Pharmacy Students’ Experiential Learning at IMU Medical Clinic

July 2013 – 63 first year students from the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) programme will undertake their experiential learning in the IMU Medical Clinic over the course of 4 weeks in the month of July. These students will be supervised by a Practising Registered Pharmacist. This is the first time that such an attachment is done in the IMU Medical Clinic. It also aims to give students an idea of the important role that pharmacists play within the primary healthcare sector as community pharmacists although their role within private healthcare clinics in Malaysia is limited. Relating his experience, MPharm student, Lock Bao Xu, said “I really enjoyed my experience during the attachment in the IMU Medical Clinic. This attachment has helped me to discover more about my field. Without this attachment, I would not know that pharmacy is such an important profession in the healthcare system. Thanks for the opportunity to have this attachment and learning experience.” These pharmacy students will be given the opportunity to contribute to team care arrangements and the experience of working in a novel area of practice for pharmacists in private healthcare clinics. The students will also participate in a wide range of tasks including prescription handling, dispensing of medicines, ensuring quality use of medicines, counselling of medicines, collaborative discussions with other health professionals and involvement in the everyday procedures within the IMU Medical Clinic where a pharmacist could play a major role in. “This is a great collaboration where both parties are able to gain benefits – a Win Win situation. Students were able to help out in inventory and patient information on drugs’ interaction,” said Madam Lim Ai Loon, IMU Healthcare’s Manager. This attachment is a collaboration between the School of Pharmacy and IMU Healthcare in incorporating pharmacists and pharmacy students within IMU Medical Clinic as an experiential learning site. IMU Medical Clinic is the first private healthcare clinic to incorporate pharmacy services.