Ready for the real deal

I have had a fantastic time at JCU. Some of my highlights include incredible placement opportunities, working on the student committee, participating in JCU’s Pharmacy Student of the Year competition and making life-long friendships. I’ve been lucky enough to go on placement to unbelievable locations, from rural Tasmania all the way to the Torres Strait. I have had both hospital and community pharmacy experience, in metropolitan areas as well as rural and remote regions and believe that these placement experiences are what set JCU apart from other universities.

My role on the student committee was as one of the Pharmacy Awareness Co-chairs and involved a lot of charity work and raising awareness. With the help of my committee, we participated in and won the National Australian Pharmacy Student Association’s (NAPSA) annual Vampire Cup Blood Drive, hosted bake sales and created health awareness campaigns for our students. We also reached out to students and created study tips to support students during COVID-19 online learning.

The opportunity to attend the annual NAPSA congress this year was irreplaceable. The friendships, networking connections and education I received have been a major highlight of my degree. Getting to meet other students from across Australia is something I’ll never forget, and I am incredibly thankful for these opportunities.

At the beginning of this year (2020), I participated in JCU Pharmacy’s Student of the Year counselling competition, which is an opportunity for fourth-year students to showcase their counselling skills to the incoming first years. I was lucky enough to win, giving me the opportunity to participate in the Queensland competition. It was an amazing experience that was a highlight of my last year of university.

Another highlight of my degree has been my placement opportunities. I spent a two-week placement block at the Thursday Island (TI) Hospital Pharmacy in the Torres Strait during my third year. This placement really opened my eyes to the struggles of rural and remote health care, something I hadn’t thought about too much before this experience. I travelled on outreach trips, including to Bamaga hospital and the Horne Island multi-purpose health centre, where I watched the pharmacist conduct patient reviews and medication history taking, always ensuring local medication guidelines were being followed. At the TI hospital, I participated in ward rounds, medication dispensing and distribution of vaccines to all 18 islands. I also got to spend a day at the local community pharmacy, where they look after medications for the local nursing home, as well as distributing to the outer islands in conjunction with the hospital. While my time at work was great, what made my time on TI unforgettable was the community. Everyone was so welcoming – my housemates and I were invited to Sunday drinks at the local bowls clubs, karaoke at the local pub and even asked to attend a feast for the Coming of the Light Festival.

This year, my placement highlight has been a three-week block at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane’s Metro-South. A slightly different experience to my TI trip, the hustle and bustle of one of Queensland’s largest hospitals was somewhat challenging to get used to. Here I got a lot more hands-on experience talking to patients and researching medications used. I also participated in so many valuable education sessions, including sitting in a third-year medical lecture on medication charting run by a pharmacist. I visited a vast range of specialty wards including vascular surgery, geriatric recovery and amputee rehabilitation where I learnt specific regimes, and how medications were used in these groups of patients.