On 19 September 2018, Ms. Fatima Bukar, the final year PharmD student at Gulf Medical University’s College of Pharmacy, shared her recent experiences during her stay at University of Saint Joseph (USJ), Connecticut, USA. Ms. Fatima completed her two months training at the University of Saint Joseph, Connecticut, USA, as part of the student exchange program offered by GMU and its MoU partner USJ.
During her visit, she took a course on Pre- Advance Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Integrative Experience for International Students and another on Pharmacochemistry of Antineoplastic Agents. She also took her APPE rotations which consisted of two weeks of ambulatory care posting, two weeks of acute care posting and five days of community pharmacy posting. She also facilitated an Interprofessional education (IPE) case discussion session and in addition participated in clinical case discussions with her academic peers and mentors.
While concluding, Fatima said “I would encourage more student exchange programs, as it is an eye-opener not only in team building and independency but also in clearly differentiating between various aspects of healthcare systems between different countries”.