Professional Development - EPSA

Table of contents
------------------------------------------------------Presidential words
4
------------------------------------------------------10 things about antibiotics
5
------------------------------------------------------5th Autumn Assembly - Dubrovnik
6
------------------------------------------------------Map of Competences project
8
------------------------------------------------------Pharmaceutical Care survey
10
------------------------------------------------------BhPSA
12
Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Students Association
------------------------------------------------------A.N.E.P.F.
13
French National Pharmaceutical
Studentsʼ Association
-------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------French Faluche review
15
------------------------------------------------------Bologna process
16
------------------------------------------------------Life after studies?
17
From studies to work
------------------------------------------------------Professional Development
18
------------------------------------------------------e-Prescribing
19
------------------------------------------------------TWINNET events
20 - 23
------------------------------------------------------Pharmaceutical Sciences Articles
24
------------------------------------------------------Pharmacy education in UK
25
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Reader,
You are looking at the second edition of the 16th volume of EPSA Newsletter.
I tried to focus on what EPSA is doing at the moment - developing projects, as well as
to show you some great results we have achieved and collected in past few months.
Design in coming pages is little bit more flexible than it was before, I hope you will
like it, because it shows some creativity in our “molecular” life. Everyone I asked to
write an article for EPSA Newsletter kindly and quickly answered which shows just
how much students want to participate and help! Beside our already established
collaboration with DIA (Drug Information Association) and AstraZeneca , who also
contributed their articles as part of Partnership, we have some new partners, and
hopefully will have much more soon.
Enjoy your reading, in a bus, train, plain, home or during lectures :-)
Edited and designed by:
Bojan Davinić
EPSA Vice-President of Communication 2008/2009
epsa.vpc@gmail.com
3
Presidential words
Dear EPSA Friends,
It gives me great pleasure
to introduce to you the
second newsletter for the
EPSA team mandate
2008/2009. It is hard to
believe that nine months
have already passed
since the congress in
Serbia. Since April 2008
the EPSA team has
worked very hard to make this association one
of the most respected student organisations out
there and if you have a look at this newsletter I
am sure you will be as convinced of this as I
am.
Indeed 2008 has been a very special year for
EPSA. We have seen the successful launch of
a new project the EPSA MAP of Competencies.
This project is a really important one not only
for EPSA but also for you, my dear friends, as it
is you who will ultimately profit from it. You can
read all about it in a very interesting article you
will find in this newsletter.
Our Working Committees have all been working
extremely hard in gathering information about
the hottest topics around the EU. By gathering
knowledge of how things work in different countries EPSA can really hope to make a difference
and this is also what makes EPSA so unique –
it brings together the voices, experiences and
opinions of pharmacy students all over Europe.
For this I want to thank the Working Committee
Directors for their dedication and also the Working Committee members for gathering all this
information.
I would like to urge you to have a look at these
articles, and contact the authors of these articles with any comments you might have.
4
As students, travelling is something which interests the majority of us. EPSA offers so many
opportunities for that. Throughout this publication you can read about the various team mobil
ity projects organised throughout this year, the
IMP Project and also EPSA events organised
by the EPSA team. It gives me great pleasure
to look back at the photos of all these events
and see all the smiling faces of all those students
who have left a mark on EPSA and have contributed to make my term as president a successful and rewarding one.
I would like to thank those students who have
submitted any sort of article be it scientific or
descriptive for this newsletter as they have all
contributed in sharing knowledge and spreading
the EPSA Spirit to all the corners of Europe.
Finally I would like to end by expressing my
gratitude to the amazing team I have been
working with over the past months. EPSA has
had many successes through the hard work
and dedication of everyone on this team. I
would like to encourage all of you out there to
get involved in your student associations and in
EPSA. Being a student is not only about books
and studying; itʼs about experiences and memories which will help you grow as a person and
as a professional. Just look around you there
are many ways of getting involved and every
little bit counts. I look forward to meeting you in
France for the EPSA Annual Congress.
Yours in EPSA,
Marisabelle Bonnici
EPSA President 2008 - 2009
10 things I know about antibiotics
Antibiotic Awareness Day
They are medicines efficient only
against infections caused by bacteria, which donʼt help me cure my
common cold or flu (infections
caused by viruses)
It is important to take my treatment
to an end and not give up antibiotics
as soon as I feel better
There are also natural “antibiotics”
(garlic, honey, oregano, thyme,
sage, Echinacea), which donʼt show
adverse reactions and
can
strengthen my immune system
It is important for me to take antibiotics only by following the physicianʼs
or pharmacistʼs advice
They are prescription only medicines
Frequent usage can lead to undesired reactions, such as: gastrointestinal disorders (diarrhoea, nausea), weakening of the immune system, predisposition to allergic reactions, kidneys and liver conditions
Alcohol can increase the adverse
reactions and extend the diseaseʼs
duration
Antibiotics donʼt take away my pain
(headaches, sore throat, tooth
aches) and donʼt reduce fever
If I use birth control pills, itʼs good to
use an additional contraception
method during the antibiotics treatment
Irresponsible administration can lead
to antibiotics not showing the right
effect in the future
European Antibiotic Awareness Day is a European
Health Initiative in close collaboration with the
World Health Organization. Its first edition took
place this year, on 18th November, and focused
specifically on the need for everybody to
stop any unnecessary use of antibiotics.
The EPSA Public Health Working Committee celebrated this day and selected 10
essential things we should all know about
antibiotics; below you can find these statements,
together with pictures from the field work done in
Bucharest, Romania by the students in pharmacy.
During this health awareness campaign we distributed questionnaires and flyers among the young public, aiming to find out their
perception about antibiotics and draw their attention on the importance of using these medicines in a responsible manner.
The results of the survey we did in Romania during
campaign:
-Out of 165 people, 77% take antibiotics following the physicianʼs advice and 88% follow the treatment as the pharmacist/doctor told them
- 69% of the respondents are aware of the fact that antibiotics cure
infections caused by bacteria, but 41% still believe that these medicines are efficient against viruses too
- 62% know that one of the undesired effects is the growth of drug
resistant bacteria, while 57% mention the gastrointestinal disorders
- 64% state that they are careful about consuming alcohol while they
are under a treatment with antibiotic, but only 55% are aware about
the significance of an antibiogram
And, the most important outcome:
- 96% say that they need to know more about antibiotics; 45 % prefer
to get this information from a doctor and 50% from pharmacists and
public health campaigns.
This encourages us to continue the health awareness
campaigns in this direction,
so that the Antibiotic Awareness Day will be celebrated
yearly by our local association (SSFB) and by the
EPSAʼs PH WC.
Public Health Working
Committee
5
5th EPSA
Autumn Assembly
Dubrovnik, Croatia 2008
The 5th EPSA Autumn Assembly was held from 20th25th of October in fantastic city of Dubrovnik, Croatia,
situated on a coast of Adriatic sea.
Participants enjoyed sunny weather, sea view from
hotel, amazing lecturers during a Symposium day
with European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP),
great workshops, inspiring social program and of
course true EPSA Spirit!
This autumnʼs theme was Pharmaceutical Care
Models and Therapeutic Innovations.
3 speakers held lecturers (Mr. Fergal Cooney, Dr.
