice (REP) pharmacy settings.

Role-emerging practice

REP placements give students a chance to engage in non-patient-facing roles such as education, regulation and research. As someone who has worked weekends in a community pharmacy since first year and engaged in a clinical placement in second year, I wanted to try something completely different. I was lucky enough to join the IPU at such a pivotal point in community pharmacy. With the new Community Pharmacy Agreement freshly introduced and the many changes arising, the IPU was as busy as ever and new opportunities arose each day. There was never a dull moment!

Activities

When people asked me what I did at the IPU, I didn’t know where to start because I did a bit of everything! I spent a period of time within each department.

While based in the Professional Services department, I updated SOPs, attended PSI council meetings and conferences, engaged in projects and wrote pieces for the IPU Review magazine. A key project for me was to work on a patient medication safety project which involved designing stickers for the IPU Community Pharmacy Committee asthma campaign. It was great to see an idea come to fruition and to get feedback from members on the impact it had on patients and their practice. During my time with Product File department, I got a flavour of the industrial side of pharmacy while working with national and international partners. I brushed up on my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) with the Professional Academy department through engaging courses and webinars on a range of topics including Asthma Management and Medicines Use in Pregnancy. In the Contracts department I worked through HSE Primary Care Reimbursement Scheme (PCRS) matters, sat in on meetings with various stakeholders and worked through statistics, which I found interesting and stimulating. I explored my creative side in the Communications department where I reviewed campaigns and publications. One of my most memorable experiences was with the Membership department where I accompanied the IPU Membership Relations Manager to engage with pharmacists, pharmacy owners and staff in Dublin and Athlone. This was a chance to visualise the changes being implemented and to hear feedback from those affected in their day-to-day. No two days were the same — if I were to list everything I was involved in, we’d be here for a while!

Outside of the office

I had the opportunity to engage in a number of experiences outside the office during my placement. Visiting the Sport Ireland campus ahead of a collaboration with the Product File department showed me how pharmaceutical expertise applies to different areas such as the sporting field. The PSI held a meeting on World Pharmacist’s Day where I got to share my placement experience with other students on REP placements. Attending conferences held by HIQA and the HSE were highlights. It is always interesting to see how pharmacy fits into a wider healthcare picture and explore areas where further opportunities exist given the capabilities of the skilled workforce. I had the chance to observe fifth year pharmacy students in RCSI deliver presentations for their Leadership in Pharmacy module. This module provided the opportunity for students to outline new, innovative services, which could be implemented in pharmacy. This gave me great insight into effective communication and service development. I attended an exciting LEAN Six Sigma Healthcare Symposium which broadened my views on optimising workplace operations and left me with plenty of food for thought. These experiences enriched my placement, further allowing me to network and build on my knowledge in various areas.

Skills developed

I initially had doubts about undertaking a non-patient-facing placement — will my clinical knowledge fall behind? Will I miss the learning opportunities offered by an industry-based placement? Thankfully, these concerns were dispelled within my first few weeks due to the dynamic nature of the IPU.

Going into placement, my goals were to strengthen my interpersonal, professional and operational pharmacy skills, and my placement allowed me to exceed these. The conferences, meetings and events I attended allowed me to boost my confidence and professionalism. Delivering presentations at meetings and facilitating a questions and answers session for the first time at an IPU Regional Meeting, pushed me out of my comfort zone and provided me with valuable feedback for future opportunities.

Working weekends in the dispensary had often left me wondering about the rationale behind certain operational processes and how systems like the HSE PCRS functions. Concepts like ‘reference price’ never fully clicked with me before. Through my time with the Contracts and Product File departments I gained insight into this side of pharmacy. All it took was reviewing the schemes, methods, reimbursement guides and member queries to deepen my understanding and become more confident in the processes.

Conclusion

I couldn’t thank the staff at Butterfield house enough for being so encouraging, kind, willing to involve me and making sure I was never bored! The cordial, professional and motivated atmosphere ensured that it was always a pleasure going into placement. My preceptor supported me throughout my placement and always made sure I had a dynamic and valuable experience. I would like to also thank the IPU committee members whom I met on several occasions who constantly involved me in interesting discussion and gave me great advice. It was a transformative experience working with such hard-working people and it really opened my eyes to all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

To students who are contemplating where to do their placements, I could not recommend role-emerging practice placements like the IPU enough. The skills I have gained will stay with me for life. My placement has shown me that the profession of pharmacy is expanding by the day, and I look forward to applying the skills and experience throughout the rest of my studies and beyond.