Waterloo Pharmacy students support unique interprofessional education event in London
Rx2021 pharmacy students Hanein Madlol (left) and Saaima Hansrod (second from right) with two Fanshawe pharmacy technician students.
Waterloo Students were invited to participate in Fanshawe College’s Fall Open House in London, Ontario. This day-long event showcases unique learning environments and attracts prospective students to a diverse range of programs.
Hanein Madlol and Saaima Hansrod, two Rx2021 pharmacy students, worked closely with the Fanshawe Pharmacy Technician and Pharmacy Assistant students in their lab to introduce prospective health care students to the ins and outs of pharmacy practice. Featuring interactive stations, the pharmacy portion of the event covered topics such as prescriptions, compounding, and compliance packaging. Volunteers answered questions from prospective pharmacy technician and pharmacy assistant students.
It was very fulfilling to answer questions about our scope of practice and how it differs from pharmacy assistants and technicians. I also had the opportunity to provide advice to current pharmacy technician students regarding the possibility of applying to pharmacy school down the road.
The interactive event encouraged participants to work with volunteers to explore aspects of pharmacy practice. For example, Hanein and Saaima guided participants through interpreting a prescription, reading common short-hands like BID, PRN, and more, and demoed how to process prescriptions in software like Kroll.
“As a tactile learner, I really appreciated how hands-on the event was,” says Hanein. “The combination of theory and application is the best teaching style as it allows students to not only develop their understanding of complex concepts, but acquire the skills and communication abilities to put their knowledge into practice immediately. Fanshawe did a great job of highlighting how their prospective students would be benefiting from this dual education.”
The two pharmacy students also had the opportunity to visit other simulation labs, including the state-of-the-art nursing lab. This year’s event was the first instance of Waterloo Pharmacy students supporting an initiative at Fanshawe, but the plan is to provide further collaboration opportunities in the future.
“We’re thrilled to be able to support events like this and hope to continue to partner with organizations such as Fanshawe in the future.” says Nicole Seymour Regional Clinical Coordinator for London and the surrounding area.
The pharmacy students also participated in Travel through the Professions, an interactive interprofessional education (IPE) event hosted by Western University’s Office of IPE and Practice. The event took place at Fanshawe during the Open House, and Hanein and Saaima joined others to brainstorm interprofessional approaches to cases with healthcare students from Western and Fanshawe.
Both Hanein and Seymour are working to expand interprofessional opportunities for Waterloo Pharmacy students in southwestern Ontario. Seymour is Waterloo Pharmacy’s representative on a Western University IPE committee and as a result of her collaboration, Waterloo Pharmacy students are invited to attend the high-quality IPE events offered by Western.
Hanein has taken on a unique leadership role to advance interprofessional collaboration among students. She is the co-president of ASPIRE, a non-profit organization that is working to establish a student-led primary care clinic in London Ontario. The clinic’s focus will be providing care to marginalized and vulnerable populations in London and to provide this care at hours when other primary care providers are unavailable.