Pharmacy and psychiatry students: kicking the butt with smoking cessation
Students studying pharmacy and psychiatry will soon be able to refine their communication and collaboration skills by helping patients quit smoking.
Funded by Memorial’s Teaching and Learning Framework (TLF), the Smoking Cessation Program (SCP) will allow students in the School of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine (Discipline of Psychiatry) to be part of an innovative experiential learning experience that will enhance their professional competencies to provide a service to community members and also contribute to research around the scholarship of teaching and learning.
The project incorporates the School of Pharmacy’s three strategic directions – teaching and learning, research, and a commitment to support pharmacists’ expanded scope of practice and contribute to a more efficient and sustainable health care system.
Dr. Leslie Phillips (School of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine, program lead) explained that the program is an ideal model for inter-professional student learning, which is essential for producing future practitioners who can think innovatively and collaboratively about ways to improve the health care of the population and contribute to a more sustainable system.
“The program is readily adapted to include other health professional students and health promotion activities and allows for the students to apply their learning about smoking cessation in a real-life practice setting and also support the health needs of the local community.”
“Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest smoking rates in Canada and tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today.” Dr. Phillips added. “For every two individuals that you can help stop smoking, you’re saving one life. That’s pretty significant. If our clinic can add to the resources that are out there and help people quit, that would be a great contribution.”
The program also reflects the need to train pharmacy students to be capable of practicing to the full scope of the profession.
“Pharmacy practice has shifted from product focused to patient focused,” said Dr. Phillips. “The pharmacists’ scope of practice is expanding to provide services such as immunizations, the treatment minor ailments like cold sores, and will soon include a supporting role in chronic disease management. It is our responsibility as educators to make sure pharmacy students complete their education and enter the profession practice-ready. Enabling pharmacy students to participate in advanced practice activities are critical to the success of the curriculum and achievement of professional competencies.”
The SCP will operate out of the School of Pharmacy’s Medication Therapy Services (MTS) Clinic - a non-dispensing, pharmacist-led clinic that will provide comprehensive medication therapy assessments and other professional services to patients. Pharmacy students will work under the supervision of pharmacists to receive a high quality educational experience in an innovative pharmacy practice setting. The clinic will be located at the school’s Tiffany Court location.
“One of the benefits of having this program take place in the MTS Clinic is that all activities have a built-in evaluation or research component which means we have a venue to formally assess the effectiveness of the teaching and learning taking place in the program,” Dr. Phillips said. “The students in the program will be exposed to tools and techniques associated with research and evaluation activities, and we anticipate this will foster a culture of research and expose students to the potential for community-based research in future practice. We’re very excited about this entirely innovative advancement in teaching and learning, research, and pharmacy practice.”
The SCP will begin in January, 2016. Patients can be referred by a health care professional, or self-refer. For referrals or further information, please contact Dr. Leslie Phillips at 777-8299 or lphillip@mun.ca.
For more information on the MTS Clinic, visit www.mtsclinic.ca