Introduction

This subject is part of fulfilment of requirements of Council Directives 2005/36/EC and 2013/55/EU. It partially substitutes former subject Six-month Traineeship in the Pharmacy. Five‑month practice is performed in community or hospital pharmacies in the Czech Republic and abroad. Students are deeply acknowledged with a pharmacy process and under supervision they carry out all the activities at the level of a graduated pharmacist. This practice purposefully and comprehensively completes and consolidates the issues taught at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University.

Content of the practice

This subject follows on the Professional Experience in Pharmacy I. During the practice, students get acquainted more in detail with activities in a pharmacy and its workload as well as areas regarding pharmaceutical care.

The priority comprises the areas mentioned below, i. e., the consolidation of theoretical knowledge obtained at the faculty and its confrontation with real-world clinical practice. Furthermore, training the basic principles and obtaining new practical skills are acknowledged.

Students work under the supervision of pharmacy professionals in the field of dispensing and preparation of medicinal products (prescribed and over the counter drugs), supply, storage, control of drugs, patient counselling, and health promotion. Moreover, they can be acknowledged with the activities regarding the type of pharmacy and its location.

Dispensing

· Application of legislation related to dispensing.

· Arrangement and equipment of the dispensing workplace, organization of dispensing.

· Dispensing optimum when dispensing medicinal products.

· Use of the communication principles with the patient (psychological and ethical aspects).

· Determining the reimbursement of medicinal products and medical devices by health insurance companies, prescription restrictions, etc.

· Basic principles of working with pharmacy programs within dispensing.

· Electronic prescription.

· Dispensing of prescribed medicines, repeated dispensing of prescribed medicines, retaxation.

· Shared drug list.

· Generic substitution.

· Principles of self-medication in a pharmacy.

· Dispensing of over the counter drugs and restricted over the counter drugs.

· Dispensing of food supplements and other pharmacy assortment.

· Dispensing of medical devices.

· Dispensing of drugs and medical devices upon request from outpatient and inpatient health care facilities.

· Dispensing of drugs and medical devices for veterinary purposes.

· Dispensing of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

· Delivery service.

Preparation of medicinal products

· Application of legislation related to preparation of medicinal products.

· Arrangement and equipment of the workplace for the preparation of medicinal products.

· Organization of preparation of medicinal products.

· Mandatory activities of the pharmacists related to preparation of medicinal products, the possibilities of the pharmacist's intervention in the prescription for prepared medicinal products.

· Use of the Czech and European Pharmacopoeias related to preparation of medicinal products.

· Pharmaceutical calculations (maximal and recommended therapeutic doses of drugs).

· Reading of the prescription and its assessment regarding the prepared medicinal product, incompatibilities, examples of difficult/ challenging preparation of medicinal products.

· Procedures that increase the stability of medicinal products and ensure microbial safety.

· Expiration of the prepared medicinal products.

· Principles of preparation of individual dosage forms, their adjustment and labelling.

· Principles of preparation of sterile medicinal products.

· Possibilities of modification of medicinal products.

· Mass preparation, technological prescription, standard operating procedure.

· Preparation of intermediates, e. g., trituration, stock solutions.

· Professional administration associated with preparation of medicinal products.

· Pricing of the prepared medicinal products.

Supply activity

· Pharmacy assortment, ways of ordering of a pharmacy assortment.

· Basic overview of pharmacy suppliers and their assortment.

· Supply of medical devices (ordering from manufacturers).

· Acceptance procedures from pharmacy suppliers (batch control, expiration, pricing).

· Delivery documentation.

· Reclamation.

· Requirements and principles of the storage of individual marketed medicinal products, prepared medicinal products, medical devices, and others.

· Waste management in a pharmacy, disposal of unusable (unwanted) drugs.

Control activity

· Application of legislation for control activities in a pharmacy.

· Arrangement and equipment of the workplace for the control of drugs and excipients.

· Reagent apparatus, use of pharmacy equipment to evaluate the quality of drugs.

· Entry control of supplied drugs and excipients (Pharmacopoeia, pharmacy control cards, electronic records), keeping documentation related to control activities.

· Output control of prepared medicinal products (individual preparation, mass preparation).

· Quality control of purified water and its security.

· Control of drugs during storage in a pharmacy – batches, expiration, certificates for drugs and excipients used for preparation.

· Dispensing suspension and withdrawal of drugs and other products with quality defects.

· Temperature and humidity control when storing medicinal products.

· Hygienic regime and its maintaining, operating rules of a pharmacy.

· Control of pharmacy workload by regulatory stakeholders (e. g., State Institute for Drug Control).

Information, counselling, and health promotion

· Drug information resources in a pharmacy (printed and electronic professional resources).

· Use of professional programs and information databases in a pharmacy.

· Cooperation with Drug Information Centres.

· Providing professional information to patients about medicines and other products.

· Providing individual counselling in a pharmacy.

· Health education activities, health promotion, screening programs.

· Informing of healthcare professionals, e. g., about new medicinal products, availability of drugs, generic substitution, or medicines being prepared in a pharmacy.

· Cooperation with the professional societies or organizations.

· Education of pharmacy employees, lifelong learning.

· Cooperation with representatives of pharmaceutical companies.

Administration

· Documentation of professional activities in a pharmacy according to legislation.

· Professional administration associated with the registration and documentation of narcotic and psychotropic substances.

· Retaxation, methods of prescription data processing.

· Communication with health insurance companies, invoicing.

· Invoicing to customers and processing of supplier invoices.

· Principles of bookkeeping (collection of documents, handing over for further processing).

· Principles of performing banking operations.

· Stock-taking.

· Personnel agenda in a pharmacy.

Recommended activities

Many of these activities are carried out in some pharmacies only, especially in hospital pharmacies or pharmacies with a clinical pharmacy department.

· Patients with specific needs, centre medicines, discrete dispensing (discrete zone or dispensing box), individual counselling.

· Automated medication management during dispensation.

· Provision of other professional services to patients in a pharmacy.

· Clinical pharmacy in a hospital and community pharmacy, work of a clinical pharmacist in hospital departments, therapeutical drug monitoring.

· Positive lists in hospitals, drug commissions, antibiotic policy.

· Preparation of special drug forms, e. g., cytostatics, all-in-one bags.

· Involvement in