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How the coronavirus crisis has impacted on pharmacy students – part 6

In our latest member voice article, Jay Patel recalls how last year, while in his third year at university, he worked at an independent pharmacy to support staff and patients during the pandemic. Jay goes on to voice his concerns for fellow students and shares his views on the importance of community pharmacy.

Wed 21st April 2021 The PDA

During the early stages of the pandemic, I didn’t have a clue what would happen. I didn’t know if there were going to be exams, so I focused on helping out. I did a month of just working every day. Eventually, I got Covid-19 and had to self-isolate. After that, I started thinking about studying again and it seemed like my course was going to continue, though I kept working.

I had done a bit of work in pharmacies, but I had minimal experience. Where I ended up volunteering was a busy pharmacy so suddenly, I was going into real-world stuff. At university, they tell us a lot about best practices, but in that environment, a lot of that cannot apply. You can’t ask all the questions you want to, it’s impractical. The experience, although difficult, was really beneficial.

I feel like I learned a lot very quickly. There were good times and bad times. During the pandemic, customers became more agitated than I’d previously experienced.

“The first thing I noticed was people requesting inhalers. Obviously, we didn’t know much about Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic so people were getting inhalers that they hadn’t used in years. It exemplified the sort of fear that people had.”

 

There were staff members that were clinically vulnerable who were rightfully sent home. It was scary at the beginning, again we didn’t know much about Covid-19. However, I did feel I was in a unique position because one thing we did know was that younger people were less dramatically affected. As a pharmacy student, I knew how to dispense and I had knowledge in the subject so, with the bare minimum training, I could go in and help without disrupting the rest of the staff too much.

My main role was dispensing, but also counter assistant work. I filled in where I could especially as people became ill and had to self-isolate.

Queues were also an issue because you couldn’t have more than one customer in the pharmacy at a time. Understandably people were stressed and anxious. You would be angry too if you had spent the last 20-30 minutes outside in a queue just to find out the pharmacy didn’t have your medication or it wasn’t ready yet. We did get verbal abuse, but nothing stood out. Obviously, any form of abuse is unacceptable and it’s important that we highlight that, as mentioned in the PDA’s Zero tolerance of abuse campaign, but people feeling frustrated would be understandable given the circumstances.

I think I was frightened, but mainly for others. Some people are more vulnerable than others. I was nervous about my family. I started shopping for my grandparents.

“I felt, maybe wrongly, that I was less vulnerable and would be okay, obviously, others have had that attitude and sadly have not been okay, but that’s how I felt in the early stages of the pandemic. I feel somewhat fortunate that I got Covid-19 early and that I wasn’t too badly affected.”

 

I recently got vaccinated and it was surreal to be included in the first group of vaccinations. Whilst we all still need to abide by social distancing and hygiene measures, it is reassuring to have an extra level of protection, that should hopefully reduce the chances of me contracting and transmitting coronavirus.

Studying during the pandemic

I feel like I haven’t been able to experience the same teaching and learning as I had been used to. It is disappointing that we’ll be facing the same exams even though it hasn’t been possible to receive pre-pandemic teaching and learning standards.

I can’t imagine what it’s like for first years, coming to university and not being able to form those bonds with other students in their year groups. Even though I know my friends well, talking online takes a certain amount of effort unlike sitting and conversing in the same room. I have a lot of empathy for other MPharm students, first-years especially.

The role of pharmacists in the pandemic

I think the first thing to note would be that pharmacies have stayed open during the whole pandemic where other services have become somewhat less accessible. Pharmacists always being available and being there to talk to patients has been a valuable service.

On the other hand, consultation rooms have been unusable because they’re often so small. Often pharmacists have had to call people from their cars to keep a level of confidentiality, which obviously hasn’t been ideal, particularly because of the role pharmacists can play.

Community pharmacists are trained to deliver flu vaccines and play a valuable role in community healthcare. Some patients see their pharmacists every month or more. Particularly for older people, their routines can sometimes be home-pharmacy-shop-home, so getting local pharmacies involved increases access to the vaccine, and the uptake as well. The more involved pharmacists are, the better in my opinion.

Jay participated in the PDA’s #GetVaccinated campaign.

Pharmacists and pharmacy students across the UK have participated in the campaign which hopes to encourage their patients, family and friends, especially those in the BAME community, to have the Covid-19 vaccine.

Learn more

By Jay Patel, fourth-year MPharm student, De Montfort University

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