Ola Labib

As a rotational clinical pharmacist and I have worked on the Surgical wards, Medicines for the elderly, Medical admissions unit, surgical admissions unit, Urology and was on my Aseptic rotation which included covering the Oncology ward and dealing with clinical trials. My role on the wards included checking patients own medicines, taking drug histories, and clinically screening patients’ drug charts. I also liaise with the doctors and discuss suitable treatments for patients based in biochemistry and haematology results as well as different drug formulations for patients with different needs. As well as ward rotations, I had dispensary duties which consist of accuracy checking items and clinically screening outpatient prescriptions. I also was on the oncall rota and was oncall approximately every 4 to 6 weeks.

As a locum, I work in a variety of settings which have different pharmacy policies and procedures therefore I have the ability to apply different skills that I have gained in practice. This shows that I am very much able to adapt to new work environments and I am constantly prepared for any challenge that I am presented with. I have locumed in many companies in various areas which has given me the benefit of dealing with a wide range of patients depending on the demographics of the area. This helps to demonstrate the main clinical conditions of different age groups along with post discharge queries. I carry out medicine use reviews (MUR) and provide the new medicine service (NMS) as well as counselling on OTC medication and carrying out PGDs such as emergency hormonal contraception, Ventolin, Malarone and erectile dysfunction in the nominated store. . I feel my hospital experience allows me to deal with these clinical queries in community pharmacy more confidently and effectively.

I was given the opportunity to gain experience at Southampton general hospital in the medicine information department. I shadowed the medicine information pharmacists and witnessed the responsibilities and challenges that they received on a daily basis. I was also given the task of looking at various scenarios that were presented by different healthcare professionals and taught to use the different search strategies that they use in order to gain the information required to answer the queries. At times, we would be working under a lot of pressure with restricted time hence I learnt that prioritising was essential in this role.

After I completed my pre registration and qualified as a pharmacist, I travelled to Sudan with British doctors, nurses, a pharmacist and volunteer workers. I worked alongside them in a small hospital in the Gazeera region in which I provided services to both inpatients and outpatients. I dealt with a variety of patients with a huge range of different clinical conditions, most commonly tropical conditions such as malaria. Being bilingual and speaking both Arabic and English, I was the only form of communication between the British staff and the patients at the hospital. Therefore as well as carrying out my duties as a pharmacist which consisted of ward rounds, clinical queries and medicine supply, I also translated for staff that I was working alongside. This presented me with a vast responsibility and work load but my past experience was essential as it helped me in my role.

As a pre-registration pharmacist, as well as pharmacy training, I also received management training. Initially, I had a universal role in the pharmacy in which I had to follow instructions and complete the tasks appointed to me with accuracy and attention to detail which was crucial in my role, especially in dispensing. I then received management training and as my confidence developed I was given responsibilities such as stock management and ordering, designating tasks and training new staff on the system, policy and procedures as well as on the pharmacy services we provide.