EPSA NWL V26E1 by EPSA

EPSA Newsletter

Bringing pharmacy, knowledge and students together.

Volume 26 | Edition 1 | October 2018 www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online

Meet our new members MAYA, Albania | MSU, Ukraine

EPSA Events 41st Annual Congress, the Netherlands| 20th EPSA Summer University, Turkey

Methodology Booklet

Internal

Table of Contents Presidential Words

EPSA Team 2018-2019

Member of the year

LS and NIMP of the year

Meet Our New Members

Members Fund

Visiting Members Fund

AC Report

SU Report

Trainers Board

Methodology Booklet

LLeaP

AC Educational Outcomes

Public Health Campaign: SU

Science Day

Wings for Life

Twinnet

Mentoring Project

5th IPSF European Regional Office Regional Assembly

30 Yours in EPSA,

EHSAS Policy Event: Interprofessional Education

IPSF 64th World Congress

Mihai Nițoiu Vice President of Public Relations 2018-2019

PGEU Annual Symposium

Alumni Weekend

Map of Europe

Events and Educational Calendar

Executive Contacts

Editor’s words Dear reader, It is my greatest pleasure to know that you are reading the first edition of our Newsletter for the mandate 2018/2019. The purpose of our publication is to get to you the latest news about our association, European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA), its members, their projects and activities and other pharmaceutical related articles that you will read in the next pages. This edition will focus on presenting the educational outcomes of our latest events, while also presenting what our members have been doing in the past couple of months. Our representatives have been very active in terms of external matters, so you will find out more about what we did at the different professional and students events we attended. Last but not least, you will find out more about our projects to come, how you can be even more involved in EPSA, what students exchange possibilities you have and how to get the best of these. Together with the EPSA Team 2018/2019, our Liaisons Secretaries (LSs), our partners and pharmaceutical students around Europe, we gathered together and brought to you the 1st Edition of our 26th Version of EPSA Newsletter and for this, I want to thank on this occasion to all of those who contributed with articles, to our Editorial Board for proofreading it, our Design Board and Inês Grazina, EPSA Design Coordinator 2018/2019 for designing it.

Internal

Presidential words Dear reader, Another EPSA mandate is upon us and here is the first Newsletter edition of the 2018/2019 mandate! The EPSA Team 2018/2019 has now been hard at att working for over 3 months and you were able to observe and take part in the projects and activities we have already organised. This Newsletter covers the activity between the 41st Annual Congress and the 15th Autumn Assembly. But, in addition to showcasing the work done by EPSA, it also showcases our membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; initiatives. Hopefully, these will inspire you to organise new activities on the local level. Remember, EPSA is here for our members, to help with the organisation of activities or to endorse them. Make use of the large network we offer to our members and engage with each other! A quarter of the mandate is already behind us but much more is to come. We would love to meet as many of our members as possible, may it be at EPSA events or locally, upon your invitation. You can read about our travels as well as about our external representation in this Newsletter. If you are unable to meet us in person, do not worry, various online activities that everyone can attend are organised in each mandate as well. So, what are you waiting for? Join the EPSA community. Not only will you gain new knowledge and experience, you will also meet inspiring students and recent graduates from all over Europe. Who knows, maybe you will someday help shape the EPSA agenda as a representative from your National or Local Association or as an EPSA Team Member. We also have several subcommittees available to our members and you ca n even become an EPSA Trainer. Sounds like a lot? Visit the EPSA website for more information or contact anyone of us over email, we are happy to help any interested member or prospective member. To conclude, I hope you enjoy this Newsletter as much as we enjoyed preparing it! I would like to thank all of the contributors for their effort as well as the EPSA Public Relations Subcsommittee without whom this publication would not be possible. However, special thanks should be extended to the EPSA Public Relations Department who worked tirelessly on making sure this edition is ready to be published at the 15th Autumn Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is to many more editions to come during this and future mandates. Yours in EPSA, Eva Shannon Schiffrer EPSA President 2018-2019

All focus on the customer TopPharm Apotheke, Erlinsbach, Switzerland The newly opened TopPharm pharmacy in Erlinsbach sets new standards with its innovative design and shop concept. Customer consultations are offered directly in the sales area via tablet, rather than at a consultation desk or table. The automated storage and retrieval system, which is semi-recessed in the ground, acts both as a storage and central output location â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and at the same time is the visual highlight of the dispensary.

We are in an age where digitalization and individualization are playing an increasingly important role. And this is precisely what we are reflecting in our interior layout: we have created a structure where there are no longer any barriers between our customers and the pharmacy team. We act as health coach, actively approaching customers, rather than waiting for them to come to us at the sales counter. Fabian Vaucher, TopPharm Apotheke & Drogerie

Rowa Technologies ÂŽ

Facts & figures Rowa Vmax® L: 5.08 m × W: 1.63 m × H: 3.50 m Capacity: approx. 15,500 packs Location: ground floor Dispensary space: approx. 200 m² Total space: approx. 475 m² Shop fitter: Bogen Design GmbH

The challenge

The solution

> Eliminating the classic sales counter and implementing a concept, where all attention focuses on the customer

> Employees actively approach customers in the open and generously appointed spaces

> Central dispensing of medicines

> Automated storage and retrieval system in the center of the dispensary

> Creating the general conditions for intensive and individual consultation

> Customers do not have to be left alone thanks to the automatic dispensing of medicines, while seating areas and consultancy rooms allow for confidentiality

> Tranquil processes in a modern atmosphere

> Employees can wait with customers while Rowa Vmax automatically outputs the required medicine

