European course in pharmacy

The third European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) course for clinical pharmacists and clnical teachers will be held in Malta between July 14 and 18.

The course aims to provide an opportunity to develop patient-centred teaching and practice skills in a clinical environment that will allow individuals to develop skills with feedback from experienced tutors and clinical practitioners.

The overall goals of the course will be: to observe and practise a systematic approach to identifying and solving drug-related problems; to observe and practice collecting information from the patient care setting, including interviews with patients with the help of local pharmacists; to practise the design of a pharmaceutical care plan for a patient; to discuss a patient's pharmaceutical care with the doctor as the prescriber; to learn good practice points for clinical pharmacists and for clinical pharmacy teachers; to collect and analyse information about a patient from available clinical data; to design a patient interview and a pharmaceutical care plan; to develop methods for close co-operation with physicians and to identify good practice points for using real patients in learning and teaching clinical pharmacy skills.

The course will be held at St Luke's Hospital and Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Msida. Tutors from France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Malta will be led by Professor Steve Hudson from Strathclyde.

Professor Hudson, Professor of Pharmaceutical Care at the University of Strathclyde, said: "The course aims to provide an opportunity to develop patient-centred teaching and practice skills in a clinical environment that will allow individuals to develop skills with feedback from experienced tutors and clinical practitioners.

"The course is useful for those developing their own practice as well as those who want to develop their own teaching in clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical care."

The previous course, which was held last month had a number of Maltese participants, including community pharmacists. All those interested may contact Dr Lilian Azzopardi at the Department of Pharmacy of the University.

Further information is also available on www.escp.nt or e-mail: lilmaz@maltanet.net.