Pharmacy students at Brighton receive award for voluntary work with
elderly people
Students from the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Brighton who took part in a volunteer project have received an “Exceptional Outstanding Project Award” at the Higher
Education Active Community Fund awards in December.
The project, “Dispensing with the mystery”, involved 20 second-year
pharmacy students, each of whom was partnered with an elderly person
to help on a voluntary basis. After an initial training session, students
met the patients in their own homes on four occasions to take a drug
history and talk through any medication issues. The most frequent questions
were about what the medicines were for and how to take them.
Judges described the project as “bringing clear benefits to the
wider community [in a project] that successfully met the needs of both
older people and pharmacy students”.
Senior lecturer and project leader Mike Ellis-Martin explained that the
project had helped build students’ confidence in talking to people
about their medication, and had developed their understanding of the
social context in which medicines are taken. It also gave the old people
an opportunity to ask questions about the medicines they were taking
and better understand the role of pharmacists.
He commented: “This has proved to be a successful way of bringing
students into contact with people in a real life setting, challenging
students to make judgements that really matter. I hope to extend the
volunteering idea as it goes some way toward developing clinical experience,
which is so important for pharmacy students.”
Dr Ellis-Martin told The Journal that he has been organising a volunteer
fair for pharmacy students to learn more about volunteering opportunities.
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