A new, state-of-the-art pharmaceutical care centre in the school of pharmacy at the Robert Gordon university, Aberdeen, was officially opened on March 23 by Mr Nicol Stephen, MSP (Depute Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning in the Scottish Parliament).
The £400,000, custom-built centre, which the university describes as a "world first learning facility", is the brainchild of the school's head, Professor Clare Mackie. It is a suite of rooms which comprises mock-ups of a general practitioner's consulting room, a diagnostic testing area, a community pharmacy, a dispensary and a drug information centre. It is intended to enable students on the undergraduate pharmacy degree course to supplement their practice-based learning and develop the skills required for new professional roles before they enter the clinical environment. A feature of the facility is that students get to work with real patients and real, but anonymised, case notes.
Speaking at the opening, Mr Stephen congratulated everyone who had been involved in the centre's inception. He said that there was a need to change the way that learning was approached: the learning experience of tomorrow would be very different from learning today and the level of investment in learning facilities such as the new pharmaceutical care centre was a recognition of that need for change.
Mr Stephen told guests that pharmacy was an exciting niche in the knowledge economy. Patients expected more and better health care and while this was stimulating for patients and for the staff delivering the care, it was important to keep knowledge up to date through lifelong learning. "The most crucial thing in lifelong learning is stimulating a thirst for knowledge to produce real creativity among students, and then capturing and nursing that creativity," he said.
He hoped that the new centre would provide a focus for pharmacy students to acquire even better skills so that when they qualified they could get closer to patients and deliver an even better service.
Speaking to The Journal after the opening, Mrs Christine Glover (President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society) said: "The opening of this facility represents a significant step forward in pharmaceutical education. The Robert Gordon university is to be congratulated for supporting Professor Mackie's vision. This broad, integrated, clinical approach will mean that future graduates are far better equipped to work as part of the health team."

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Nicol Stephen (left) talks to Mr George and Mrs Isobel Dickie, of Aberdeen, while fourth year pharmacy undergraduate Ms Varrie McKenzie looks on. Mr and Mrs Dickie are two of the patient volunteers who take part in teaching sessions

Pictured at the opening of the centre (left to right): Mr Graeme Millar (chairman of the Society's Scottish Executive), Mrs Christine Glover (President of the Society), Mr Nicol Stephen, MSP, and Professor Clare Mackie (head of the school of pharmacy)

Aberdeen school of pharmacy's WHO recognition extended to cover pharmaceutical care

The school of pharmacy at the Robert Gordon university, Aberdeen, has been designated as a World Health Organisation collaboration centre in pharmaceutical care and curriculum development. The school first received WHO recognition in 1995 when it was designated a collaborating centre in drug management and pharmacy practice (PJ, October 21, 1995, p532). The new designation means that the school now has a remit to support the professional development of pharmacists in the developed and developing world. Under its revised terms of reference the school will:

• Develop its nine-week course on effective drug management and rational use for integration into the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association distance learning programme
• Commence an annual international masterclass for professors in pharmacy on developing skill-based undergraduate programmes with an emphasis on problem-based learning of pharmaceutical care
• Develop a training manual based on current training material used within the school for use by the WHO
• Give direct technical support to schools of pharmacy and consultancy services to WHO in the field of revising undergraduate pharmacy programmes
• Execute research and development activities in strengthening clinical pharmacy training and services with a focus on developing countries

Professor Clare Mackie (head of the school) says: "We are delighted to be the first WHO collaborating centre for pharmaceutical care. We welcome the challenge of strengthening clinical pharmacy training in developing countries and beyond."