What's New
SPEP Program: 2019 (AY19) - Year in Review
A total of 146 SPEP rotations, each consisting of a total of 160 hours of structured, practical experiential training, were completed by pharmacy students during AY19. Of these, 56 took place in hospitals, 45 in community pharmacies, and 27 in primary health care clinics. In addition, new elective rotations were provided: Qatar Poison Center at Sidra and an industry rotation at Qatar Pharma. Two new hospital sites were also introduced in 2019: Sidra Medicine and Communicable Disease Center. A total of 216 preceptors have been involved in these rotations, in addition to onsite faculty support during the summer rotations.
We were also able to offer international rotations during AY19. A total of 5 students completed their SPEP 5 or SPEP 6 rotations in community pharmacies in the United Kingdom (UK). The internships were arranged in collaboration with De Montford University in Leicester, UK. Three students completed their SPEP 5 rotation in community pharmacies located in Leiscester City and two students completed their SPEP 6 rotation in community pharmacies located in Glasgow, Scotland. Students were engaged in a wide variety of learning activities during their community rotations, and were able to observe advanced community pharmacists’ roles such as the provision of screening services, patient assessment activities and independent pharmacist prescribing. Students also participated in community disease awareness and health promotion events such as asthma, men’s health, and flu vaccination campaigns.
A number of other initiatives in our SPEP experiential program were also launched in AY19, including the incorporation of E-Value, an electronic management system for the experiential program which enabled all preceptor and student learning assessment and attendance to be managed online, and becoming fully paper-less. Orientation for both preceptors and students on this system was carried and implemented. The option to take SPEP rotations during the Winter term was another feature added to the program, enabling more flexibility to some students for making up missed rotations before graduation, and to the sites to be able to accommodate the increasing number of students.
The College of Pharmacy (CPH) continues to be committed to preceptor development activities. Including preceptor development session and various SPEP orientation sessions for new sites. A total of two orientation sessions were conducted before the start of the summer rotations and one session at the start of the fall rotations. There were also full on-site orientations to new SPEP sites. Several E-Value orientations were provided at CPH and on-site. On April 2019, CPD-accredited. Preceptor Education Session: “Implementation of Technology into Patient Care and Education” was carried out, followed by a Preceptor Appreciation ceremony.
We also continue to provide our preceptors with membership to the online continuing education platform know as Collaborative Education Institution (CEI) which offers webinars and online courses, many of which are accredited by ACHP, and for which attending certificates can be provided for submitting to QCHP. Additionally, this subscription is now linked to e-Value and thus can be better utilized by preceptors with improved tracking capacity for their CE requirements.
We thank the CPH preceptor community for their efforts in sharing their valuable experience with our students and for their precepting commitment through the years.
