Educational Seminar 2018

Educational Seminar

Last month the NZAPS-O “Educational Seminar” event was held. At least one is held each year to give students the opportunity to hear what some pharmacists have been up to, and be inspired. The free morning tea is a bonus! This year were lucky enough to hear from three amazing pharmacists.

Angela Harwood, a Clinical Advisory Pharmacist here in Dunedin, shared the range of roles she has been involved in with us. These range from community pharmacy and ownership, mobile medicines management, primary care (clinical advisory pharmacist), and recently gaining a certificate in pharmacist prescribing. Wow! It was exciting for students to see the range of opportunities and services out there, beyond what they may have heard about in class so far.

Guna Kanniah, a senior clinical pharmacist specialising in mental health and addictions services travelled all the way from Hamilton to encourage students to accept the mission of becoming a mental health pharmacist. Mental health is an important issue in our communities- Guna highlighted the statistic that 1 in 4 people in NZ have a mental health issue, then got us to close our eyes and picture three friends or people we know. He brought a lot of wisdom and passion to his presentation and I am sure he has ignited sparks of interest in students.

Paul Larson, a local community pharmacist (Larson’s pharmacy in Green Island), presented a highly entertaining and informative talk. He shared his background in pharmacy, and insights on community pharmacy and how to be a successful community pharmacist. He highlighted the idea that we need to be responsive to change, as change is inevitable part of our future in the profession. It was great hearing an honest perspective of community pharmacy from someone who has been so involved in the profession. Students always love to hear from him, and we are grateful to have Larson’s Pharmacy as one of our NZAPS-O sponsors.

HUGE thanks to our speakers for giving up their time to talk to students. Everyone that attended learned something new, and it was so inspiring hearing what these pharmacists have been up to. A thanks also goes out to Otago School of Pharmacy for contributing to event finances.

Make sure you attend next year to hear from another group of amazing pharmacists!