PHARMACY students from Monash University who have been undergoing practical placements during the COVID-19 crisis are being praised for their contribution to supporting pharmacy services.
Speaking on an International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) webinar on experiential learning during the pandemic, Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmceutical Sciences, Experiential Department and Graduate Education, Senior Lecturer, Simon Furletti, highlighted the efforts of student pharmacists.
"We've got repeated feedback from sites about how our students were allowing sites to cope with the surges [in demand] they were experiencing," he said.
"[Our students were] allowing them to continue service provision, and they couldn't do it without them.
"It was fantastic to hear how our students were actually grasping at that.
"It allowed the students to be more confident and understand their role, and they really felt empowered to go out and do their role."
Furletti noted that a number of students had families either in Wuhan or other areas around the world where they were directly affected by COVID-19, and were concerned about the students' safety.
"They had family members telling them that they were at a huge amount of risk going out into the pharmacy setting during a pandemic," he said.
"We had to really discuss with those particular student populations in terms of what it's like to be a health profession, how to handle that, and how to handle their family."
Furletti said Monash's approach had been "really successful" with no reports of student anxiety as a result of the support and communication provided to students.
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