Introduction: At our large, metropolitan health service, training of newly employed clinical pharmacists (NECP) was previously the responsibility of clinical team leaders (CTL) in addition to their regular workload. In July 2023, we implemented a super-numerary clinical educator pharmacist (CEP) initiative to support our expanding department.
Methods: An experienced clinical pharmacist was appointed as the first full-time, rotational CEP. The CEP provided 1:1 training in a protected, super-numerary capacity. Training content and delivery was dynamic and tailored to the individual learning requirements of the NECP. Ward-based training was paired with a suite of training cases, facilitating demonstration and application of optimal pharmacy practice. Where several NECP commenced simultaneously, CEP activities were shuffled to maintain the 1:1 ratio, prioritising those with least experience. After completing the CEP training, NECP and CTL were invited to provide informal feedback.
Results: Over the first 10 months of the CEP initiative, an average of 6.3 days of 1:1 training was provided to 20/24 (83%) NECP. NECP had a variety of prior professional experience: 8/20 (40%) Australian public hospitals; 6/20 (30%) international settings (New Zealand and the United Kingdom), 4/20 (20%) Australian private hospitals; and 2/20 (10%) community pharmacy. Feedback from NECP and CTL regarding the CEP service was overwhelmingly positive.
Conclusion: Working independently provided freedom for the CEP to continually adapt and implement new training strategies. The individualised approach allowed the CEP to troubleshoot the unique challenges encountered with each NECP and provided learnings to evolve the service. Our CEP initiative has shown that practical, high-quality, experiential learning can be delivered with limited resources. The next phase will refine and consolidate the service, with further exploration to assess staff development and satisfaction outcomes.

Introduction: The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) delivers a Program titled “Safe Prescribing and Quality Use of Medicines” to pharmacists in Queensland to expand their scope of practice to enable the prescribing of scheduled medicines within the parameters of the Queensland Community Pharmacy Full Scope Pilot. One component of the Program is a daylong prescribing skills workshop (PSW).
Methods: Students were invited to complete a survey before and after the PSW. A 7-point Likert scale (1= no confidence whatsoever, 7 = completely confident) evaluated confidence in prescribing including: (1) Consultation skills when interacting with patients/carers; (2) Taking a best possible medication history (BPMH); (3) Being involved in preventing or reporting medication error; (4) Identifying appropriate therapeutic options; (5) Communicating with other healthcare professionals; (6) Discussing a patient’s treatment plan; (7) Writing a prescription. A quantitative analysis of the data was conducted using MS Excel comparing the confidence in prescribing skills between overseas trained prescribing pharmacists and non-prescribing pharmacists undertaking the Program, before and after the PSW.
Results: 266 pharmacists participated in the PSW. Of these, 95% (251/266) completed the before and after evaluation used in the analysis. 9 of the 251 (3.6%) pharmacists had international prescribing qualifications. The pharmacists without prescribing qualifications evaluated that their prescribing confidence had increased in domains 1 with the average confidence increase being 0.2, domain 2 (0.3), and domain 5 (0.1). The overseas qualified prescribing pharmacists gained more confidence in domain 3 with the average confidence increase being (0.2), in domain (0.1) and domain 7 (0.1). Both groups had no difference in change confidence in domain 4.
Conclusion: The PSW successfully increased confidence in prescribing skills for pharmacists regardless of their previous prescribing experience. The PSW is an imperative education component for non-medical prescribers’ skills development.

Introduction: A Short-Term Study Abroad Program (STSAP) is increasingly recognized in higher education as a valuable means to extend learning beyond traditional classroom activities and promote cross-cultural interactions. Offering international experiences to healthcare students, particularly pharmacy students, can help contextualise coursework within global healthcare systems. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of an annual two-week STSAP collaboration for pharmacy students between Future University in Egypt (FUE) and University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland, since its inception in 2016.
Methods: In October 2023, an online survey consisting of nineteen questions of either multiple choice or Likert scale format was disseminated to previous attendees of the STSAP since 2016. Survey responses were reviewed, coded, and analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics (SPSS Version 29.0.2).
Results: Survey responses were obtained from 40.9% (38/93) of FUE students who completed the STSAP in UCC since 2016. Overall satisfaction with the programme was high at 84.2%. Participants gained essential skills, including time management and intercultural communication. This was coupled with lectures, tutorials and workshop sessions concerning both clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutics-related content. Hands-on workshops and field visits to both clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical industry settings were valued by participants, with high satisfaction rates of 89.47% and 86.8%, respectively. While the overall evaluation of the content and delivery of the STSAP was positive, suggestions for improvements were provided. These included more time spent in clinical settings and minor alterations to the programme length.
Conclusion: This survey study highlights the positive impact of a two-week pharmacy STSAP in Ireland for students from an Egyptian university. A STSAP can provide pharmacy students with an invaluable experience to be immersed in both pharmacy education and clinical pharmacy practice in an international context. This evaluation and recommendations obtained will help to refine the STSAP curriculum going forward.

Introduction: Lifelong learning is a must in changing systems with smart new technologies, pandemics, deglobalisation, demografic changes including longer lives. Education must adapt to support economic growth, inclusive prosperity and better health outcomes. Curricula need to be adapted and to enriched. Aim of this investigation is to understand whether explorative learning in interdisciplinary lectures bridging the gap between economics and pharmacy practice and pharmaceutcial sciences could support the understanding of continuing professional development in healthcare professions, and of the need to enrich curricula with interdisciplinary courses.
Methods: Concepts, models and principles of economics, business studies, pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical sciences are combined. Aspects of explorative learning and the various meanings of interdiscciplinary teaching are applied and assessed by both students and educator. Topics are lifecycle management, dynamics of the markets, vaccine development, pandemic governance, access and planetary health. The courses are created by a portfolio pharmacist (biopharmaceutical industry expert,community pharmacist) and delivered at German universities.
Results: The integration of economics and pharmacy facilitates a good understanding of the transformation and innovation within both fields and in healthcare ecosystems. Students feed back their gained insights on the complexity of healthcare innovation, responsibilities of stakeholders involved, dimensions in decision making, governing future healthcare systems, overall their more comprehensive and cohesive learning experience and the need for lifelong-, interprofessional- and interdisciplinary learning.The student-centred explorative learning approach provided a framework for both students, their learnings on future skills, needs and their pivotal role as healthcare providers, and for the educator on future education, guiding research and future curriculum design.
Conclusion: Interdisciplinary and explorative teaching and learning is crucial in contemporary healthcare education to navigate the complex landscape in healthcare. Further research is needed to learn in which extent explorative learning approaches should be applied in 60year curricula and in models of lifelong learning.