03 Beratung

05 Beratung

Kasse 1

Pos.6

02 Beratung

Kinderecke Handlager

EINGANG

SC H

U TZ SC

07 Handlager

Rowa Vmax®

Warenannahme

10 Blister

EINGANG TOPPHARM APOTHEKE 13 Personal 08 Büro

Abluft

Computerstation +Drucker

el 6

Kasse 2

Plan: Bogen Design Innenarchitektur

Internal

Member of the year The last Annual Congress in Baarlo, the Netherlands could not have ended any better for the members of ŠSSFD: our association was awarded EPSA Member of the Year, for the third time in a row. ŠSSFD was established 20 years ago and the abbreviation stands for Students’ section of Slovenian Pharmaceutical Society. The association represents 950 students studying pharmacy and other studies at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana. All of us study at the same faculty, so you get to know people who are active in the association quickly. Promoting and implementing EPSA’s projects is a fun thing to do, since you get to do it with the help of your friends. Slovenian students are always happy to take part in numerous activities that EPSA offers. They participate in public health campaigns, are part of EPSA Mentoring Project, take part in the Twinnet exchange and much more. Interest in attending EPSA events is growing each year by our members. For example, this year more than 5% of all of our students registered for the upcoming Autumn Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia. Our students are also very interested in studying abroad, the number of students going on an Erasmus+ exchange is constantly growing. We provide our students with as many learning opportunities and activities as possible. ŠSSFD is not only very active in EPSA, but also on a national level. We

organize a Christmas bazaar every year, clinical skills competition, our students participate in numerous health campaigns, they help at Pro-bono clinic. They can take part in students’ educational symposium, do a practical exchange abroad and help in the humanitarian group. Our activities do not even rest in the summer, because that is when we organize the International Pharmaceutical Summer Camp (IPSC) so Slovenian and international pharmacy students can learn soft skills and enjoy a week full of interesting lectures and meeting new people. Being awarded with this title once again proves we worked as hard as ever. We continue to improve and all of this would not have been possible without our highly motivated members. I would like to thank each and every single person in ŠSSFD that has made this year’s award possible with their help, proactiveness and dedication. And of course, I would also like to thank EPSA for constantly providing us with so many interesting activities and learning opportunities. Katja Veber ŠSSFD Liaison Secretary

Internal

Since my first EPSA experience at the AC 2016 in Helsinki, Finland, I felt this was the beginning of what will be a long history with EPSA! This was confirmed during the AA 2016 in Cluj Napoca, Romania, where I decided to run for the position of Vice President of External Relations of ANEPF (French National Pharmaceutical Students’ Association) to represent abroad the 33 000 French pharmacy students. Elected in June 2017, I had to do my best to further develop EPSA by taking part in all the discussions whether in GA, in the LS email thread or in the Edu Prof platform. As LS and National Twinnet Coordinator, I had to encourage the French local ‘’International Representatives’’ to take part in EPSA projects such as Twinnets. By implementing a follow-up system with each of them, ANEPF was able to organise 15 Twinnets with 11 different countries between September 2017 and June 2018. During all my mandate I tried to be completely devoted to my mission and I warmly thank all the EPSA network for electing me The LS of the Year and hope the next LSs will grow the EPSA spirit continuously!

Ameziane Sid Ahmed LS of the year

LS and NIMP of the year

From my first EPSA event back in 2015 (EPSA TNT) to now it has been quite an amazing journey. Since then, I have attended 8 EPSA events in total and I am looking forward to what the future holds. It was Anne-Marie Vingdal Tessem, NoPSA’s first NIMP together with Marie Karoliussen Classon, earlier NoPSA president and LS who first motivated me to become active in EPSA and for that, I am forever grateful. I joined the IMP board in 2016 when I was elected for my first mandate as NIMP for NoPSA and this February I got re-elected for my third mandate. I am clearly not ready to leave behind the wonderful project that is IMP and the wonderful team of NIMPs I have been a part for the last two years. IMP is a first step in the right direction for a bright future in the pharmaceutical industry. It gives us, students, the opportunity to join and work for well known pharmaceutical companies all over Europe, to travel and experience new countries and cultures and as a bonus even learn a new language.

Era Gruda NIMP of the year

Internal

Meet Our New Members MAYA - Albania Aims: 1 - Involve Health Students and Young Professionals in more Public Health matters 2 - Develop and organise activities related to health topics 3 - To create a network between Health Students and Professionals Associations inside and outside Albania

Projects:

Antibiotic Resistance Day

Pharmaceutical Marketing Conference

Marathon of Life: Run Against Cancer

Internal

MSU - Ukraine Projects:

Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Aid Day

From Heart to Heart

Blood For Life

Aim: The unique fact about our organisation is that we gathered both medical and pharmaceutical students of our university. Our aim is to enhance awareness of the students in medical and pharmaceutical sciences, to introduce new exchange programs and to increase the social impact of pharmaceutical and medical students.

Internal

Members Fund

BULGARIA

From the 26th to the 30th of September, Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Students‘ Association was the host of the second part of the Twinnet project with 10 students from Kosice, Slovakia. This was not the first Twinnet for BPhSA, so have created a wonderful 5 days experience for our friends. For the educational programme, the students had the opportunity to visit a manufacturing company (Science Excursion) and learnt a bit more about industrial pharmacy. They were having the chance to improve their soft skills with a training by an EPSA trainer and were visiting a laboratory specialised in extemporal drugs compounding. The Pharmaceutical Faculty was also in our programme with a lecture about Aromatherapy – the theme of the project. Of course, these 5 days had included sightseeing around Sofia, the capital city, getting to know the Bulgarian culture and much more.

ROMANIA

Our latest Public Health Campaign, ”Your skin, your armour” finally came to an end on the 24th of August, as our SSFB Summer School participants were ready to close our event. It was a really great campaign as our message was shared among 800 people around the beach of Venus, Constanța County. We used all the information collected from a dermic-analyser to create infographics and raise awareness about the negative effects of UV radiations and the skin diseases that can occur. One man was so impressed that he asked us to be interviewed, so in the end, we were live on a national radio channel talking about our PHC. We managed to get a tent where our sponsors (Avene) brought their dermicanalysers to test people and give them advice about skin care. Our 15 volunteers were fully prepared by a team of professional dermatologists to inform people about how dangerous solar radiation is, provide information on skin cancer (melanoma) and promote solar protection (SPF) and prevention. We distributed leaflets with vital information on the topic, crossword puzzles and SPF samples on the beach, inviting people to our tent to test their skins and find out more information. We rewarded the ones who succeeded in completing the crosswords and we also managed to create a child friendly dance as we find it to be the best approach for our message to reach them.

