The participating students provided positive feedback on their experience working on this collaborative project. They were asked about their personal purpose for participating, expectations, thoughts on the benefits of conducting medication reviews, their learning experience and whether such activity should be an ongoing practice at senior care centres. Many students said that the primary reasons for their participation was to brush up their skills in medication review, to gain real life experience in dealing with medication use in geriatric patients, and to explore the potential role of a pharmacist at senior care centres. All of them reported that their expectations had been met, they had received good evaluations from stakeholders, and they considered the continuation of such initiatives to be beneficial for all parties involved in the project namely the students, elderly residents, and carers at the senior care centre. In addition, students learned how to communicate with not just the elderly residents, but also their carers who play an important role in medication administration.
One participating student shared, “Though I personally have never communicated with the senior citizens in the centre, I am encouraged that this activity ensures the caregivers and those responsible provide the best care for the residents.”
“Such an activity is beneficial because it creates opportunities for students to explore real life clinical case work instead of just the simulated cases which are done in the classroom. Dealing with real patients will definitely improve students’ clinical skills,” added another student who also took part in this Impact Lab project.
Valerie Lee Xie Yi, Nurse Manager from Click2Health shared, “This Impact Lab Project with Taylor’s School of Pharmacy has yielded valuable insights and improvements needed in medication management and patient care.”