Julienne Johnson and Dr. Tony Bayer) in fantastic 5
star hotel with beautiful view of the sea, as well as 3
student speakers (Ms. Aja Petrikova, Ms. Ersa Tsoutsoura and Ms. Magdalena Kurnik). EPSA is pleased
how these 6 lecturers were attended, and how the
discussions were live.
After all the lecturing Heena Bhakta, Working Committee Professional Development Director took the
microphone and with very dynamic approach among
the participants, lead all the discussions among
students, lecturers and guests. Atmosphere was very
live, progressive and ended up with statement of
opinion, which was written by EPSA Secretary General - Jamie Wilkinson.
EPSA Working Committees workshops were split in 2
days, and moderated by EPSA Working Committees
Directors. All of the workshops achieved good feedback from students, and it was nice to see interactive
presentations and live discussions afterwards.
Since Individual Mobility Project has attracted good
attention, EPSA organised training for National IMP
Coordinators, and rest of participants who are interested. Central IMP Coordinator, Boštjan Č eh, together with several members of EPSA executive,
presented the whole procedure of IMP process from
first contact until actual departure and saying “good
bye” to registrated participant.
6
The General Assemblies were set in a room across
the hotel, so we had no any problems with anybody
being late, everything was on time. All LSʼs attended
every GA, and we have to admit most of people siting
in the room gave us their opinion. Debates were very
fruitful and effective.
Going through the motions true EPSA Spirit showed
itʼs face - all the students were interested in the topics, giving their opinions, thoughts, telling us about
experiences! It was real pleasure being there. Even
though GAʼs were pretty much exhausting, beside
LSʼs, a lot of observers who were there joined debates and contributed EPSAʼs development.
Social program has been veeery good organized,
starting with opening party, over National night,
where everybody was in White-Red outfits, and
European night where every country had a chance to
present their national food, drinks, music or even
dance, party was quite crazy.
Next party - Marinero night which was fiesta of creative sailors and pirates costumes. We went to the end
party in a fancy club on the coast, with sea view and
realised that EPSA Spirit was among us all the time,
and certainly will stay for a long time.
As it goes usually event had to came to the end. Fantastic time in Dubrovnik, great friends, new knowledges, experience, fun... it will remain in us for a long
long time.
Special thanks to Croatian Reception Committee!!
EPSA Map of Competences project
Self-Medication Related Competencies
for European Pharmacy Students and Pharmacists
Background:
Throughout Europe, governments are becoming increasingly concerned with the safety of products, but
also the safety of practitioners (doctors, pharmacists,
surgeons, etc).
Cost and efficiency of health systems has always been a driver for health care policy,
but there is now an additional challenge of ensuring
that practitioners are safe and effective. Many health
policies are now being instigated with these attributes
at the fore, with pharmacy and medicines being no
exception.
The continued education and development of pharmacists, particularly in the community sector, is
therefore becoming a high priority.
Increasingly,
regulators are seeking assurance of ʻcompetenceʼ
(and associated performance) in practitioners who
are providing direct health care.
Competence
A close examination of modern ideas about competence reveals several facets; competence can (and
should be) undoubtedly seen as a complex construct,
comprising a set of knowledge, skills, behaviours and
values to which effective capability can be ascribed.
Knowledge and skills are straightforward enough,
and indeed behaviours can also be evaluated if the
right developmental framework is used. Routinely,
and reliably, measuring “values” in a practitioner is
not so easy. However, this is not say that we should
not try, and with the right model, in the right circumstances, and with an enlightened professional regulatory framework, these concepts can – and should –
feed into a developmental pathway for practitioners,
from pre-service, to general, to advanced levels.
COMPETENCY ICEBERG
KNOWLEDGE
EFFECTIVE AND
PERSISTENT
BEHAVIOUR
SKILLS
ABILITIES
VALUES,
ATTITUDES
AND BELIEFS
8
EPSA Map of Competences project
Practitioner development
Continuing pharmacy education (CPE) is a clear requisite if we are to realise the potential presented to
the profession by the gradual introduction of new
roles and medicines-focused services. This means
moving forward from the current idea about continued professional development (CPD – which often is
based around attendance at talks and lectures with
no direct link with competency development) towards
a more structured way of thinking about career-long
development for practitioners, and hence improving
the accessibility of medicines, medicines information
and symptom control. And to be clear, this includes
competent general levels of practice, without which
the profession would be declining.
This modern and contemporary outlook requires us
to move from the current rhetoric of life-long learning
towards a realistic practitioner development model
that fully supports health service reforms and patient
care. Realistic continuing education should have a
focus on credentialed competence and performance
is key to this, ensuring that inspirational workplace
(and work-based) education is at the core. It is acknowledged that assessment is as much a driver of
learning as personal development. Therefore, an effective learning tool requires self-assessment and
self-evaluation, and develops independent learning
skills.
Self-Medication Related Competencies for
European Pharmacy Students and Pharmacists
The European Pharmaceutical Studentsʼ Association (EPSA) together with the School of
Pharmacy, University of London, the
European Self-Medication
Industries (AESGP) and the European Association of
Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP) are developing a
unique and innovative self-assessment and learning
resource for European pharmacy students and practitioners. This will encompass general level competencies with particular examples of self-medication.
The initial phase of the project focused on the validation of the UK General Level Framework (GLF) to a
European practice context. The GLF supports the
development of pharmacists as safe and effective
general level practitioners. It is used extensively in
the UK, has been adapted for use in Australia and is
currently being developed in several other countries.
Since November 2008 final year students and new
practitioners from 27 countries have been assessing
the relevance of the GLF to their own practice via an
online research tool on the CoDEG website
(www.codeg.org.uk/egpf). EPSA, which represents
2500 pharmacy students and newly qualified practitioners, and the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU), whose membership comprises
professional bodies representing community pharmacists across Europe, have promoted the research.
The investigation will also highlight interesting differences and similarities in the beliefs and values of
final year students and practitioners.
This research will lead to the development of a European General Level Framework (EURO GLF), an
online self-evaluation tool for
students and practitioners.
This will be one of a number
of self-assessment tools
which will be developed in
the next phase of the project. An online learning
resource will be linked to
the self-assessments, initially focusing on cardiovascular disease risk.
Prof. Ian Bates,
Dr. Sarah Carter
Ms Jurate Svarcaite
(pharmacist and MSc student)
School of Pharmacy,
University of London
9
EPSA in Action
Pharmaceutical Care Education
What is Pharmaceutical Care?
Pharmaceutical Care (PC) is an important activity in
our future professional life and it means different
things to different people from different countries. It
can be understood as a holistic approach to patient
centred healthcare.
The main elements of the PC intervention process
are the patient assessment, the intervention itself
and the outcome assessment. Important supporting
activities include monitoring of the process, the
documentation and communication skills. Behavioural aspects are considered to be very important in
the curriculum.
In our research the definition of the pharmaceutical
care as stated by the International Pharmaceutical
Federation (FIP) from 1998 was used:
“Pharmaceutical Care is the responsible provision of pharmacotherapy for the purpose of
achieving definite outcomes that improve or
maintain a patientʼs quality of life. It is a collaborative process that aims to prevent or identify
and solve medicinal product and health related
problems. This is a continuous quality improvement process for the use of medicinal
products.”
This article gives a preliminary report of a survey
done by EPSA between September 2008 and October 2008. The results were presented at the EPSAESCP Symposium on 21st October 2008 (Dubrovnik,
Croatia).