Internal

FRANCE

This summer, ANEPF was one of the partners for Paris Gay Games 2018 supported by Laura Flessel (Minister of Sports). ANEPF made a campaign about medicines that may alter sporting abilities. Pharmacy students held a stand at the Gay Games village in the Paris City Hall. The aim was to make athletes but also spectators aware of the use of medicines or food supplements during a sporting practice and also to make them aware of doping.

CROATIA

#BreakTheStigma is an educational workshop made for high-school students that focuses on the destigmatization of mental diseases. The first workshop was carried out in December and since then, we had many more. Each workshop lasts for 45 minutes so it can be carried out during one school class. After the introduction, students are divided into groups and each group gets a mental disease that they have to cover (they focus on symptoms, whether or not some claim is a myth or the truth and how that disease could be destigmatized). Afterwards, they get to present their findings and discuss together with the presenter. Volunteers are very important at this stage because they guide the students so they could find the right answers and by talking with them, they already become one-step closer to destigmatization. In the end, very simple mechanisms of some diseases are explained to the students and how those diseases can be treated in regards to that. What is also very important is that they find out where a person with a mental disease could get help. Education materials and leaflets are a great educational tool that students can use even after the workshop is over. As the workshop seems to be very successful, we are planning to reach a number of 300 students by the end of this year.

Events

Annual Congress Reports

Events

Summer University Reports This summer, the 20th EPSA Summer University took place in Izmir, Turkey. It was a tremendous experience for our Reception Committee and Helping Team. It was a great chance for us to show our EPSA friends the wonders of Turkey, come together and meet each other. It was the first EPSA event for some of our participants, but we also had some familiar faces. We had a lot of fun during our social programme which included theme parties, boat party and a trip to the historical site, Ephesus. We had a chance to swim, party and see the ancient city of Ephesus. Furthermore, we had a very beneficial educational programme. I hope everyone had a great time during the event. We were honoured and very happy to host all our friends here. This was a lifetime experience for all of us. I invite everyone to apply to next EPSA events to experience it.

Yours in EPSA, Özgün Özyiğit Chairperson of 20th EPSA Summer University

The main topic of our event was “Communication Barriers Between the Pharmacist and Patient.” We, as the Reception Committee (RC), were so lucky to host this event in such a beautiful city, Izmir. The weather was so nice and hot, just like the event and the people! During the event, participants had the chance to see different communication behaviours from such different perspectives. The topic was important to us, because as pharmacists, our communication skills must be better than most of the other healthcare professionals, because we are the ones patients choose to come to most of the time, being faster and reliable. Workshops, Trainings and the Public Health Campaign were all fruitful and helped participants to learn how to be a better communicator. We’re so thankful for all of our speakers and to our dear EPSA Trainers for attending our event and sharing their precious experiences. I’m so happy to be a part of this amazing team. There’s really something called the EPSA spirit and I’m so happy to also have it.

Yours in EPSA, Simge Sari Educational Officer of 20th EPSA Summer University

Education

Trainers Board

Education

Methodology Booklet

The Methodology Booklet is an EPSA project that aims for collecting pharmacy students’ opinion about teaching methodologies around Europe and share these opinions with faculty deans and professors. This project is revealing what students think about the current situation of the methodologies applied to teach, what they want for the future of education and how we can all together improve them. We wished for better knowledge development and we are eager to become more competent health care professionals, that is why we pursued this project. Aiming for equality of our curricula in Europe would result in balanced education and identical competencies among all pharmacists. By contributing to Methodology Booklet, you will be able to elevate our curricula and make sure that ours and next generation’s are in touch with innovations and world pharmaceutical trends. Becoming aware that improvement and change are possible, sharing those between students and professionals will make our education better. Regarding those improvements, we can achieve an increase in technology as a mighty source of e-learning, successful students exchange projects that will bring to light open-mindedness and interpersonal development, but also the implementation of soft skills in Faculties. Engage with EPSA over social media by using the #EPSAMethodologyBooklet and #EPSALifelongLearning hashtags in addition to the #EPSAEducation hashtag. The work for Methodology Booklet was encouraged and vastly supported by great institutions such as The European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP) and The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

Marko Ocokoljić EPSA Educational Affairs Coordinator 2018/2019

Know more about the Methodology Booklet here!

Education

TÜRS Estonia: Methodology Booklet competition winner TÜRS Estonia The Pharmaceutical Society of University of Tartu If there is a word that describes TÜRS, it would be “engaging”. We have only 80 members of whom approximately 50 are current students (we have altogether 110 pharmacy students in our faculty). Being a member of TÜRS is a popular choice for a reason. We are a close-knit family which is achieved through frequent social events – our famous pancake evenings, sports competitions and other gatherings. As there are few of us, everyone can be a team member and test out their leadership skills. What are our main projects? The biggest project we’re organizing is the annual Autumn Seminar, which is targeted for both students of the Faculty of Medicine and practising pharmacists. The theme of the Autumn Seminar changes every year, some examples from the previous years are cardiovascular diseases, skin diseases and hygiene. This year’s theme will be genetics. In May 2016 we started a project called Baltic Pharmaceutical Students’ Seminar (BPSS) in cooperation with YFK from Finland, LFSA from Latvia and SFD from Lithuania. Next BPSS will be held in Estonia. During BPSS we present our country, university and pharmacy in general in our country to our fellow students and discuss some current topics. We also try to incorporate soft-skill trainings. We would be glad to see students from other countries and associations joining us in the future as well. Our participation in EPSA’s activities We knew from the start that EPSA Public Health Campaigns are something we want to take part in. We have successfully organised three PHCs – Antibiotics Week, Healthy Lifestyles Day and Vaccination Campaign. We will continue organising them this year and try to make room for other campaigns, too! Our aim is to participate more in advocacy work and to educate our members on these matters. How did we gain so many responses to Methodology Booklet? Our latest contribution to EPSA is filling in the Methodology Booklet Survey, which was done by more than a half of our ordinary members. We always try to approach members individually to motivate them to participate as much as they can. This time, we also reserved time in regular assembly to fill out the survey together. We love using teamwork in our meetings – it helps to activate participants and to produce brilliant ideas!

