Southport Hospital pharmacy welcomes international students

PHARMACY students from the United States and Spain have been honing their skills and helping with patient care at Southport & Formby District General Hospital.They are two Americans, Dustin Grant and Blaire Upchurch, from Wingate University, North Carolina, and Beatriz Medel, a student at the University of the Basque Country in Spain.



The international placements, which are paid for by the students themselves, form part of their studies towards their degree qualification.Chief pharmacist Adrian Brown said: “It’s been a pleasure to have the three of them with us because the placements are of mutual benefit.

“They help my team on a day-to-day basis in the department as well as giving useful feedback from a different perspective on the way we work.”Beatriz, who is at the end of her six-month placement, said: “What’s interesting to me is how much more involved pharmacists are here in the care of patients. It’s very different in Spain.”

Dustin and Blaire are visiting Southport for five weeks, having spent a month at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital. They have also found the differences between the two countries’ health system interesting to study.
“The staff have been really welcoming and friendly too,” added Blaire.Owing to the success of the scheme, more students from the two universities are booked for placements in the near future.

source: http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2011/06/28/southport-hospital-pharmacy-welcomes-international-students-101022-28948699/