EPSA Survey about Pharmaceutical Care
Education around Europe
As the topic of the EPSA-ESCP Joint Symposium
was “Pharmaceutical Care Models and Therapeutic
Innovation” EPSA decided to assess the PC education in Europe in order to find out the similarities and
differences between the curricula. An online survey
was conducted where the EPSA Liaison Secretaries
and Working Committee members were asked to
collect answers with the assistance of academic staff
at the respective faculty.
10
69 faculties from 22 countries replied to this survey
representing 40% of faculties of pharmacy in Europe
(see the map).
The survey was divided into four parts:
•Basic information about the country
•Information about the curriculum
• Teaching methods
• Information about the faculties who do not
have PC in their curricula.
Note: if a percentage is stated it refers to all completed
replies from the whole Europe if not stated otherwise.
Results
According to the answers PC is not being taught or is
poorly taught in Serbia (Novi Sad), Romania, the
FYR-Macedonia and Slovenia. The answers from
Novi Sad and Romania stated that the curriculum is
old, and needs improvement in order to consider PC
as an important course for students.
In Europe the PC is taught as an entire course in
43% of the faculties and in 52% as a part of another
course, mainly pharmacology, pharmacy practice or
pharmacotherapy. Almost 60% of the lectures are
obligatory in Europe. The oral examination (72%) is
conducted to a similar degree as the with the written
examination (75%).
The average number of hours dedicated to the PC in
Europe is 80 hours per year – that could be e.g. 2,5
hours per week during two semesters.
Is it enough to prepare future
pharmacists for his core role?
The highest amount of hours spent with the PC is in
Croatia (300 hours) followed by Finland (200 hours).
The PC is mainly taught in the 3rd year (69%) and the
4th year (62%). It is interesting to note that in Northern Europe PC is equally divided between all years of
education so the students start with the PC already in
the 1st year.
100%
Who is teaching pharmaceutical care at
the faculties in Europe?
The EPSA 36th General Assembly accepted a motion
which encourages the EPSA members to organise
“pharmaceutical care contests” e.g. in counselling
skills so the information about logistical and scientific
support is being shared between LSs right now.
Would you like to have a counselling skills competition at your faculty? Speak with your local association!:-)
To progress with this project a Working Group on
Pharmaceutical Care Education (WG) was created
after the 5th EPSA Autumn Assembly. The WG currently has 9 members from 8 countries. More members are welcomed.
% of faculties
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Academic Staff
Community /
Hospital Pharmacists
Doctors
Experts from
Societies
Which skills in PC does the faculty aim
at teaching the students?
Management skills
Co-operation skills
$The ability to accept responsibility
Decission making ability
&A solid grounding in biomedical ethics
Communication skills
3The ability to apply knowledge to specific problems
HA solid grounding in pharmacology,
pharmacotherapy and disease knowledge
,Knowledge of the pharmaceutical care process
0%
20%
40%
60%
% of faculties
80%
100%
EPSA in Action!
The aim of the WG is:
• to continue with the survey (in process, 13
more replies collected, another 6 countries
submitted replies)
• to present the results to the EPSA externals
(results were presented to the Pharmaceutical Group of EU (PGEU), International
Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE),
European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP))
• to prepare the Statement of Opinion (SoO)
on the PC education (in process, EAFP has
been asked join the SoO)
• to help EPSA members to organise the PC
contests (e.g. in the Czech Republic)
• to help EPSA members to improve the PC
education (the Romanian students already
started discussion with the Faculty of Pharmacy in Bucharest).
When the results of the survey were presented at the
Joint Symposium a lively discussion took place on
the topic. Students would really like to improve the
current situation. It was agreed that EPSA should
take action from all perspectives – presenting the
results to the professional partners and academia;
organising more actions related to PC such as training camps, workshops, lectures; EPSA member associationsʼ initiating the discussion with academic
staff.
As you can see EPSA is a very flexible and active
organisation who has the ability to change things.
EPSA would be nothing without its members and
people who care about the pharmacy profession &
the education and who wish to put the profession to
higher level.
This is a good example on how EPSA can be of
benefit of its members by addressing a problem.
Through extracurricular education, efforts to make
the student voice heard and so on EPSA can contribute to the improvements in the pharmaceutical education and skills set.
Aja Petrikova
Pharmaceutical Care Education
Working Group Director 2008/2009
USF Czech Republic
Iʼm glad that I had the chance to meet so many enthusiasts and Iʼm happy to see that EPSA is making
the difference in the pharmaceutical care education.
11
Meet the BPhSA
Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Studentsʼ Association
The Bulgarian Pharmaceutical
Studentsʼ Association was
founded by a group of students
on the 9th of November 2007 in
the Faculty of Pharmacy of Medical University in Sofia. The aim of
these students was to create an
association that will be strongly
involved in the pharmacy studentsʼ life and extra-curricular
activities.
In Bulgaria, there are two Faculties of Pharmacy – one in Sofia,
our capital city and one in
Plovdiv. As one of BPhSA top
priorities is to represent the voice
of all pharmacy students in Bulgaria, we contacted the Faculty in
Plovdiv. As a result, BPhSA has
members from there, too. Thus,
BPhSA pretends to be the only
national pharmacy studentsʼ association in Bulgaria.
When we created the association, we set up some
goals in front of us such as motivating studentsʼ scientific work, conducting public health campaigns and
training courses, promoting the improvement of
pharmacy studentsʼ skills, helping towards their professional realisation and scientific advancement, organising international exchange of students.
dents present at this event. They learned how to
educate and better explain the risk of the disease to
their future diabetes patients. At the end each participant had the chance to measure its own blood glucose levels. Other events worth mentioning on
BPhSA calendar are the public health campaign on
the 1st of December (World AIDS Day), Students Scientific Congress of which we are co-organisers, Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Days Forum during which
One year after the foundation of BPhSA we have
made a great progress in each of these objectives. It
has become a tradition for BPhSA to organise educational lectures on different topics – HPV vaccines,
oral higiene, HIV, insulin therapy. Only weeks after
our foundation, we had a TWIN with PSANS, Serbia.
BPhSA is responsible for the registration of the participants and it is represented with its own pavilion.
Apart from the educational part BPhSA throw big parties on different occasions – beginning of the academic year, Halloween, Christmas and the beginning
of the spring.
In May 2008 we organised in association with GSK
an essay contest. The topic was “The OTC products
and the role of the pharmacist as a consultant”. The
price was 150 euro. One of our recent successful
initiaves was the lecture and workshop about the
epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention and self-control
of diabetes, commemorating the World Diabetes Day
on the 14th of November. There were almost 60 stu-
As a young association, BPhSA is constantly developing and evolving led by its motto “ARS LONGA,
VITA BREVIS”.
12
www.bphsa.org
Hristina Lebanova
EPSA LS
BPhSA Public relations officer
Meet the A.N.E.P.F.
Letʼs see who is responsible for EPSA Annual Congress 2009...
General Assemblies are the opportunity to
share ideas, thoughts about A.N.E.P.F. and
its membersʼ burning projects and issues.
Professionals from different fields of pharmacy or healthcare system are invited to
give lectures and students from other countries or from other courses of study are invited as well in order to share with them.