Reelika Jõgi President of TÜRS Estonia

Education

LLeaP Welcome to the LLeaP, EPSA’s Lifelong Learning Platform that promotes and challenges your mindset as a lifelong learner. Lifelong learning is the “ongoing, voluntary, and selfmotivated” pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Is it important in our area, you may ask? Well, as we all know, science and technologies are fast evolving areas where it’s very important to be at the edge of the curve. For our role as pharmacists in the healthcare system, it’s important for us to be aware of what surrounds us and what we can do to help others. Therefore on LLeaP, you will have an idea of some skills to develop to become a great pharmacist. Anything that you learn and you find useful will be considered. From attending congresses to volunteering in public health campaigns. For that, you just need to fill the submission form (general, or for events) and we will take care of the rest. Through this form, we will together explore the reason for your attendance, the knowledge you gathered, the way you can use it in the future and how you are planning to do it. By covering all four aspects, reason, knowledge, future and plan we will together set your path in becoming lifelong learners.

and specific amount of tokens. Claim those awards to show everyone that you are evolving and developing. List medals under your profile and investigate which more you are able to win. Learn the real value of tokens and the way you can trade them to increase your intelligence. Further challenges await you and your friends on the platform giving you and your friends an opportunity to gain extra awards, so keep up with the news and be in touch with educational activities all around Europe. Acquaint yourself with the ranking system of our community and boost your own rank because many titles are waiting for you to unlock them. Worried you missed one of the EPSA Events, Public Health Campaigns, Science Monthly or some Online Trainings? No worries, on LLeaP you will find our library section, where you can learn more about everything that EPSA is doing. At the end of the year, you will get a certificate that will be your proof of participation on this platform and the activities you submitted throughout the year. Because knowledge isn’t power, but applied knowledge is power. Let’s inspire each other!

For every activity submitted, you will receive a unique medal

Marko Ocokoljić EPSA Educational Affairs Coordinator 2018/2019

ER SUMM RSITY E V I N U 2018

PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN

Education

AC Educational Outcomes

From the 23rd to the 29th of April 2018, EPSA held its 41st Annual Congress in Baarlo, the Netherlands with the topic being “Pharmacoeconomics and the Affordability of Healthcare”. As usual, the educational approach to the topic was done with a 2-day Symposium, different Workshops and Trainings and other educational activities like a Public Health Campaign, Chat with Professionals, Science Excursion and many more. At the end of the event, we launched the Educational Outcomes of the event so every student could get a grasp of everything from the educational programme.

But what exactly are the Educational Outcomes? The Educational Outcomes is a recent EPSA project that aims to contain the outcomes from every session from the educational programme into a booklet accessible to every student in order to have all the knowledge delivered during the event in one place. To do this, we count on the precious help of every student attending the event and especially that of the EPSA Team members. For this event, we created an Educational Outcomes competition to award the participant that would deliver the most outcomes. With this competition, we could motivate everyone to collect information from the different sessions and in this way build our booklet with everyone’s opinion. During the first day of Symposium, we learnt how to harmonise pharmacoeconomics methods across Europe, the challenges of HTA(Health Technology Assessment) harmonisation, the role of NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) in pharmacoeconomics and patients perspective on pharmacoeconomics. On the second day, we turned more to how can we deliver pre-approval treatments while creating value in the healthcare system, future healthcare challenges and affordability, the balance between affordability and costeffectiveness and the harmonisation of Health Technology Assessment in Europe. Between the different outcomes of the various sessions of the event, we touched on points that can go from Workshops to Trainings, from the Science Excursion to the Science Day, from the Public Health Campaign to the Teddy Bear Hospital, from the Career Fair to the Chat with the Professionals, from the mobility workshop to the science one. As you can see, they are so diverse and specific at the same time that the amount of information you can take from the Educational Outcomes is enormous! All in all, it was everything thanks to you. So please continue to engage with us because the results are in sight.

Education

Public Health Campaign: SU On the 27th of July, during our EPSA Summer University, we held our live Public Health Campaign about the “Responsible Use of Medicines”. This activity was done in MaviBahçe Shopping Center and Alsancak Beach in Izmir and those places were chosen because these are prime locations where people go to meet their friends and the chill environment for families, so we had the biggest impact possible. During our campaign, we aimed to explain the importance of taking the right medicine, in the right dosage and at the right time to achieve better results. We also pointed out that 50% of people don’t take their medicines correctly and that if we can educate everyone to take their medicines responsibly, we can save up to 370.000 million euros worldwide. For us to be able to educate everyone, we prepared some visual materials like posters and brochures and divided the participants of the event in small groups in order to maximise the impact of our campaign. We made sure to always have someone that could speak Turkish, so we could easily overcome any communication barriers that might appear. In the end, we could not miss the opportunity to thank the 110 participants that attended the event and those that helped us to properly educate everyone that was around our venues. We would also like to thank Prof. Dr Şule Rabuş, Assist. Prof. Dr Bülent Kıran and also Sara Torgal MPharm, Health Promotion Projects Manager of the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society and EPSA HLM for providing us guidance and the right information so we could make this campaign a success. Without all of you, this wouldn’t be possible.

Yours in EPSA, Débora Martins EPSA Public Health and Social Services Coordinator 2018/2019

Education

Science Day During studies, many pharmacy students have a chance to perform scientific research but, regarding students’ scientific congresses, there is a very small number of opportunities for students to present them. Therefore, EPSA Science Day presents a great opportunity for students from all around Europe to gather in one place, present their scientific project and share research knowledge not only with other participants but also with great experts from the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Science (EUFEPS) and other experts from academia. This year, during the EPSA Annual Congress in Baarlo, the Netherlands, I presented my first research project under the name “Benzodiazepines as etiological agents in acute poisonings treated in the Emergency Department of the Clinical Center of Vojvodina.” It is a clinical research that aimed to investigate and describe all the characteristics of admitted patients in whose blood samples benzodiazepines were detected. The patients were divided into two groups – BZD – patients who ingested only benzodiazepines and BZD+X – patients who ingested benzodiazepines with other xenobiotics. The data surprised us all, showing that 71% of all

