BPSA Eastern Area Autumn Conference 2014 - Haematology

Updates and pictures from the recent BPSA conference! In this post, we'll be adding in comments from our very own coursemates. Let's hear what they have to say about this event!

The event was a great success, with a turnout of more than 300 delegates. Kudos!

Michael Champion, the Eastern Area Coordinator who organized this event, kick starting the show!

The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) group delivering the first talk on "Advances in anticoagulation".

"I thoroughly enjoyed the BPSA conference at the University of Hertfordshire. The sessions were very interesting, particularly the interactive session by CPPE looking at the advances in anticoagulation and looking at case studies. I now have a greater understanding of alternative anticoagulants such as: rivaroxaban and the limitations of warfarin. During the day I had the opportunity to talk to pharmacy students from different years which was useful. This was my first conference and I hope to attend future conferences. "

- Rachel Wild, 1st year student.

Honorary BPSA life-member, Vilius Savickas, giving out hot tips for pharmacy placements and the pre-reg year. 

"'I think I speak for most of us when I say, as a first years, attending a conference about a subject we have a limited knowledge about was a little bit daunting. However, I think the day gave us a good insight into things to come in our studies e.g. the International Normalised Ratio (INR) and its relevance, unfamiliar drug names (and their respective uses) and a brilliant presentation on an opportunity for summer placements in the Eastern Area. Many of the sessions were interactive (even humorous at times!) and the chance to win a shiny new textbook is always exciting. I, myself was very close, by having more bottle than most of the lecture hall, unfortunately a tricky pharmacology question about low-dose aspirin stood in the way of a new copy of 'FASTtrack Pharmacology' and I. All in all an exhausting yet enjoyable day, roll on the next one!’"

- Nicholas Kelly, 1st year student

A session by Ms. Narinder Kaur-Bring from the University of Hertfordshire, on the "History of blood".

"I had a great time at my first BPSA conference on Haematology. The case studies we took part in, held by the CPPE, really helped to consolidate my knowledge on haematology, and taught me some important new counselling points to tell patients about previous and new anticoagulants. It was fascinating to hear about the history of warfarin and to find out it was previously rat poison! The final session on shaping pharmacy for the future opened my eyes to some important issues surrounding pharmacy practice and the new steps that will be made to provide change for future pharmacists. Overall it was a very insightful day and gave me the chance to learn more about an area of pharmacy that I was interested in."

- Holly Meegan, 2nd year student.

David Branford from the RPS, discussing about the future of pharmacy and the "Five Year Forward View" paper by NHS England, which sets out how the health service needs to change in this new age of healthcare.

Nottingham, Hurrah!

Science into Practice Conference 2014

"This is the largest turnout for a BPSA conference!" These were the words of Annie Sellers, the organizer for this year's Science into Practice Conference at the University of Manchester. And a whopping 80+ students were from Nottingham! Well done guys!

In the wee hours of the morning, we boarded the Knight Bus heading for "Hogwarts".

After a 2-and-a-half hour journey, we reached early, too early in fact. (Doors aren't even open yet)

 I have to say, I've never seen such a big turnout for a BPSA conference.

I admire all these students who are willing to sacrifice their Saturday time to be here! Kudos!

Stephen, the Public Relations Officer of BPSA, briefing us before the talks.

Ruth Newton from the British Pharmaceutical Nutrition Group, giving an insight into nutrition in the clinical setting. She talked about the need to screen patients who require nutritional management, the various nutrition replacement methods, and typical examples of formulating nutritional products (like how heparin interacts with fats in TPN bags).

Have a go at the MUST score, which is used to identify adults who are malnourished.

http://www.bapen.org.uk/pdfs/must/must_full.pdf.

