QU’s College of Pharmacy organizes the second Pharmacy Patient Counseling Competition

To help prepare students to provide optimal pharmaceutical care and advance healthcare outcomes, the College of Pharmacy (CPH) at Qatar University (QU) recently organized their second Pharmacy Patient Counseling Competition, which helps provide students with incentive to excel.

During the competition, students have five minutes to review a prescription and provide optimal counseling on the use of the prescribed medication and the associated medical condition for a standardized patient. The first round focuses on obesity management and the three best performing students from this round move into the final round, which focuses on acne and isotretinoin medication counseling.

The three contestants selected for the final round of the Arabic category are: Hend Al-Naimi, Aicha Ahmed and Meral Abdulselam. The English category finalists are: Ikram Zoukh, Nour Fakhr and Abier Elboshra. A panel of four judges evaluated the participating students based on different criteria including language skills, communication skills, professional competencies and clinical knowledge. The panel of judges included Pharmacy Director of Qatar Armed Forces Dr. Amal Jalham, CPH Associate Professor Dr. Maguy El Hajj, CPH Assistant Professor Dr. Zachariah Nazar and Clinical Lecturer Dr. Ziad Nasr.

Ikram Zoukh won first place for the English version of the competition. Hend Al-Naimi won the Arabic. She says of the victory, “I am glad to be announced as a first-place winner, for sure, it is an unforgettable moment that gave me a huge push to proceed. This all reflects the knowledge and skills that our instructors helped us on throughout our courses. I am really grateful for such an opportunity and I do invite students to get involved in such activities as it a great way to explore what is really like to be a pharmacist.”

In his remarks, Assistant Professor and Dean of CPH, Dr. Mohammad Diab says, “Believing in Qatar University’s mission to be regionally recognized for distinctive excellence in education and research, the CPH exerts a lot of efforts in bestowing a growing environment for its students through attending conferences, workshops and competitions like this one. We highly believe in the importance of pharmacist counseling in increasing medication adherence as well as increasing a patients understanding of their medical condition and improving patient outcomes. Congratulations to all the students who have participated in this competition. Our college is very proud of you.’’

Chair of Clinical Pharmacy and Practice Section, Dr. Maguy El Hajj said, “I was very happy to contribute as a judge in the second patient counseling pharmacy competition organized by the College of Pharmacy. The pharmacy profession has undergone dramatic changes over the last decade and has shifted its focus from being product oriented to patient oriented. The competition reflects the changing role of the pharmacist and encourages future young pharmacists to promote their profession and to become role model healthcare providers and educators.”