Topic-Total synthesis and study of human H-Ceramides in the model lipid membranes My name is Adam Majcher and I am a third-year student of Master’s degree Pharmacy programme at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University. Besides studies, I am a member of Skin Barrier Research Group under the supervision of prof. Pharm Dr Katerina Vavrova, PhD. Our group is focused on studying biophysics, composition and synthesis of molecules naturally occurring in stratum corneum (uppermost layer of human skin). Therefore, studying functions of physiological as well as pathological human skin. My work is focused on a very specific family of Ceramides called H-Ceramides (H-Cer, Ceramides derived from 6-hydroxysphingosine). H-Cer is not typical for all mammals and their function are unclear. However, various studies showed a relationship between lower concentrations of H-Cer (relative to the healthy skin) and pathophysiologies such as atopic

admitted patients did not use benzodiazepines as prescribed therapy and show how the introduction of rigorous control of using and prescribing medications, even if they are well known to the doctors, pharmacist, and patients, is actually important. EPSA Science Day was a unique experience for me. It is an awesome opportunity to gain more knowledge about making presentations, presenting scientific research and about other scientific news and breakthroughs from other faculties and research centres from Europe as well. Moreover, by participating in this project, students get a unique chance to be recognized by EUFEPS, connect with other students and young scientist from all Europe, exchange knowledge and inspire each other. Therefore, presentation of research projects at EPSA Science Day can be the first link between students and the professional network on the European level which is a good step for a future career. Sanja Aleksić Oral Presentation Winner

dermatitis. The major limitation in understanding the nature of these very specific molecules is that they are not commercially available. Therefore, the aim of my work was to explore synthetic route towards 6-hydroxysphingosine as a precursor of all known H-Cer subclasses and study its biophysical function using model lipid membranes. To conclude, I would highly recommend EPSA science day to anybody who is conducting any kind of research project. It is a great way of showing the world the importance of your work and science in general!

Adam Majcher Poster Presentation Winner

Education

Wings for life was awesome because everyone could run together wherever they were. Usually, I need to muster up all my courage to start a long run on a hot day, but this time I felt super motivated! Wings for life was awesome because everyone could run together wherever they were. Usually, I need to muster up all my courage to start a long run on a hot day, but this time I felt super motivated.

Wings for Life The Wings for Life World Run is a global charity event with a unique, and uniquely fun, format. It’s a worldwide run where everybody starts simultaneously and the finish line chases you! On one day each year, the Wings for Life World Run takes place at event locations across the planet. Everybody starts at exactly the same moment. Whether it’s day or night, bright sun or pouring rain at your location – we will run! So you can join the EPSA Team at Wings for Life next year too!

Kevin Van der Borght

Wings for Life pushed me to the final edge. Sharing this journey with friends around Europe meant a tremendous empowerment for me. The fact that we were like one while striving to our goal made me happy. While reaching it and fighting for those who can’t run, made me proud. Marko Ocokoljić

WWW.WINGSFORLIFEWORLDRUN.COM

–CERTIFICATE–

2 0 18

WE RAN

FOR THOSE

I have run in the Wings for Life previously but this was my first time running as part of an international team. I hope to see even more of us running or walking for those that can not in 2019!

WHO

CAN’T!

Eva Shannon Schiffrer

EPSA (European Pharmaceutical Students' Association) ran on May 6, 2018 team with 11 members 92 km / 58 mi for Wings for Life Global Ranking Teams

783 ANITA GERHARDTER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER WINGS FOR LIFE

COLIN JACKSON

MARC HERREMANS

INTERNATIONAL SPORTS DIRECTORS WINGS FOR LIFE WORLD RUN

This was my first time running in the Wings for Life and I reached my maximum – 9,9 kilometres! It is an amazing the kind of power teamwork can have and I am looking forward to running again with all of you! Anja Šribar

Congratulations and a big thank you on behalf of Wings for Life! Your contribution will drive the next steps in spinal cord research.

“Wings for Life” run was an important event for me as I could bond with the EPSA team and challenge myself to run more than I’m used to. We could help someone and be one step closer to a better world. Don’t miss the next edition! Rúben Viegas

Mobility

Twinnet

Best experience during our Studies! The Twinnet-exchange we had with Marseille enriched us in ways we never expected before. We got involved into Twinnet by curiosity and as there are currently great problems the EU had to deal with, we wanted to participate in a project bringing Europe together. We expected to learn about Pharmacy in France and to work on several topics together during trainings and seminars. What we got was far more than that: making new friends. During the exchange, all the participants, even those who haven’t been that enthusiastic got very passionate about the project. We had the chance to visit Marseille guided by locals and to present our city to our friends from France. From Lars Plambeck BPhD Germany - ANEPF France

We organised the Twinnet with Poland in May 2018. It was my first experience being a member of the host team and I found a chance to meet a lot of people, get to know their culture and introduce them to our culture and the city where we live. I attended a previous twinnet which was organised between us and Romania but I wasn’t a host student at that moment, that’s why this twinnet was a different and unique experience for me, being in the organising team. Polish students came and visited Istanbul’s ancient and most touristic attractions like Sultanahmet and Pierre Loti, they tasted our special Turkish breakfast and our local cuisine. They visited our University, attended our classes and soft skill trainings, learnt lots of things about pharmacy education in Turkey, while given the chance to compare how it is being a pharmacist in Poland and Turkey, see advantages and disadvantages. We organised a boat trip on the 14th of May to celebrate “National Pharmacy Day”, had a great time with our “twins” and got to know each other well. I gained lots of unforgettable memories and I had a chance to meet great people. From Ece Ökten MUPSA Turkey - PPSA Poland

MB-Twinnet is a special Twinnet programme organised for medical biochemistry students from Serbia and Croatia. The exchange was traditional, for the 4th time, arranged between the Team of Medical Biochemists as part of Belgrade Pharmacy Students’ Association TMB-BPSA and the Croatian Pharmaceutical Students’ Association - CPSA. This year’s topic was “Neighbouring countries - the same professional aim” and we are proud that we were able to host eight students from Zagreb. It was an amazing experience, during which we made precious memories and lifetime friendships. Our guests had an opportunity to experience Belgrade like never before during their one week stay. Each day was special in its own way and was enriched with different activities like the international night, cruising on the Danube river, participating at The 12th EFLM Symposium for Balkan region, visiting our colleagues in Novi Sad, participating in a treasure hunt and of course experiencing the unforgettable nightlife of Belgrade. November is coming soon and we can’t wait to continue our adventure in Zagreb! From David Vucen BPSA Serbia - CPSA Croatia