Dr Mike Davies, an LJMU lecturer who also did his pharmacy degree in Nottingham (woohoo!), talks about a new company he helped started up, Pulmorphix. Dr Davies, once upon a time attended a pharmaceutical conference. He heard the conference speaker said that there was no official method to test the dissolution of inhaled drug particles within a simulated pulmonary environment, whch then lead to him coming up with ideas of constructing a lung biosimulator, getting grants and investments to bridge the gap in the market. Hence, Pulmorphix was born. If you're wondering whether pharmacists are capable of becoming inventors, this is a key example to refer to. 

Watch more about Pulmorphix here! http://vimeo.com/83229937

Dr Dave Doughty, Director of Dosage Form Science at GSK, also gave a talk on product design. She discussed about the processes of formulating a simple tablet, from micronizing the API to film coating, and expanded on the important components of each step in the manufacturing line. There is much more than just compressing powders into granules and then into tablets, such as the hygroscopic profile of the API, compression profile, polymorphism, compatibility with excipients....just too much to cover in this paragraph!

Lunch time! Look at that queue!

One particularly deep and elaborate talk was by Dr Christy Hunter about Polymers in Nanomedicine. Sounds like something in the future? In fact, this has already been implemented in many marketed medicines, such as Doxil (using PEGylated liposome), Taxol (using micelles) and Abraxane (using albumin nanoparticles). He also mentioned about altering the molecular weight of polymers to give different biological activity, such as the poloxamines and poloxamers. A new concept that we learnt was that some polymers (such as PEG) were proven to activate the complement system of the immune system, which could explain the occurrence of anaphylaxis in some patients when using PEG-containing medicines.

On a separate session, Dr Doughty explained to us about the industrial pre-reg opportunities in the UK, This information pack can be found on the BPSA website (courtesy of the pharma companies who compiled it), so make full use of it to understand better what is out there for you to choose.

And lastly, a talk by Andrew Trans, an ex-Nottingham student who did his pre-reg in a split hospital/industrial placement. One really unique tip he shared with us, is that if you are really keen to work in the industrial field, there are many ways to enter the industry apart from the pre-reg scheme. There are some graduate training schemes, direct entry after graduation, or you may even start from another department, such as sales, and work your way in (which Andrew is currently doing)! There are also numerous (smaller) pharma companies, besides the big names like GSK, Pfizer, MSD etc., that may present opportunities to you. Try calling up the manufacturers listed at the back of the BNF. They may have job vacancies available for you!

Some found it tiring, some felt that the lectures were too deep. Nonetheless, it was a great first experience for many. Cheers!

Local Practice Forum (LPF) 1st Year welcome event

Hi there! As this is the first post for the academic year 2014/2015, we wish all freshers a warm welcome to our blog! And for returning students, welcome back! Do check our blog regularly as we will keep you posted about our experiences of the BPSA events this year.

The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Local Practice Forum held its first event to welcome the new students. So what is the LPF? The LPF is a local network of Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) members, who come together at regular local meetings to:

• ·         promote and share best practice
• ·         demonstrate local leadership
• ·         help influence country boards
• ·         provide local peer-to-peer support

In other words, a great place to meet and interact with other pharmacy students and pharmacist from your local region (i.e. Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire)!

There was an LPF session held in March. Have a look at the blog post about it here. http://bpsa-experience.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/rps-local-practice-forum-getting.html

The 1st year welcome event was lead by our very own lecturers, Mr. Gautam Paul and Mr. Tom Gray, as well as Lauren Rose, a qualified pharmacist who is also an alumnus of our university (and ex-vice president of BPSA)! You really get a lot of good speakers coming to the LPF, so don't miss out on future events!

Getting ready for the session

One of the things emphasized in this session, apart from introducing the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and its various support avenues, is that as students, you are also a member of the BPSA, and the RPS, hence you gain all the support and resources from the RPS FOR FREE! No membership fees, free access to the MEP, Pharmaceutical Journal, RPS resources and of course, being part of the LPF!

So make full use of these support while you are a student! After all, RPS is YOUR Professional Body!

