My name is Grace Filan, and I am a 4^th Year Pharmacy student studying at Trinity College Dublin and I’ve just finished my placement at the Irish Pharmacy Union. The APPEL 4^th year placement is unique as it can be carried out across a variety of pharmacy settings – industry, hospital, community pharmacy or role emerging practice (REP).

The APPEL 4^th year placement provides students with the opportunity to work in a sector of pharmacy without having previous experience in that area and offers a glimpse of what a future career could look like. I chose to carry out my placement in a role emerging practice setting as I had previous experience working in community pharmacy and wanted to try something totally different.

When I started my placement with the Irish Pharmacy Union, I was excited to see what the placement would involve. I had limited knowledge of the range of services offered by the IPU, so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was eager to learn! I worked in the National Health Product Catalogue (NHPC) department. My day-to-day tasks involved reading new or updated SPC’s and updating the IPU Product File accordingly. I also worked on a project called SNOMED, which is a globally recognised medical database which may be used as we move towards electronic health records and ePrescribing. This project is hugely important in ensuring the accuracy and consistency of healthcare terminology and medical products across the globe.

One aspect of my placement with the IPU that I particularly enjoyed was the diversity of the role – no two days were the same! I had the opportunity to attend numerous healthcare conferences across the country, including the IPU’s very own national conference in Johnstown House. I also attended the National Sepsis Conference, the All-Ireland Pharmacy Conference and the Irish Medication Safety Network conference. Almost every week there was somewhere to go!

Although my placement was based in the NHPC department, I got the chance to work with many different departments within the IPU. I attended Employee Pharmacist Committee (EPC) meetings held at the IPU, and I have sat in on meetings with the PCRS discussing topical and reimbursement issues. I also investigated a number of member queries from the Professional Services department.

Throughout my placement, I was encouraged to take part in IPU Training courses. I completed the Medicines Counter Assistant course, while also completing training courses such as Support and care for Cancer patients, Mental health, Epilepsy treatment as well as a High-Tech Scheme course. These training courses allowed me to stay up to date and build on my clinical knowledge while being away from a patient facing environment. I also completed training in, and was encouraged to get involved with, the Safe Pharmacy initiative – helping to create a poster to raise awareness for this campaign.

I would recommend a placement in the IPU to any student who is considering a placement in REP. I think that the skills and knowledge I gained working in this environment will stand with me for the rest of my career. This unique placement opportunity has opened my eyes to both the roles of the IPU but also to the various career opportunities within this sector. I very much enjoyed my placement with the IPU and would like to thank the team at Butterfield House for making my placement experience such a positive one!