Mobility

The first part of the “weekend style” Twinnet between Tours (France) and Würzburg (Germany) took place from the 14th to the 18th of June 2018 and had 5 students from Tours and 1 from Poitiers (a really nice city close to Tours) to travel to eastern Germany. Students had the chance to compare, during their stay the differences between the German and the French style of education and to discover the Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg. We had the chance to talk a lot about our studies, the differences in the teachings of Pharmacy in general in our countries and to attend a really interesting course by Dr Jens Schmitz about counterfeited drugs and the ways to fight them, brainstorming ideas on how to develop in this area in the following years. We also had the chance to discover one of the oldest pharmacies, the Rokoko Pharmacy, within one of the oldest hospitals in Germany, and be guided through the city by motivated students, some part of the Twinnet team. We had the opportunity to visit, at the end of our trip, the Botanical Garden of Würzburg where the German students often have courses, and to discuss the importance of plants and “natural” molecules in the expansion of the range of treatments the last years and the relevance of pharmacognosy in the future (which we are sure of is not dead !). The sightseeing and the tour of the castle, the different Football World Cup games that we watched and the different activities, all those made the French students create a real relationship with the German ones and to go back with many many great memories that made the 10 hours drive go in the blink of an eye. I would really like to thank all the students that welcomed us. All students in Tours are really excited to welcome the students from Würzburg and to return the favour of their warm welcome. The second part of the Twinnet will take place in late September. The subject will be Biomedicines, as the city of Tours and its region are taking a growing part in the development of the different technologies and knowledge about this groundbreaking technologies. See you then for part 2! Maxence Mouille - Local Twinnet Coordinator of Tours (ANEPF France)

We are Beatriz Fernandes and João Guedes and we are from AEFFUP, a local association from APEF, Portugal. We are now in the middle of a Threenet between Porto, Portugal, Clermont-Ferrand, France and Hradec-Králové, Czech Republic. The first step of our Threenet started when our French and Czech friends came to Portugal, in April. They stayed for 6 days, which was plenty of time for them to get to know our amazing city. The schedule allowed us to visit most of the tourist attractions in Porto, including the Clerigus Tower, the Lello Library, Ribeira, the Luís I Bridge and, of course, the Port Wine cellars. We also organized an EPSA Training conducted by Maeva on Cultural Awareness and visited one of the biggest research institutes in Portugal, i3S, where we had a lecture on immunology and vaccines, the theme of our exchange. We can’t wait to meet them now in France and then in the Czech Republic! From Beatriz Fernandes and João Guedes

Portugal - Czech Republic

External

Mentoring Project

External

5th IPSF European Regional Office Regional Assembly Between the 11th and the 15th of July 2018, the 5th IPSF (International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation) European Regional Assembly was organised in Lisbon, Portugal. EPSA was invited to this event and was represented by Eva Shannon Schiffrer, President 2018/2019 and Mariana Medeiros, Secretary General 2018/2019. This Assembly brings together the representatives of the IPSF European Regional Office Members, namely their Contact Persons and other Official Delegates. IPSF Members, interested in following the discussions held there are also welcome to attend the event. EPSA and IPSF strive towards fruitful collaboration, so we are present at each other’s events and meetings to continue to foster and guide it. We presented the EPSA Team 2018/2019 to the IPSF European Regional Office Working Group and met some of the members of the Working Group 2018/2019. As not all of the Working Group 2018/2019 positions had been filled at the moment, we were not able to meet all of them.

During the Assembly, the reports of the Working Group were discussed and approved as well as the Regional Office’s budget. The representatives of the European Regional Office members presented their reports as well and those were voted upon. Possible future advocacy initiatives were approached as well. This Assembly is a place where the IPSF European Regional Office Members are able to meet and discuss the work of the Working Group and the future directions on the Regional Office. EPSA participates in meetings like this as an observer and the same benefit is offered to IPSF who are present at EPSA events and meetings as well. This is extremely beneficial to continuously evaluate our collaboration as we strive to work together and not compete with each other through our activities since the possibilities for European pharmaceutical students are vast and many are yet untapped. We hope to continue to collaborate in such ways in the future and are looking forward to being present in the next Regional Assembly!

Eva Shannon Schiffrer EPSA President 2018/2019 Mariana Medeiros EPSA Secretary General 2018/2019

External

EHSAS Policy Event: Interprofessional Education After the event, educational and advocacy outcomes were released and they are available on the EPSA website. The outcomes cover what had been discussed during the policy event but also what had been discussed during an Online Discussion Forum that had taken place a couple of weeks before the event. The forum was attended by EHSAS (European Healthcare Students’ Association Summit) members and was a great way to assess the European healthcare students knowledge and opinions on the topic. The participants were also able to learn from examples of good practices from different countries. After the fruitful discussions were concluded, the panellists at the event agreed that interprofessional collaboration is important but that it is important that healthcare professionals are able to maintain their identities. This should be done with the benefits of the healthcare system and the patients in mind. The healthcare professionals’ identities should not create a border for interprofessional collaboration but increase the awareness of what each professional could offer in a healthcare team. It is important to collaborate, trust and respect one another to ultimately increase the benefit to the patients. Education in this area is extremely important for healthcare professionals and students often state they do not know how to collaborate. It is thus important to advocate for interprofessional

education and collaboration both to students and to the professionals so eventually the changes in the healthcare curricula would reflect the need for increased interprofessional collaboration. Lack of interprofessional collaboration in most countries at the moment is also not necessarily the result of resistance from the professionals and the academia but of the systems in place at the moment that does not encourage collaboration. It takes time to implement such initiatives, but they should continue to be strived towards. Several countries around the world have already taken great strides in this area, so these good practices should be consulted when advocating for and implementing interprofessional education and collaboration initiatives. To further promote and investigate interprofessional education, Eva Shannon Schiffrer (Vice President of Education 2017/2018) and Anja Šribar (Science Coordinator 2017/2018) attended the International Student Congress (ISC) which was organised in Graz, Austria in June 2018. The event joins students from different healthcare fields, and the EPSA representatives delivered a workshop on interprofessional education there. Events like this are a great practice to showcase the importance of this field! If you know of other similar initiatives, do not hesitate to share them with the EPSA network.

Eva Shannon Schiffrer EPSA President 2018/2019

External

Organising a joint policy event has been on EHSAS agenda for quite a while now. When I started my mandate in 2017, one of the first things I heard was “it would be pretty cool to have a joint policy event BUT... It is too difficult to distribute the many responsibilities evenly, uncertain topics, who will take care of speakers, everything seemed a bit too complicated”. But then we met with EHSAS in February, just two weeks before the Annual Reception. And against expectations, the preparations for the Annual Reception went very smoothly and doing it all over again didn’t seem so impossible at all. I think most of us can relate to this moment: You are with a group of enthusiastic people, an idea comes up and all of a sudden you are already knee-deep into planning and a decision is taken before you even realise it. So we went for it and started planning. I took the lead on all the organisation because by then I already had experience from our own policy event. A member of parliament, pharmacist and EPSA board of trustee member, Lieve Wierinck happily agreed to host us again (she was also our host for the Annual Reception) and together we agreed on a date and decided on the title: “Interprofessional collaboration: A way to transform tomorrow’s healthcare!” We decided that each association should decide on and invite one speaker for the panel discussion. EPSA chose and invited Lilian Azzorpardi, president of EAFP (European Association of faculties of pharmacy) and EPSA’s board of trustee member. EMSA invited Janusz Janczukowicz from the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE). EDSA invited Didier Jourdan, Global Health and Education UNESCO Chair. EFPSA decided to send Telmo Baptista from the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) to the panel. Since the focus of all our work as healthcare professionals is the patient, I also invited Kaisa Immonen from the European Patients Forum (EPF) to the panel and Andrzej Rys, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) as a representative from the European Commission. After the panellists finished their speeches, a vivid and passionate discussion arose that showed how much is still needed to be said and done on interprofessional education. Even though the amount of work was big, I am just happy we put in the effort and went for it. It was a great event that received very good feedback. We had the chance to advocate for the importance of interprofessional education and collaboration on the European level and we took it. Organising the first ever interprofessional policy event was a huge challenge but also an amazing opportunity; a milestone for the EHSAS collaboration and a big step into a more interprofessional future. Background: The European Healthcare Students´ Association Summit (EHSAS), consisting of EPSA (European Pharmaceutical Students´ Association), EMSA (European Medical Students´Association), EDSA (European Dental Students´ Association) and EFPSA (European Federation of Psychology Students´Association) published a position paper on interprofessional education in December 2016 based on a survey of 1500 respondents from 36 countries. Since then, the associations are advocating for a stronger role of interprofessional education within healthcare professionals curricula. The position paper can be found on the EPSA’s homepage. Dorothea Dalig Vice President of European Affairs 2017/2018

External

IPSF 64th World Congress On the 30th of July, the EPSA delegation represented by the Vice President of External Relations 2018/2019, Nejc Klopčič, and the Vice President of Education 2018/2019, Diogo Capítulo, travelled to Argentina to be present at the 64th IPSF World Congress in Mendoza. Until the 8th of August, we got to know new people, new cultures, discuss and learn and lastly strengthen the bonds between us. As it is well known, the relationship between EPSA and IPSF (International Pharmaceutical Students Federation) go way back and as usual, we could not miss our friends’ congress in South America. Besides the Vice President of External Relations and the Vice President of Education, EPSA Team Members such as the Secretary General 2018/2019, Mariana Medeiros, and the Social Media Coordinator 2018/2019, Ceren Zwijnenburg were present at the event. For 10 days we attended the Symposium where we learnt more about how the pharmacists are important at the different stages of healthcare and their role as part of this global system. We were also present at the General Assembly participating when matters related with EPSA would arise, contributing to a fruitful discussion during the entire time. On the 5th of August, we also delivered a workshop presenting what is EPSA, what projects do we have and of course our well-known Muevelo. This was a great opportunity to raise awareness about our work and ideas. Last but not least, we had the chance to meet with the IPSF Executive to discuss and strengthen the collaboration between the two associations. In a separate point, but no less important, we also had the chance to attend the European Regional Assembly during this event where IPSF discussed the activities concerning the European Region. There we were able to express our opinion regarding the different topics mentioned, giving more information to the discussion, contributing to better choices and solutions regarding IPSF role in Europe.

We would like to thank IPSF and the Reception Committee for the great event and the enormous hospitality with which you welcomed us and wish to the recently elected IPSF Executive good luck on this new term. We are confident that the collaboration between us will continue as good as ever!

External

PGEU Annual Symposium The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) is a longterm EPSA partner and we value our collaboration with them greatly. Being the President 2018/2019 Elect at the time, I had the pleasure to represent EPSA at the PGEU Annual Symposium between the 18th and the 19th of June 2018 in Marbella, Spain. Joining me at the event from EPSA’s side was Dorothea Dalig, the EPSA Vice President of European Affairs 2017/2018, who served as an EPSA intern in the PGEU offices during her mandate. PGEU unites national associations and professional bodies of community pharmacists in 32 European countries. They are the voice of community pharmacy in Europe and are based in Brussels, Belgium. Their main objective is to advance the contribution of community pharmacists to European health systems, society and individual patients. Upon arriving at the venue, we attended the welcome reception at the City Hall of Marbella, where we had the opportunity to meet and network with the PGEU members present at the event. The Symposium had the topic “Measuring and rewarding success in healthcare”. After the opening speech by the PGEU President, Jesús Aguilar, speeches on topics ranging from what makes a healthcare system successful and better ways to finance healthcare to how well we manage chronic diseases, were delivered by professionals from the respective fields. The speeches were rewarded with interesting discussions on the topics initiated by the many delegates present at the event. After the Symposium, the Gala Dinner was organised. In the following days, PGEU held their General Assembly which I was unable to attend. I am very grateful to have been able to represent EPSA and especially the EPSA Team 2018/2019 at the event. PGEU is a very important EPSA partner, and we put great emphasis on fostering this partnership in the future. During the 2018/2019 mandate, the EPSA intern at PGEU will be Marta Simões, the Vice President of European Affairs 2018/2019. We look forward to what this and the future mandates bring and sincerely thank PGEU for our collaboration so far.

Eva Shannon Schiffrer EPSA President 2018/2019

Alumni Weekend The Alumni Weekend happened in Baarlo, the Netherlands during the 41st EPSA Annual Congress. It was a weekend full of fun activities for the EPSA Alumni, educational programme and General Assembly, where the Alumni could share their experience, a social programme where they had fun with the participants and the ultimate beer bike on the beautiful roads of Baarlo. The next Alumni Weekends will happen during our EPSA Autumn Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia and the next EPSA Annual Congress in Sofia, Bulgaria. If you are an EPSA Alumni do not miss this chance in participating in this awesome project and spend time within the EPSA Family!

Internal

Map of Europe 1 Every year in March, SPSA Slovakia organises “Career days of pharmacists”, which is part of the week of pharmaceutical education. During those days, Symposia and exhibitions of pharmaceutical companies are held, where students may experience a glance at their potential future fields of work. SPSA Slovakia

5 We would like to present our project for the European Immunization Week. In this project, we not only participated in the EPSA photo challenge on the topic of “herd immunity”, but also started our own campaign. For five days in April this year we have dealt with vaccination myths and tried to clarify them through factual information on our social media channels. The response was extremely positive as we received many likes and shares. BPhD Germany

6 2 The 115th anniversary of the K.N.P.S.V. was celebrated during our annual congress. It took place from May 10th to 13th. During daytime, we had Symposia with the title “serendipity: expect the unexpected”, soft skills trainings and a General Assembly with the board handover. Last but not least, we had an unforgettable gala for all the participants. K.N.P.S.V., the Netherlands

We are proud to present our annual congress called “Pharmaceutical Development Days”. Every year, we invite the most outstanding speakers in the health sciences and industry. By this Congress, we aim to satisfy all expectations of a pharmacy student, such as pharmaceutical knowledge, current topics, soft skills, workshops and parties! We also made sure you make the most of our capital city, Ankara. We would love to accommodate you too during the next Congress! AHUPS,Turkey

“Capsule of opportunity” project took part in spring and will continue in November. It educates students about their career opportunities with presentations from people employed in various pharmaceutical fields. It prepares them for the employment process with soft skills trainings (time management, public speaking, leadership etc.), other workshops and visits to companies.

In May, the Public Health Team of MUPSA organized the most relaxed event ever, ‘’Anti-stress Days’’ in a full weekend. There were yoga trainings, stress management workshops, small concerts and phytotherapy workshops on preparing herbal tea. All the speakers were the best in their fields and participants left with nothing but less stress.

ŠSSFD Slovenia

MUPSA, Turkey

4 FASFR Academy is an annual event organised by FASFR Romania, targeting mostly the freshers, but not only. Taking place each year in a different city, depending on the local association chosen as host, the ultimate goal of this project is helping participants understand how to develop their skills in order to positively impact society and become true professionals. During the 3 days of learning, students take part in different trainings and workshops shaped on their personal and professional development needs. FASFR Romania

8 From the 16th to 19th of August, APEF Portugal held a humanitarian activity, called “APEF Social”, in a village near Lisbon. Through these days, the volunteers have been doing cardiovascular screenings to the population, nutritional consultations, visited elderly people’s houses and also registered the population in the Portuguese health platform. APEF, Portugal

9 One of the most successful projects that we had this year was about Women’s Health on 8th March. After the seminar, we went to one of the most crowded districts of Istanbul and informed women about such diseases. The aim was to raise awareness about gynaecological disorders through the campaign among the general public. IUPSAint, Turkey

10 Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Students’ Association organized for the second year in October a National Pharmaceutical Students Academy. The topic was - “Toxic from the crime scene of intoxication”! The audience had the opportunity to learn more about the toxic aspect of drug treatment, pharmacovigilance and designer drugs. Workshops, as well as softskills trainings from our Bulgarian EPSA Trainers, were held. BPSA Bulgaria

11 Every year, we invite students from across the World to attend this amazing event in Vienna. We accommodate many of our participants and each year we have seen an increase in participants. Furthermore, we offer them a social programme throughout the weekend including ice skating, a traditional dinner, a pre-party, a dancing course and an unforgettable night out at the Hofburg where the Ball takes place. AFÖP Austria

12 SSFB Summer School is an old, traditional project that has been brought to life after 4 years. During 4 days, 5 workshops and 7 trainings took place in order to help our students consolidate their knowledge, acquire new skills and party like pharmacists. SSFB Romania

Internal

13 YPAA Summer Camp is one of our recent projects and it lasts 3 days. This project gives students the opportunity to meet with doctorate pharmacists who share their path, give advice and delivers trainings that help enhance the students’ soft skills such as leadership, communication etc. This project inspires the participants and shows them the path in their career. YPAA Armenia

14 During the ANEPF’s 50th anniversary congress in Clermont-Ferrand, around thirty pharmacy students went to the streets of the city to talk about “Compliance” with people. The objective was to make the population aware of the importance of taking their treatment and collecting testimonies through a survey. How well are you taking your medicines? “Can you explain your disease to me?” These questions highlight the 3 main causes of noncompliance. -forgetting -misunderstanding of the disease -inability to take the treatment (inappropriate galenic form) The vast majority of patients are unfamiliar with the concept of compliance. The event was a great success with students and patients. This activity will be repeated at other ANEPF events with new topics. ANEPF, France

Events Calendar

Deliver cost-efficient prescription services and improve consultation in the pharmacy with integrated Rowa digital solutions Let us support your transition into the world of digital pharmacy Stabilise expenditure without impacting growth plans, by reducing capital tied up in stock with intelligent stock management. Reduce time spent completing manual tasks, such as stock replenishment, and allow staff more time to focus on consultation, enhancing customer experience. Utilise additional time and space to offer additional services and open up new revenue streams.

Rowa® storage systems Intelligent in-store storage and dispensing solutions. Benefit from 20 years of knowledge 7,500 installations worldwide.

Rowa Vmotion® A flexible, interactive presentation tool for your pharmacy. Display products, offers and advertisements throughout your store and in the shop window.

bd.com/rowa