A.N.E.P.F. is the French National Pharmaceutical
Studentsʼ Association. It was created in 1968 and
represents the 33.000 pharmacy students from all 24
French faculties in a independent, non-political, and
non-religious way. It aims at the promotion and the
defense of their rights, the promotion of the national
unity of the students in Pharmacy. To reach its aims,
the association attends the different commissions
that govern the pharmaceutical studies (National
Pedagogic Commission for Pharmaceutical Studies:
CPNEP, National Training Masters Council).
A.N.E.P.F. has as well tight relations with the Deans
of the faculties of Pharmacy as well as with the National Order (Chamber) of Pharmacists (where the
headquarters of A.N.E.P.F. are located). Contacts
with professional trade unions of Pharmacists are as
well numerous in congresses or in meetings.
A.N.E.P.F. meets its members (local pharmaceutical
studentsʼ associations) several times a year: During
the annual congress (300 participants) and during
five general assemblies (200-250 participants) reuniting small delegations from each local association as
well as during the winter and summer “criteriums”
(respectively 1000 and 500 participants).
In practical terms, A.N.E.P.F. makes the best
of itself with different publications like:
• The Installation of the Young Pharmacist
handbook - helping the pharmacist to create
a community pharmacy
• The Antidote (information newsletter published every two months)
• The Practical Handbook for the Pharmacy
Student - with a description of main diseases, drugs and dosages and some advices for patient counseling
• The Pharmaceutical Studies handbook –
describing all the Masters available in
France for students
• and the Guide of the Pharmaceutical Professions –
describes all the fields where a pharmacist can work
We organise a public health campaign each month,
based on national and international campaigns, or
created by ourselves alone or with the help of EPSA.
We print a lot of posters and documents to be given
to students every month, we distribute tons of condoms, and make a lot of activities to earn some
money and give it to health associations. With one of
our partners, we allow a grant to the most interesting
humanitarian project from all 24 faculties.
Thanks to EPSA, we are organizing a QUATRINO
with Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Of course the project that is the most interesting for you guys is without
a doubt the upcoming Annual Congress that will be
held in Reims in April. In a few words : Exciting lectures, General Assemblies, outstanding sightseeing
trips and 6 open bar parties! We invite you to join us
for an unforgettable experience with us and EPSA!
www.anepf.org
Mickael GROULT
ANEPF President
13
French Faluche
Gau
che
Droite
Did you ever wonder what it means?
When you come to EPSA events, you often look at
the French with a curious look… What is that strange
thing that they are wearing, what does it mean, and
why do they bother wearing such a heavy thing on
their heads?
Well this strange hat that you see is called the
Faluche (with a capital letter, always) and is the traditional hat of the French Student. It is a very old tradition and it begins in July 1888, Bologna, Italy. Students
from all across Europe came to celebrate the 800
years of the University of Bologna, and this is where
the French saw that some countries had some special
signs in order to distinguish themselves from others.
When they came back to France, they decided to
choose the hat of the inhabitants of Bologna in memory of this amazing congress, and to call it Faluche.
Since then, it kept on being modified: At first it was
worn completely blank, like the inhabitants of the Venetian region. Then, in order to distinguish all the students and to make it more personal, the circular ribbon
appeared and then the ribbons and insignias on the
velvet. (See description below).
The Faluche is regulated by a code, so that
every Faluchard is able to read and understand other
Faluches. The Faluche is not reserved to associations;
every student can wear it, regardless of his course of
studies. Moreover, it is devoid of any religious, social
or political connotation; thus any student and wear it
as long as he has that spirit of brotherhood and the
taste for partying that defines the Faluchard.
The faluche is divided into two main parts,
what we will call the circular ribbon; and the velvet;
which is the black part that tops the colored circular.
First, the circular: This part is here to represent your
studies and give some general information about you.
Here you will find from left to right: Your nickname,
your nameʼs initial letters, and the year when you left
school, which would correspond as well to the year of
entrance in university. Then, depending on your
course of study you will have a special insignia (caduceus for pharmacy). After that, you will place a golden
star for every succeeded year, a silver star for a repeated year, and a cow head for succeeding in second
chance exams. A single palm shall be put after ending
every cycle (2 years) and a single large palm for obtaining a diploma. Every course of study will have its
own color (green for pharmacy), all students shall sew
a satin ribbon on the circular apart from the healthcare
students (pharmacy, dentistry, midwifery, medicine,
Avant
paramedics, osteopathy) who shall sew a velvet ribbon because in old times, velvet was used to clean up
blood in surgery and that it was not stained by blood.
The velvet part will give more personal information and is so wide that it will be difficult to explain
everything in this article. At least I will try to give some
details so that you could understand how it is organized: On the left of the Faluche, you have what we call
the associative/student part. You will see the city of
studies with the corresponding crest and the ribbons
corresponding to the associations where you have
been and the position in it, as well as the years of the
term. On this part shall be put all the pinʼs given by
friends, other faluchards met during events and those
offered by the reception committee of events in memory of events you attended. On the right, you will have
the personal part. There shall be a ribbon with the colors of the region where you were born with the corresponding crest and another ribbon, perpendicular to
the region ribbon with the colors of the city where you
were born with the corresponding crest as well. This
part shall be the place for personal insignias. Each
insignia represents something special, described by
the code of the Faluche. Some of the insignias such
as the grape (love of wine), the rose (loss of feminine
virginity), the sphinx head (polyglot) and the dromedary (single when normal, not single when upside
down) can be put by the faluchard himself, others can
only be given by the grandmaster himself such as the
Bacchus (dignity in drunkenness), the sword (good at
sex – advice by the sexual partner) or the bee (amazing associative work – advice by the president of association).
I hope that this article helped you in understanding a
little bit what the Faluche is, and of course, I invite you
to come and talk with us at the congress or any other
event to discover more in depth the amazing universe
and history of the Faluche!
Georges DAGHER
Pharmacy Grandmaster of Paris XI
15
Bologna process
Where does it go?
Bologna Process known as a process of European
education reforms provides a rigorous education
within the European countries, aiming to be fulfilled
by 2010. Through use of credits such as ECTS system, transparency, cooperation between students
and professors, student mobility, quality of teaching,
application of a system with three cycles(bachelor,
master, doctorate), recognition of qualifications and
period of study, Bologna Process enable a higher
education and hence a better society.
EPSA Pharmacy Education Working Committee team
are concern about the implementation of Bologna
Process in different European countries. This issue
will be subject to large-scale development projects.
Our first action was rating knowledge related to Bologna Process among students at different faculties in
different countries. After providing our working committee with these specific information, through brainstorming and discussion we have decided to raise
awareness through different activities and projects.
In countries which are still implementing Bologna
process we will organize a Bologna Process day. The
best time of organizing this activity will be post examination period, around spring, and the date is relative to each country so local organisations will decide
when it would be. Details about the event are still on
discussion.
Different educations systems in European countries does not allow us to apply
only one activity, therefore in other countries where Bologna Process is already
implemented, such as Albania, Portugal,
Denmark where student “live” with these
education reforms, we have thought that
the best decision will be distributing leaflets containing some information such as
objectives, implementation of Bologna
Process in institutional, national and international level as well as BP in relation
with pharmacy/pharmacist. Distributing
them in different meetings, and workshops all over Europe will be one of our
goals.
