STATE-OF-THE-ART pharmacy teaching facility was opened by Minister for Health Mary Harney in Dublin yesterday.
The facility, which is a joint initiative between Trinity College Dublin and Boots pharmacy chain supported by Helix Health, features a model pharmacy to help students experience real-life pharmacy situations and improve pharmacist-patient communications.The unit also includes standalone teaching stations to enable students become familiar with the more traditional tasks of dispensing and administration.
Prof Marek Radomski, head of TCD's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the facility was intended to be the most advanced in Ireland.He said it would allow Trinity to provide the highest standard of professional and research training to pharmacists of the future.Ms Harney welcomed the real-life pharmacy experience when she officially opened the facility, saying 16 per cent of medical errors occurred because of the inappropriate dispensing of medication.
Through the use of new technology, pharmacists would be trained in innovative ways, ensuring that patients in our healthcare system benefit from the highest standards of pharmacy care and practice, she added.Some 274 undergraduate and 50 PhD students are currently studying at the school, which is the oldest academic pharmaceutical institution in Ireland.