Unified by Diversity: Insights into Pharmacotherapy Education Through an International and Interprofessional Student-Run Clinic

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14110%2F24%3A00138114" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14110/24:00138114 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Unified by Diversity: Insights into Pharmacotherapy Education Through an International and Interprofessional Student-Run Clinic

Original language description

International guidelines for medication prescribing show considerable variations. These discrepancies arise from factors such as antimicrobial resistance, medicine accessibility and reimbursement policies, as well as cultural and historical prescribing attitudes. The European Association of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics has initiated programs to modernize and harmonize pharmacotherapy education across Europe. Despite these efforts, international differences remain a significant challenge. To explore the educational potential of these variations, we introduced in 2022 the "International and Interprofessional Student-run Clinic", involving medical and pharmacy students from 10 European universities (9 different countries). Four to six times a year, 2-hour video meetings were held involving students from three to four universities. During each meeting, a student presented a real-life case of a patient on polypharmacy. In 45-minute breakout sessions, students reviewed the patient's medication in groups of students from other countries and/or backgrounds, using the prescribing optimization method and STOPP/START criteria. Teachers rotated among the groups to offer guidance. The last 45 minutes were used for debriefing and discussing the learning outcomes of the meeting. The video meetings were attended by third-to-final-year medical and pharmacy students (mean n=15). Both students and teachers reported gaining a lot from each other, including insights into international and interprofessional healthcare perspectives. They also learned the importance of patient-centred, context-dependent decision-making. Moreover, among the observed differences were that in the Netherlands, most hospitals have local prescribing guidelines, leading to specific preferences. In contrast, Italy's hospital prescribing guidelines are mostly regional, with certain medications restricted to specialist prescription by national rules. The meetings highlighted notable differences in prescribing guidelines, medicine use, and accessibility between the countries. This exposure offered a broader understanding of how healthcare practices and policies differ, emphasizing the need for context-dependent clinical decision-making. Moreover, we learnt that geographical distance no longer needs to be an obstacle to organizing educational events.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

30104 - Pharmacology and pharmacy

Project

<a href="/en/project/LM2023049" target="_blank" >LM2023049: Czech National Node of the European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů