Ensuring Quality in Pharmaceutical Practice: A Reflection Report

This reflection report details a student's experience during a pharmacy placement, focusing on ensuring quality in healthcare. The report utilizes the Leap Model to showcase learning experiences and professional development, including interactions with patients, dispensing, record-keeping, and error checking. The student highlights the importance of knowledge and skills, communication, professional responsibility, social interaction, and lifelong learning. Specific examples include patient interactions, medication therapy management, and the development of critical thinking and pharmaceutical care plans. The report emphasizes the application of ethical considerations, time management, and public health education, demonstrating the student's growth in various competencies crucial for a pharmacist. The student reflects on the importance of continuous learning and the ability to assess patients' needs to provide optimal care. The report concludes with a strong emphasis on the development of skills in pharmaceutical product preparation, dispensing, and administration, and the student's confidence in their ability to apply these skills in their future career.

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REFLECTION ON ENSURING QUALITY
Name:
Course:
Lecturer Name:
Date:

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Reflection on Ensuring Quality
Introduction
New technologies and therapies are continually being introduced into pharmaceutical
practice hence it is very paramount to ensure quality at all levels. Demonstration of competency
is paramount to the healthcare professionals in order to ensure growth. It is a requirement for the
continuing students to finish the specified hours as a way of demonstrating their competencies.
The need for students to demonstrate learning experience and professional development has
become mandatory. The students are able to integrate reflective practice in pharmacy education
which provides a possible solution to bridging theory with practice.
Pharmacists are frontline health care providers hence interact with people with various
health challenges. The professionals provide very important service which is aimed at optimizing
the use of the available resources.it is therefore very crucial for pharmacy students to gain the
appropriate knowledge, skills in order to deliver the vital services to the society. However, the
training provided to pharmacists at the undergraduate varies based on the methods used and time
dedicated. Placement of the undergraduate pharmacy students in busy health care facilities gives
them opportunities to interact with real life .Consequently, pharmacists feel well prepared to deal
with medication related issues and also understand the different strategies to deal with patients
beyond medication.
In order to understand and appreciate the importance of ensuring quality in the healthcare
industry, I was put on placement on 3rd Feb 2022 in a health care facility where I was tasked with
performing specific tasks including Dispensing, record keeping and error checking. I will
therefore highlight the experiences using the Leap Model which entails learning experiences and
professional development.

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Mastered Outcomes based on a SMART PLAN:
Knowledge and Skills:
Much of my evidence for knowledge and skills entail interacting with patients or answering drug
information questions. In addition, I use the skills I have gained throughout my pharmacy school
to investigate the most current information and recommendations on given diseases or
medication. I had the opportunity to interact with an elderly who had difficulties in using her eye
drops. I gave him the easier to use drops which actually solved his problem. My skills gained
related to research and communications have improved especially those related to medication
and pharmacy practice which have developed to a great extent. The skills and knowledge that I
have gained over the practice period will continue to develop throughout my entire career as a
pharmacist.
Communication Skills:
Through presentation and posters at the healthcare facility improved and enhanced my skills in
communication. Whether speaking to the patients or other healthcare workers, I have improved
my communication skills in order to present very clear information to my clients. These skills
will make me better pharmacists and will keep on improving over time.
Professional Responsibility and Ethics:
I have had many incidences throughout my operations at the health facility that are related to my
professional responsibility and ethics. These experiences include advising a patient who wanted
medicine that had interaction with his current medication where I sort help from the pharmacist
in charge. I also encountered a man who wanted to stop smoking hence I had to advise him to
use nicotine patches. Furthermore, I provided education concerning naloxone to patients who
were at high risk of indulging in opioid overdose. I also evaluated patient’s current living and
levels of income conditions in order to give them the best medication. Over time, I have learnt to
put into considerations all factors associated to health and medications while considering each
case on its merit. Clinical decisions ought to be made with ethical considerations in mind.
I had to call the pharmacy to confirm about the time the pharmacy commences its operations and
the dress code required at workplace. I had to appreciate the importance of work ethics and

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leadership at work place. Respecting time and operation rules at work place ensures smooth
operation. This will therefore become my guiding principle throughout my career even though it
is already.
Social Interaction, Citizenship, Leadership, Professionalism:
My direct involvement within the healthcare facility has helped me enhance my skills in relation
to leadership in a great way. Having been assigned the role of dispensing and error checking, it
has impacted me the most. Involvement in day to day operations have provided me so many
opportunities to interact with people at professional and friendly level both in meetings and
conferences. I hope to continue with my involvement in several pharmacy organizations
throughout my career in order to continue sharpening my profession of pharmacy.
Life-long Learning:
The importance of lifelong learning has become important throughout my placement period at
the pharmacy. There is a continuous flow of updates about patient’s medications, disease status
and the role that the pharmacists play in the healthcare. Through my day to day interaction with
professionals, I have been able to become strong and appreciate the importance of lifelong
learning throughout my professional career. I will therefore continue to practice this learning
throughout my career.
Patient Assessment:
Throughout my placement at the pharmacy, I have been able to gain experience through
assessing patient medication regimes and their health problems. Whether it is advising for an
OTC product or analyzing their profile for medication interaction and duplications. I have
understood and mastered the skill of assessing the patients wholesomely. This is a skill that will
be applied on a daily basis in my entire career as a pharmacist. I am very confident that I will
continue to become better as reviewing patients over time.
Medication Therapy Management:
During the placement period, there was huge emphasis on medication therapy management and
the skills involved. I learnt while at the pharmacy medical ethics hence was able to administer
many complete medications reviews to my clients. I therefore learnt that it is paramount to

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review patient’s medications regimes and come up with a portfolio summative reflection
recommendation that is needed in order to optimize their needs. Medical therapy management
will therefore continue to be a guiding principle in my daily practice throughout my career life.
Management:
Time and patient management has been a vital skill that I have improved a great deal throughout
my placement period at the pharmacy. I feel as if I have developed into a very competent person
when it comes to time management. Time management was a very important factor since I had
to manage patients a full day which was something involving. The virtue has therefore become
very useful in my career. I have had to perform diabetes appointment for various patients on a
daily basis. Managing my time will be very important towards my success and I will continue to
develop in my career.
Public Health:
Interacting with the public and educating them on matters diseased medication was a very
important part of responsibility. I provided asthma education during health fair here I educated
patients on matters antibiotic resistance in the community. I also presented information about
medical applications that patents can make use in order to help them adhere to medication. All
these activities were geared towards improving the health of the public in terms of the common
health issues.
Some Competence
Critical Thinking:
I had the opportunity to put my critical thinking skills into practice in order to solve problems.
The problems that I solved ranged from coming up with decisions and dealing with patient cases.
Despite having gained all these experiences. I believe I can still improve and continue to grow in
my career through my critical thinking skills. Being able to deal with a problem critically by
coming up with a solution is an important skill to have as a pharmacist. I will therefore keep on
practicing this skill and master it.
Pharmaceutical Care Plan Development:

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I have managed patients with different diseases throughout my placement period. I have like I
have grown more with this experience. In fact I have gained more confidence in coming up with
care plans since I have been able to come up with medication recommendations to best care for
my patents. I therefore believe that I can improve on this aspect and even continue to become
more experienced over time.
Pharmaceutical Product Preparation, Dispensing, and Administering:
Despite that I had the opportunity to get some experience while at school on compounding; I
lacked the experience outside the school. The experiences I have gained while at the pharmacy
are therefore very crucial. I was able to immunize patients which made me become more
comfortable with the skill that I had gained. As I continue putting into practice this skill, I
believe I will become very confident over time.
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