16
Other highlights have included an informal promotion
of Bologna Process, which is going to take place in a
faculty bar. EPSA members will inform students in
different faculties, who are interested to know more
about BP, and hopefully we are trying to attract more
students. Students will be motivated to ask what they
want to know about Bologna Process.
Through a wide range of activities where we can discuss and interact with each other, we are also aiming
to get to know student opinions about the effectiveness of Bologna Process. There are opinions to be
told, and others to be listened to. Arguing rationally in
different ways, and considering conflicting opinions
that may appear contradictory, will help us to evaluate the situation. Our ideas about possible projects
and activities have been blossoming so far, and we
seek transmitting knowledge about Bologna process
to all the pharmacy student around Europe as well as
offering them some of our EPSA Spirit.
Malvina Hoxha
Università “Nostra Signora Del Buon Consiglio”
3th Year Pharmacy student
Tirane, Albania
Pharmaceutical Education WC Member
FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS!
Life after studies?
Dear colleagues,
Itʼs a great pleasure to write about my first working
experience after graduating; I took on a position in
the pharmaceutical industry.
After having fulfilled my military obligations I entered
the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, I am working
in the department of Quality Management for Roche
in Basel.
After five years of studying, my daily life changed a
lot, from being the whole day in the lecture auditorium or in the lab to working in the office, joining
meetings and being in contact with the whole world
(on a face-to-face level or with audiovisual support).
I am really satisfied with my job, because I have the
opportunity to use my pharmaceutical knowledge
day-to-day. Additionally, I have the chance to learn a
lot of things, which you donʼt pick up at the University
(e.g. Communication skills, Management skills, Cultural aspects of different countries).
One of the main differences between my time at the
University and my current work in the pharmaceutical
industry is the degree of responsibility. When something goes wrong in the lab or during an exercise at
University, in most cases, there are a lot of ways to
resolve the problem in a fast and reliable way.
The reality in the pharmaceutical industry looks different. The focus on patientsʼ health is an important
factor in Rocheʼs Corporate Philosophy.
A mistake, e.g. if a quality deviation is handled
incorrectly, can lead to
serious consequences
with high costs, high risk
for patientsʼ health and it
can have a negative influence on the corporate
Image.
In general, as a young
pharmacist I feel really
welcomed in the pharmaceutical industry. In
my eyes, our company
really appreciates the
spirit and the openminded ideas which are
introduced by young scientists.
Name:
Nicolaos D. Gentis
Born in: Berne,
Switzerland from a
Greek father and a
Swiss mother.
Studies: Pharmacy
at the Universities of
Berne, and Basel.
Graduated in November 2006.
Even though I am really
satisfied with my current
position, there are some
things I miss a little bit from my time at the University.
By writing my master thesis I had the opportunity to
do Research in the field of Pharmaceutical Technology. It was a great experience to investigate problems and questions of the Pharmaceutical Sciences
with different methods and concepts.
The pharmaceutical industry provides this opportunity
in the departments of Research & Development. An
additional opportunity for doing Research is the application for a PhD position at the University.
Due to my strong interest for Research, I accepted a
PhD position at the University of Basel from February
2009 on and will therefore be leaving the pharmaceutical industry, after two years full of interesting and
positive experiences.
However, working in the industry after having earned
my Ph.D. is certainly an interesting option.
Nicolaos D. Gentis
17
Professional Development
Standards of Practice for recently graduated pharmacists in community
Have you ever wanted to work in another country
in Europe? Are you daunted by the fact of going
to a new country and practicing pharmacy? Do
you want to work as a pharmacist abroad and
have a helping hand to start you off? Maybe the
Professional Development WorCom has got part
of the answer!!
Across Europe, many pharmacy graduates will start
their careers in community pharmacy. There are lots
of factors attracting new pharmacists into this area,
including flexibility, abundance of jobs and locality as
well as good rates of pay and career prospects.
However, it is apparent from work previously done in
the Prof Dev WorCom that the undergraduate degree
doesnʼt teach you everything you need to know to be
a “day one” pharmacist and it can be a very overwhelming task.
They had hoped to gather more information via a
Yahoo Groups emailing system and also help to create awareness about the project. You too can help by
taking part in the Prof Dev Project and helping pharmacists to practice pharmacy across Europe.
Some of the questions
we are asking are:
How do you become a pharmacist in your country?
How would a pharmacist from another country practice as a pharmacist in your country?
How does the healthcare system work?
What are the Continuing Professional Development/
training requirements post graduation?
If your country has a similar document or you want to
help with this project then EPSA would really appreciate your help! Contact Heena as below. With your
help, you can make European changes and help to
facilitate the migration of pharmacists across Europe!
As a result, one of the aims of the Prof Dev WC is to
produce a document to help recently graduated
pharmacists to be confident in working in community
pharmacy across Europe. Obviously, there will be
sections of the document that are specific to each
country and also many “standards of practice” that
will overlap.
At the EPSA Autumn Assembly in October in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the Prof Dev Workshop focused on
gathering this information. Lots of different members
from lots of different countries helped to find out as
much information as possible, in a limited amount of
time, about how a foreign pharmacist can practice
pharmacy in their country. As the time of the workshop was short, many students said they would go
back to their own countries and ask more students to
help contribute to this beneficial project.
The Romanian delegates who were at the workshop
said they would ask the faculties in their country for
help with gathering this information.
18
I would like to thank all those who have helped with
this project, especially the participants of the Prof
Dev Workshop at the Autumn Assembly.
For more information or to take part, contact me,
Heena Bhakta
EPSA Professional Development
Working Committee Director
epsaprofdevwcd@gmail.com
www.pharmacist.gone?
Focus on e-Prescribing
Telemedicine, electronic prescribing, consumer health informatics… all these terms are connected to a new concept in the
healthcare field: e-Health. It describes the application of information and communications technologies (ICT) across the whole
range of functions that affect the
health sector. In September 2008
the activity of the EPSA Public
Health Working Committee focused on e-Health, approaching
this topic from patientsʼ and
healthcare
professionalsʼ point
of view, as well as analyzing its
effects on the public health systems. We had a discussion about
the “pros” and “cons” of this
emerging field and focused on ePrescribing.
ess of e-prescribing, at European
level the main concern is putting
e-health, respectively e-prescribing in their legal context, assuring
the data protection and the patientsʼ privacy in electronic communications.
What is the status of
e-Prescribing in Europe?
Physicians
Even though the term e-Health is
quite current in Europe, its level
of development is very different
across the continent, and so is eprescribing. If countries such as
UK and Denmark already have a
tradition in this practice, with
nearly all the prescriptions produced by computer, others like
Sweden, Germany and Norway
have adopted e-prescribing recently, while In Spain and Bulgaria it is still in the pilot phase. If
at national level the challenge is
to ensure the appropriate IT infrastructure to support the proc-
Healthcare system
e-Prescribing
is the use of computers to improve the safety and efficiency of
the prescribing process. Under
this system, a care provider uses
a computer to enter information
about prescription medications
that a patient needs, and then
electronically transmits that data
directly to the pharmacy
computer
BENEFITS
Pharmacist
- Clean claims; fewer phone calls
to physicians, insurance system
and patients
- Fewer handwriting problems or
issues; fewer mistakes because
of misreads
- More time spent helping physicians and patients with drug therapy matters and disease-state
management
- Significant reduction in number
of phone calls related to formulary and handwriting issues
- Half time to create an e-prescription
- Medication history available;
drug interactions and/or duplicate
therapy flagged up front
- Reduced medication cost by influencing a greater use of generics
and preferred brand name drugs
- Fewer phone calls received
from physicians and pharmacists
- Less paperwork for staff (faxes,
letters, etc.)
