Winning Essay:
Increasing Pharmacy Awareness
There is a saying that goes like this – there is no
greater sin than ignorance. This is one reason why I have decided to choose this
topic. To address this point of increasing awareness about the Pharmacy practice
is one major issue that concerns each and everyone of us today. I am sure that
many of us have faced family and friends who have raised their eyebrows when we
inform them that we are pursuing a degree in pharmacy- some giving encouraging
words while others stare back at us with confusion. It is not even surprising
that some will ask since when Singapore started offering courses in farming –
associating Pharmacy with farming, due to the similarity in the pronunciation.
But whatever the case is Pharmacy practice is not a discovery of the 21st
century but it has been around since the days of the medieval man.
To address this topic, we must look at the very root
of the problem- that is the society. Not many people know what a pharmacist
does. I had a rather peculiar experience once when I was doing a short stint of
relief teaching. One young teacher told me that all this while he had thought
that only nurses dispense medication. This is not an isolated incident. I am
sure many of us would have had some sort of the same experience.
Public education is one way to
tackle this problem. It is time that pharmacists come out of their dispensing
areas and get the public to understand the need and significance of this
profession. They must put a stop to the common believe that pharmacists are
playing second fiddle in the medical profession. Even though it is rather well
known that each particular medical profession plays a crucial role in the health
care system, a pharmacist is still placed below a doctor. Lobbying for a good
common cause is one way for gaining the trust and respect of the public.
Organizing health forums and talks is one way of getting to the public. Getting
to the heartland of the residential areas is the way to get the layman to be
aware of the profession. Issues such as elderly care, dialysis and diabetes are
some of the topics that really matter to the public as the society starts to
age. These topics could be discussed in these forums. Even though time is such a
pressing factor, the working adults should not only get together for the common
good of the profession but could also rope in the undergraduates in their
activities, for the undergraduates of the present will be the workforce of the
future. This has been already started and it shows a promising future. Maybe
this could then be linked with a week dedicated to pharmacists just like how the
nurses celebrate nurses’ day. This week could then be celebrated with
activities that include the public as well. Even though I am not suggesting that
we go out into Orchard Road and let our hair down – we could have more
meaningful activities like raising money for charity, conducting health checks
and educating the public with regards to certain pressing health issue. After
all isn’t pharmacy a profession for people with hearts that are bigger than
the average man?
Public awareness should not only be carried out in
shopping malls but also extend out to schools after all if students are put
through boring assembly sessions about African music and such, I do not think
that a talk on pharmacy as a profession would be more boring. Now that the
health sciences is being such a hot topic addressed at almost every major event,
it is now that we must go all out to increase the awareness of the role of a
pharmacist in this emerging field. For it is only wise that we strike while the
iron is still hot. Even though the university’s Pharmacy students’ society
organizes activities for junior college students annually, I personally feel
that it is already late. It is a known fact that students applying to get a
place to study pharmacy in the university must have done well in both Chemistry
and Biology, it is rather late to educate the junior college students as they
would by then selected the subjects to study. We must go to the secondary
schools to publicize and educate the students about the profession as they are
still at a stage of deciding about their future. We must bring on the trend
where students choose pharmacy as their career not by default due to being
rejected by another faculty but rather through their choice. For this to happen,
the Pharmacy profession must see a change. A change where practicing pharmacists
and undergraduates come out and work together as a united front for the common
good of the profession.
Before that can be done,
Pharmacists in all areas must first believe in themselves and their profession.
This can only be done if undergraduates of the present are themselves aware of
what is in store of them in the future when they go out to practice. Thus
awareness is not only for the public about the profession but also includes the
people practicing the profession. The preceptorship programme is one wonderful
idea that works on this principle. But one set back of this programme is that
only one or two students from each year get to see what is happening in
industrial pharmacy while the vast majority get their ‘eye-opening’ session
in hospital and community pharmacy. One way to overcome this problem is to get
industrial Pharmacists to give guest lectures whereby students will then get to
see the role of the pharmacist in this setting. This can then be further
supplemented by a visit to the industrial plant during one of the practical
classes. If these two suggestions could not be implemented, then it would be a
good idea to get the students who are on industrial attachment to do a short
presentation to their course-mates on what they have learnt during their brief
stint during their preceptorship programme. At least this way the rest of the
students in the cohort would get a rough idea on the practice of industrial
pharmacy.
by Mr Vijay
National University of Singapore
Singapore
