I had a great day at work today…..

We had fantastic student in from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Medical School. He was well-mannered and keen to learn; a really nice guy. The overall intention was to shadow my work and better understand how Pharmacists can provide care to the patient population they serve. Of course, with my academic background in mind, I was more than happy to oblige.

We talked through a number of medical cases requiring pharmaceutical intervention and importantly discussed how pharmaceutical dosage forms can facilitate effective disease management. Examples included dose reductions due to disease stabilisation, gout management, patient counselling in respect of GTN spray use plus the way in which topically applied steroid products vary in potency and where to look the relative potency up in the BNF.

I think the session was a real ‘eye-opener’ for the medical student because he became more familiar with link between prescribing drugs and getting those drugs to the body (i.e. the discipline of pharmaceutics).

I really enjoyed seeing the student become more familiar with the way in which a Pharmacist thinks and makes clinical decisions; it was very rewarding to see his development throughout the day.