Patient
• Improved safety and accuracy
- Fewer difficulties over prescription insurance coverage
• Prescriptions ready for pick-up
• Treatments started without delay
• Potential for most cost-effective
therapy with subsequent cost
savings
DRAWBACKS
- Information security
- Patient privacy
- Controlled substances: these
prescriptions canʼt be transmitted
electronically, as they require
supplementary safety measures
- Complacency: Patients, physicians, and pharmacists should
not believe that the use of an
electronic system eliminates all
possibilities for errors
- Cost of providing and maintaining e-Prescribing system; Dependency on this system
Andreea Raluca Ghinea
Public Health Working
Committee Director 2008/2009
What do students think about e-Prescribing?
According to the online survey that we carried out on the same topic, pharmacy students believe that
e-Health will foster collaboration between healthcare professionals and will improve pharmacistsʼ activity. We
support the implementation of practices connected to this concept, especially e-Prescribing, that will allow
professionals a better time management and a focus on drug therapy matters and patient counseling.
However, students wonder if e-Prescribing and available drug-interactions programs wonʼt
limit pharmacistʼs role in prescription analyzing and patient counseling.
19
QUATRINO BARCELONA
Barcelona, what a beautiful place…
All of us, who had a chance to get to know Barcelona
as a fourth and also final stop of our Quatrino, no
doubt agree with these words. And not only the city
itself, but also people were amazing. The Spanish,
the Greeks, the Romanians and the Slovenes – a
combination with a great potential which did not leave
us cold-hearted.
We lived it up as each day would have 25 hours and
no one was bothered with the fact that we had lack of
sleep. How could it not be so, since the weather was
sunny all the time and there was a bunch of happy
smiling people around us, filling our batteries with
new energy. We enjoyed all these things: the sightseeing with our great guides, delicious food, nice
clubs and great disco-parties ... and finally, also the
presentations of our newly gained knowledge about
the topic of the educational part of Quatrino – »Drug
abuse«.
20
During the week spent in the Catalan capital, we
quickly got used to the easy going mediteranian way
of life. But still, despite all our efforts, we did not
manage to be less punctual than the Greeks .
Seven days were over too quickly, but friendship and
memories caught with cameras (and also those
which stayed hidden to our most fanatic photographers) will stay until the end of our lives. Or maybe ...
till we get so dementic that we will even not be aware
of ourselves. But hopefully, it's a long way before that
may happen, so we can look forward to many new
events, where we are going to meet our »no-borders
friends« again.
Andreja Adamic
Tina Grohar
Nadja Pipan
ŠS SFD Slovenija
The 21st of September
the Danish delegation
got visit from our Portuguese colleagues.
The theme of the TWIN
project was drug abuse
and we were 22 Danish
and 25 Portuguese
participants.
In Portugal we heard
about party drugs where
we in Denmark had focus on alcohol and cannabis among others.
Portugal vs Denmark
The Danish part of the TWIN
During the Danish TWIN week
we had 5 lectures:
• Introduction to drug abuse and
the work with drug addicts
• Tissue damage following alcohol abuse
• Medically Enhanced Normality
• From cannabis research to
obesity treatment
• Steps towards the Development of a Cocaine
• Antidote
Besides lectures and panels we
tried to show the participants the
theme of the project from different perspectives and they were
held with success.
One of the initiatives was a workshop, where the subject was
abuse of over-the-counter drugs
and the liberalization of the
pharmacies.
The specific problem was that
painkillers are used in suicide
attempt among teenagers, and
the suicide attempts had increased. Since 2003, painkillers
have been sold in supermarkets
and gas stations in small packages of 20 tablets, in Denmark.
In pharmacies you can buy painkillers as over-the-counter drugs,
in packages up to 300 tablets.
We must not forget the street
campaign which we held the 27th
of September. The weather was
The workshop was made as a
role play and there were six
groups of seven and each person
had a role (a pharmacist, a doctor, a sales manager in a medical
company, a member of the National Health Service, a parent
and a Sales director in a supermarket), which they had to act.
amazing and little groups of a few
Danes and Portuguese went out
to different places in the city to
get the drug abuse questionnaires filled in.
We were present in many different places, from squares over
shopping malls to studentʼs
dorms, to be able to meet as
many people as possible. We
had put up a pavilion next to the
fountain, equipped with a table
and chairs where people could sit
and fill the questionnaire. Furthermore brochures about drug
abuse containing explanations of
the most common drugs where
handed out.
Another initiative was an orienteering race where the participants were divided into groups.
Each group then had to go to a
series of posts where they encountered a few problems they
had to solve. The problems were
of varying difficulty, and all related to drug abuse.
Examples of the problems the
groups would encounter were
naming every stimulant they
could remember, explaining how
certain drugs were metabolized in
the body etc. The group with the
most points received Danish
chocolate, and the competition
was fierce.
Of course we must not forget the
social events and the sightseeing
in the Danish capital, Copenhagen where the participants had
perfect opportunity to experience
the Danish culture.
Anne Windfeldt
21
were made some scenes in movies, which
our guests found it amazing. This castle has
very interesting museum of middle age
weapons. After sightseeing we played volleyball, hanged out and just enjoyed in nature.
Wuerzburg visits Zagreb
TWIN Germany - Croatia
1st day Sunday
The Arrival of our colleagues from Germany
(Wuerzburg) was predicted at 5:00 am. We were very
excited to see our guests and make their stay in Zagreb pleasant. In early morning at bus station our
welcome committee was waiting. At 13:00 we met
with our colleagues in café bar near dorm, and
started with the city tour: botanical garden, than we
showed old parts of city. At 20:00 we made the welcome party! Everybody was satisfied with the
choice. We danced, chatted, drank and had fun.
2nd day Monday
We met at 13:00 on the main square and went with
our guests into our college botanic garden. Thereafter we made a walk through the most beautiful city
park Bundek. In the evening we went in our biggest
pub. We all sat down at one long table, drank, bier,
talked. Our German colleagues said that our bier was
in rank with the German. I hope they did not lie to be
polite.
3ed day Tuesday
At 8:30 we went to Plitvice lakes. It is one of the most
beautiful Croatian national parks. The weather was
beautiful so we truly enjoyed in that unique nature.
Our dear guests were amazed with beauty of landscape, lakes, and waterfalls.
Colleague from Germany commented:
This place was like from fairy-tale.
4th day Wednesday
At 9:30 began second excursion. Destination was
very known castle Trakošćan. In this very old castle
22
In the evening we went to rock bar because
one of our colleagues had concert there. He
played guitar with his friend, many popular
rock songs, created fantastic atmosphere.
Staff commented that they did not see this
kind of atmosphere long time ago in this
club.
5th day Thursday
A charity action: so called Pancake and
Cookies day which took place at our college.
