Clinical Pharmacy Clerkship I

This practical course is designed to provide the opportunity for the student to have direct patient contact and associated pharmacy experiences. The course is constructed to enable the student to assimilate and apply his/her previously acquired pharmaceutical knowledge in a patient care environment. In addition, the student will progressively develop clinical pharmacy communication skills emphasizing empathy, education and ethics through interactions with a variety of patients on specific-drug related problems and medical diseases, improve professional communication and interpersonal relation-ship with other health care providers through ongoing interactions related to patient care issues and develop students to become pharmacists with good-problem solving skills and professional judgment. Clerkship in hospitals should be conducted in such a way that the student is trained to achieve the following outcomes:

• Patients receive the maximum benefit from drug therapy.
• Effective drug management of sub-acute care of patients in hospitals including post-myocardial infarction, trauma, post-surgical, asthma exacerbation, oncology, and end-of-life care.

Appropriate selection of drugs and monitoring of drug therapy. Cost-containment initiatives in patient care. Pharmaceutical care provision in multiple-practice environments. Educational services on drug-related issues to other health care practitioners, pharmacy students and residents, patients and the community. Drug information services to clinicians, patients and the community. Play key roles in the development of disease specific drug-treatment guidelines. Areas where students will be posted to will include psychiatry and community pharmacy practice. Activities will cover history taking, medication records review, patient education and counseling, drug therapy monitoring, interventions and counter prescribing, health promotion, disease prevention and responding to symptoms. The sites to be used will include the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu and other approved specialist hospitals (as the need arises) and community pharmacies. The students will be rotated through the sites. In consultation          with hospital authorities, students will participate in each rotation under the instruction of a preceptor (registered pharmacist resident in the site) who will be assisted by Faculty clinical instructor. In hospitals, students will also participate in consultants ward rounds and be involved in drug decision-making process in the care of in-patients, in consultation with the medical consultants. Each student will make an oral case presentation and submit a written report at the end of each rotation.