Have a look at this video in the link http://www.rpharms.com/what-s-happening-/news_show.asp?id=1304 and be proud of what RPS, and the profession of pharmacy has achieved over the years!

Peace out!

Annual Conference - Final Day!

As with tradition, the conference ends with the election day to elect new committees for the new year! The day is fully packed with candidates and their proposers giving speeches on why they should be elected for their nominated role.

Laura, the returning officer, lead the elections such that it is fair and unbiased. There are many options you can call to vote for the particular executive role, such as simple vote, secret vote, simple delegate vote and secret delegate vote. Therefore, to be elected as a BPSA executive, candidates will have to really impress the delegation before they can take up those heavy responsibilities!

And of course, with a new beginning, there must be a wonderful ending, which is the BPSA Annual Ball! This year it was held at the Mercure Leicester Grand Hotel, one of the oldest (and most grand) hotels in Leicester!

Not to mention the food at the ball was also the best throughout the week!

Our group photo together with our two lovely juniors, Lynn (2nd from left) and Joanne (3rd from left) from Nottingham Malaysia Campus! Every year, the winners of the McNeil Responding to Symptoms Competition in the Malaysia Campus is sponsored to attend the BPSA Annual conference, which should be continued as the benefits are many folds!

There's just too much to be said in this blog about the annual conference. I would be more than happy to describe to you about the annual conference experience and all about BPSA. There's just so much to learn and develop oneself in the pharmacy career, and the annual conference is just a one of many stepping stones into the broadness of the profession!

And just to let you know, the next annual conference will be held at LIVERPOOL! Our host will be the Liverpool John Moores University, so make it your new year resolution for year 2015 to attend the BPSA 73rd Annual Conference!!

Annual Conference - Day 4 and 5

DAY 4 - BPSA DAY

The BPSA day is the main highlight of the week (apart from socials). Every year, there is the famous Medical Exhibition (MedEx) in which many pharmacy professional bodies set up booths as information centres and also to give away freebies! As BPSA members, you may choose to come for just today if you can't commit for the whole week. The final presentation of posters for the Research Poster Award competition and also other competition finals like the McNeil Responding to Symptoms Competition Final is held on this day too! 

A hearty breakfast from DMU cafeteria to start the big day! 

For this year, there were talks by charity organisations such as LOROS (Leicester Hospice Charity), which gave us a deeper understanding into the work of hospice pharmacists and healthcare professionals. We were also adviced to help out at our local hospice centres, wherever we may be as hospice centres are run by a voluntary workforce, so do help out!

We were also given a talk about Regulatory Affairs and being a regulatory affairs pharmacist. There's just so many things we pharmacists can be involved in, such as regulating clinical trial applications, marketing authorization (MA) applications, gathering data for regulatory intelligence and not forgetting the role of pharmacists in health agencies, such as MHRA. Certainly, the field of regulatory affairs is well underrated among students.

More talks?! Well where else would you have the chance to get a first-hand knowledge on the new and upcoming trends in pharmacy? This talk was about HEALTHY LIVING PHARMACIES (HLP). Although you may ask, which pharmacies do not promote healthy living? The concept of HLP is far more broader than just a brand. It's the way forward for pharmacy as discussed earlier, the role of pharmacists should shift towards a more clinical role, to be more PROACTIVE to promote healthcare rather than REACTIVE (responding to presenting complaints).

Another thing emphasized in the concept of HLP is the role of LEADERSHIP as pharmacists. Whether you like it or not, you guys will become LEADERS of your healthcare team, not only in community pharmacies alone. HLP focuses on getting pharmacists to empower the other staffs in the pharmacy, leading them to go above and beyond their expected roles and promote healthy living. Get your staffs appropriate training and development such that they can bring out their full potential and also freeing up time for pharmacists to deal with the clinical side of the patient experience.