Our students made and brought cakes,
drinks and were making pancakes. These sweets
were sold in purpose to get money for one little girl in
need. Our guests joined the action by making pancakes and buying sweets. We were whole afternoon
at the college: playing cards socialized and were eating huge amounts of sweets. Until night all sweets
were gone. It was not so hard assignment to eat all
those delicious sweets in charity purpose! In the evening was planed to go out with our guests in a popular bar- it was jazz night.
6th day Friday
Class about illegal substances: One of our professors
of pharmacology is working on a project with a hospital in Wuerzburg (what a coincidence!!!) so that went
quickly and in a relaxed atmosphere talking about all
kinds of effects that illegal drugs can cause... In the
afternoon we visited the museum of city Zagreb,
where our guest had the opportunity to see the historic exhibitions and learn something more about Zagreb. The last night was crowned with a visit to very
classy discotheque. We danced all night long, until
morning although we were all tired from long sightseeing and walking in last few days.
7th day Saturday – Last day
Time flew very fast away with them around! We had
last lunch together and agreed to see us again at bus
station at their departure. It was a bit sad because
we became very close with them in last few days.
Our colleagues from Germany gave us rose for
goodbye, we made last few photos and kissed each
other and promised to see again in Germany. It was
very emotional. They entered in bus and were waving
until we could see them.
Marina Kusevic
6th of November
Welcome party for Slovenian delegation
started around 18h at bus station in Belgrade,
with the sounds of trumpeter's orchestra who
were playing a well known Serbian songs"Kalasnjikov" and "Mesecina"!
Boheming together: in bohemian part of Belgrade - Skadarlija - restaurant “Tri sesira “
7th of November
We visited Hemofarm concern - the strongest
domestic pharmaceutical industry and Museum of pharmacy in Vršac - so called “Museum at the stairs”. There will also be an article about our visit and the twining program in
Hemopress - newsletter that Hemofarm publishes every month.
Slovenia vs Serbia
TWIN Slovenia - Serbia
Partying with a breath-taking view of Belgrade:
very popular club in the Capital, all the way up
at the 9th floor - Stefan Brown.
8th of November
Do you know how to get up after parting?
We found the way to wake up after Stefan Brown
because we knew how important is the role of pharmacist today in the prevention of Obesity. We wanted
to hear more... and we really got it.
Five interesting lectures given by eminent speakers
from Faculty of pharmacy in Belgrade:
• Role of the Pharmacists in the Prevention and
Treatment of Obesity and Eating Disorders
• Principles of Pharmacotherapy in the Management
of Obesity
• Functional Foods and Dietary Supplements for
prevention and treatment of Obesity
• Herbal Products and Obesity
• Attitude of Pharmacists and Residents of Nis Area
toward Dietary Supplements for Body Weight Reduction
bowling :-) At the end of the day we went to Kajak
club for barbecue and party.
9th of November
Sightseeing of Belgrade down town and Kalemegdan
fortress. Museum of old-timers: this is the only museum of this type in this part of Europe. Many celebrities visited and many cars driven by famous have
been exhibited from 1990ʼs.
Pizza hut restaurant and free time: enough time to
get ready for the 2 memorable parties: Party “To to to
je to...“ – night boat trip and “Good-bye party“ in one
of the fanciest clubs in Belgrade which was organized by NAPSer and Sports society of Pharmaceutical faculty in Belgrade.
10th of November
King Palace and White house: reception and the visiting of palace Lunch in restaurant “Moja kuhinjica“
Serbian cuisine.
Time to say bye, bye... :-(
This wasnʼt the end because... The third part of TWIN
took a place in Ljubljana on 11th of November when
crazy Slovenians printed out our photos and brought
us with them to the theme party BLACK & WHITE!
Thank you!!
These words wouldnʼt be written without support of
Sanofi Aventis, Hemofarm concern and Faculty of
pharmacy in Belgrade!
Restaurant Kovač and bowling to stay in a good
shape and to promote health life style! Urban, Meli,
Miloš, Mehmet, Milanka... they had the best score in
Bojana Bilbija
Bojana Bogicevic
Vladimir Obradovic
23
Pharmaceutical Sciences Working Committee Articles
Chemical Characteristics and
Antioxidant Properties
of Wine from Serbian Regions
Uros Cakar 1, Natasa Cakar1 , Brizita Djordjevic2
1. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade,
2. Institute of Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade
Even ancient European civilizations had the
strong cult of wine that spread across all nations of
Europe, including the Serbs, over centuries. It has held
an important place in civilization in the course of centuries thanks to not only the feeling that it gives a taster
during tasting, but also a positive effect that it has on
organism. This health effect has been known of for
ages, and nowadays modern science devotes more
and more attention to the research of its qualities.
Although exists the growing evidence that
moderate consumption of alcohol beverages, and
especially wines has the cardio protective effects, the
food researchers attention is still occupied in discovering numerous compounds that exhibit antioxidant,
cardio- protective and other health beneficial effects.
In the light of so-called French paradox, that despite
of having lots a risk life style factors (smoking, fairly
high intake of saturated fatty acids) French people
has the lowest rate of cardiac disease mortality in
Europe. The answer of French paradox lies in fact
that French people consume moderately, but regularly wine. Both clinical and experimental evidence
suggest that wine (especially red) offers greater protection to health.; this is attributed to grape-derived
antioxidant polyphenolics found particularly in red
wine. Unfortunately, the consumption of wine in Serbia is below the European standards.
Based on the aforementioned facts, the purpose of this work was to test certain sorts of wine, to
determine the parameters that mark their quality, as
well as their anti-oxidative features.
In 8 samples of chosen wines (red, white and
rose) from Serbian market chemical characteristics
were investigated. The dry matter, the alcohol content, the free sulphur(IV)-oxide content, the glycerin
content, as well as free acid content was determined.
After distillation, the content of alcohol in distilled liquid was determined in two ways, using alcoholometer
and pincnometer. The dry matter content was determined in the rest of distillation liquid. The obtained
results were in good accordance with literature data.
The determination of the antioxidant activity was performed following TBA procedure, and showed that
24
selected wine samples were source of anti-oxidative
substances. The greatest antioxidant activity possessed red wines; this was expected due to fact that
red wine has more antioxidant substances then other
sorts of wine.
The promotive effect of 12monoketocholic and 7,12 -diketocholic acids on the transport of
lidocaine into 1 -octanol
Zvezdana Spasojević, University of Novi Sad
Medical faculty, Department of pharmacy
Introduction
: Lidocaine is a local anesthetic,
which has to cross the lipid membrane of a cell in
order to express its action.
Goal
: The aim of this research is to examine
the possibility of increasing the partition coefficient of
lidocaine, respectively, to enable the transport of its
cationic form through the membrane, using bile acids
which form molecule-aggregates (micelles) and are
able to affect the permeability of cationic medicines,
what would lead to a more rapid anesthetic effect.
Material and methods: The effect of bile
acids on the transport of lidocaine into 1-octanol (imitates the membrane) was examined using a kinetical
method. The decrease of lidocainʼs concentration in
the aqua layer was determined at 264 nm using UV/
VIS spectroscopy. Successive measuring were performed in different time periods when the equilibrium
was reached. The concentration of bile salts was
based on their critical micellar concentration (CMC),
which was determined previously. Both of the bile
acids were at their CMC and the fractions of CMC
(0.5CMC, 0.75CMC, 1.25CMC).
Results: Considering logD (partition coefficient
of lidocaine at pH 6.5), 12-monoketocholic acid at the
concentration of 65.00 mM (1.25CMC) contributed
more to the prolonged effect of lidocaine, since logD
was increased for 34.2% compared to the one of the
pure lidocainʼs solution (level of reliability: p<0.01). 7,12diketocholic acid showed a better effect on increasing
the speed of lidocainʼs transport into 1-octanol.
Conclusion:
The results of this research
initiate the possibility of using the examined bile acids
as the promoters of pharmacologically active substances.
Key words: Lidocaine; Bile acids; Critical
micellar concentration; Onsagerʼs effect
Pharmacy education in the UK
Letʼs see how Brits do it!
Over the recent years
the UK pharmacy profession has been expeditiously evolving, almost to an unrecognisable degree.
Pharmacists in the UK
are quickly moving
away from the dispensary and the traditional
ʻwhite coat chemistʼ
image associated with it, and moving into more clinical roles, with an emphasis on improving patient centred pharmaceutical care. Qualified pharmacists may
now, with additional training, undertake private consultations with patients to review their medication,
become independent prescribers and run clinics in
almost any area of clinical expertise in which they are
competent. Such an extension in the services that
pharmacists are expected to provide must translate
in an extension in pharmacy education.
Currently, aspiring pharmacists must undertake an
MPharm degree from one of 24 schools of pharmacy
in the UK. The MPharm program is an undergraduate
degree - contentiously classed and funded as a nonvocational science degree - which consists of 4 years
of academic study in pharmacy. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) accredits
the program, and currently sets and monitors the
standards of pharmacy education at all stages.
After successfully completing the MPharm program,
students must undertake one year of pre-registration
training. There is an exception to this in one University (Bradford), where pre-registration training consists of two six-month placements during the
MPharm course, rather than as a single one-year
block following graduation. Students must apply for a
pre-registration place like they would for a job, as the
position is one year in full time work and is, most importantly, paid! Pre-registration training may take
place in a hospital, a community pharmacy or in industry (e.g. gsk or AstraZeneca), with opportunities to
experience the different sectors during the year. At
the end of the year, students sit an exam, and if they
pass, may become registered pharmacists and can
practise as such in the UK.
After learning about the Bologna process from my
European colleagues and the massive implications of
it, I was at a loss as to why the general awareness
amongst UK pharmacy students was lacking somewhat. Fortunately I have since discovered that the
indifference is not due to inaction (the UK became
signatories in 1999) but rather because the MPharm
program already complies with the 3 cycle structure
that the process towards a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) aims to achieve. So UK students
are not seeing a huge overhaul of their undergraduate course because of the implementation of Bologna, which must occur by 2010.
However, for students in the UK, education is changing and will continue to do so. More clinical roles will
demand greater clinical training and professionalism
at undergraduate level, and ultimately the MPharm
will have to be revised to keep up to date with the
changing landscape of healthcare provision in the
UK. For example, currently there is no formal link
between the undergraduate degree and practice, and
it is currently being debated whether the degree
course should in future be a five-year integrated programme, much like a medical degree is in the UK.
Ultimately, the aim of education in pharmacy at all
levels is to support the RPSGBʼs mission to improve
the populationʼs
healthcare and to
ensure that all
pharmacists are
competent and fit
to practice pharmacy. Therefore,
as practice continues to evolve,
so must the education and attitude of future
pharmacists.
Amie Woolley
4th Year Pharmacy student
Cardiff University, UK
woolleyal@cardiff.ac.uk
25
Executive Contacts
President
Marisabelle Bonnici
Portopalo B1A Flat 10,
Bugibba St., St Paul's Bay, SPB 2760,
MALTA
epsa.president@gmail.com
+ 356 79048502
Vice President of Mobility
Nuria Peiro
Ronda Guinardó 164 5ª2ª
o8o41 Barcelona,
SPAIN
epsa.smo@gmail. com
+ 34 609 259 852
Vice President of Education
Louise Winnecke Jensen
Skotterupgade 10 st th,
2200 Copenhagen N,
DENMARK
epsa.vp.edu@gmail.com
+45 22436002
Vice President of Communication
Bojan Davinić
Secretary General
Jamie Wilkinson
76 Hook Road, Surbiton, KT6 5BH,
UNITED KINGDOM
epsasecgen@gmail.com
+ 44 78 84 07 06 00
Vice President of EU Affairs
Tomaso Piaggio
Rue du Luxembourg 19-21,
1000 Bruxelles,
BELGIUM
epsa.eu@gmail.com
+32 487 363443
Brigadira Ristića, B3 L10/20,
23000, Zrenjanin,
SERBIA
epsa.vpc@gmail.com
+ 381 63560 597
Treasurer
Marija Marić
Braće Dronjak 6/7,
21000, Novi Sad,
SERBIA
epsa.treasurer@gmail.com
+ 381 63 8630124
Vice President of Partnership
Development
Fokion Sinis
Koritsas 20, 26222 Patras,
GREECE
aksinis@gmail.com
+ 306 944 97 97 74
26
EPSA Office
Rue du Luxembourg 19-21,
1000 Bruxelles,
BELGIUM
epsaoffice@epsa-online.org
www.epsa-online.org
Drug Information Association
Monday, 23 March 2008, 09:00-10:30
European Higher Education: Curricula for the Pharmaceutical World
Participants will learn in an informal atmosphere about the education students need to lead them into the
pharmaceutical world. They will hear what students themselves all over Europe think about their curricula
(EPSA European research project) and will have the opportunity to put questions to and exchange opinions
with industry professionals and academia.
This session is being developed by the EPSA with the support of DIA Europe.
The EPSA represents over 120,000 pharmacy students in 32 European countries. The objective of EPSA is to
develop the interests and opinions of European pharmacy students and to encourage contact and cooperation between them.
The Chair of the session will be:
Fokion Sinis
VP of Partnership Development of EPSA
The world of the pharmaceutical industry and health authorities (provisional title)
Learning Objective: Students/Emerging professionals will get a principle idea about job opportunities/
characteristics, and some tips from the different speakers in regard to initial contacts, CV, personal characteristics, training and they have the opportunity to ask questions to members from industry, HA or maybe recruiting organizationSpeaker from industry about job opportunities, job characteristics and different industry types
(SME vs. big pharma)
‑ Health Authority speaker e.g. EMEA to describe job opportunities at EMEA, national bodies, entry option,
training requirements
‑ Head-hunter to speak about recruiting organizations and how they work, tips for CV, interviews, getting in
contact with the different bodies etc.
Time for Q/A to address specific questions from audience. The questions can also be written during session
on paper by audience as this will maybe decrease the hurdle to ask questions.
The Chair of the session will be:
Mrs. Sonja Pumpluen
Vice President, Head Global Drug Regulatory Affairs
Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Further information about Student Posters or the DIA Student Fellowship can be obtained from Maureen
McGahan: maureen.mcgahan@diaeurope.org or call +41 61 225 5160 or by going to www.diahome.org and
clicking on the EuroMeeting icon.
27
What are you waiting for?
APPLY NOW!
Individual Mobility Project
EPSA Individual Mobility Project offers you an amazing
opportunity to gain experience and practice in the
pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical institutions,
faculties of pharmacy around Europe and research laboratories.
EPSA does it for European students of pharmacy,
EPSA does it for you!
All details at www.epsa-online.org