Seen a familiar face? Yeap, that's the honorary professor Joy Wingfield who lead the LPF session for Nottingham last month! She and Sapana Mody (on the right) gave a good educational talk on the prospects of doing a postgraduate law qualification and how it can help you advance in the pharmacy world. 

Basically, a postgraduate law diploma is a huge plus if you are considering to work as directors, superintendents or senior managers in pharmaceutical companies. Or, you can work for regulators such as GPhC or MHRA with your law qualification. Or, you can even specialize in academia, teaching and training, such as Professor Wingfield herself as she edited the Dale and Appelbe's Law and Ethics Textbook, and also supervise many postgrad students in their research regarding law and ethics of the healthcare world. There's just so much that you can do with your MPharm degree!

Commercial and Academic Services (CoAcS) is the host for our BPSA Professional Development Scheme (find out more about PDS on the BPSA website). If you are interested, surf this website (WWW.COLLEGEOFPHARMACY.COM) and have a look at what CoAcS is currently working on.

The website contains many information about journals around the world, even lecture slides for the same topics we learnt in our degree here!

The MedEx! Apart from the huge exhibition, there was also the prize-giving ceremony for the winners!

I didn't have pictures of the other workshops we have done for today, such as the dementia workshop by CPPE, in association with Dementia Friends. Basically, Dementia Friends is an organisation that aims to spread the awareness of dementia (there is about a quarter of patients aged 65 and above and admitted to hospital care have dementia!) and to help people living with dementia.

(reference : http://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/ accessed on 21/4/2014)

If any of you are interested, Dementia Friends is currently recruiting DEMENTIA FRIENDS and DEMENTIA CHAMPIONS from universities. Do log on to their main website (http://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/) to find out more!

DAY 5

During the conference business (CB) today, the Constitution Working Party went through with us the changes that were recommended to amend the BPSA constitution. This was, to me, a very important session as the delegates at the session were representing the (roughly) 15000 pharmacy students in the UK, and the constitution changes were mostly to do with the condition which gives BPSA membership to students. There were around 100 delegates at the conference, which means each one of us were representing 150 students? Wow that's a big responsibility!

We had a Q&A session regarding community pharmacy, which dealt with questions such as the postgraduate pathways for community pharmacists, the shift towards Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLP), the mentality of community pharmacists being less "clinical" than clinical pharmacists in hospitals, and also the struggle to meet patient's needs and also the needs of the retail pharmacy business targets.

So how do we carry out our role as a pharmacist and also achieve the sales targets set by the retail pharmacy company? It was mentioned that as long as you help patients get the best out of their care at the pharmacy, business will naturally follow. We always perceive patient care and sales targets to be mutually exclusive, where in fact they overlap a lot! Again, it's about moving towards the HLP concept, getting more proactive to deliver good customer service and hence, your reputation will follow as well.

Today's talk was given by Mike Holden, the CEO of National Pharmacy Association (NPA). NPA is an organization that gives support to pharmacists and also pre-reg students in terms of educational materials and advice. In this talk, Mike talked about the concept of MECC - Making Every Contact Count! It is so important that we treat every patient with the utmost care possible, and we make every encounter with patients significant. Review their use of medicines, their lifestyle, reemphasize on healthy lifestyle tips etc.!

Katy Parsons, the ex-president, giving her executive report and speech. She has been the (loud) voice for BPSA and is considered by many to be the future leader of the pharmacy world. I would definitely recommend you to have a chat with her. She has so many ideas that I'm sure any delegate would agree with me how inspiring she was at the conference.

Social event! Tonight was at the National Space Centre in Leicester, which was a really special venue compared to the other evening events.

On the left is Lauren Rose, ex-vice president, and ex-Nottingham (she's our awesome senior!) And I'm sure you all know our enthusiastic teacher in the middle, Gautam! 

Eating in an exhibition centre, how crazily fun is that?!

Gautam and Lauren having a go at the weather forecast recording machine. That really made our day!

And we had our chance too, though not really sure what we were doing!