Internships at the Pharmacy

At the Bridgetown Pharmacy this year two well accredited and accomplished student pharmacist are doing their internships, Sehaj Johal and Andrea Moore, their stories make for an interesting read.

Sehaj’s story

Sehaj Johal who has just completed her three-year undergraduate degree and her two-year postgraduate Masters of Pharmacy, is now doing her twelve months internship at the Bridgetown Pharmacy before sitting her final written and oral examinations to qualify as a pharmacist.

During her Masters’ she had the opportunity to undergo a rural placement at a Pharmacy in Karratha, giving her an insight into how different life for a pharmacist is in a rural community, and she thrived on the extra responsibility and the trusted professionalism her patients had with her advice.

So, a rural placement was the ideal location for Sehaj to complete her internship. Why Bridgetown? Sehaj explains. “The Pharmacy 777 business model differs from those in the city, the overall health care approach is one which drew Sehaj towards the group as they put their patients first. In Bridgetown the Pharmacists are upfront serving their patients and are not limited to just dispensing medicines but also available seven days a week to provide evidence based advice, whether that’s whilst filling prescriptions or when coming into the pharmacy for a quick chat.

“Working in a rural location also means you get to know your colleagues well and have better opportunities to collaborate with other health professionals within the different medical facilities in the town, which is rewarding.

“You also get to know your patients well, know which medications they are taking and can give appropriate medication and lifestyle-related advice for patients struggling with their health or medications.”

The research Sehaj undertook to achieve her Masters was a study in to the importance of having a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) responder in the work place. Whilst doing the research she was part of a four-person team. The study was conducted in various worksites, such as mining corporations, a food company, a corporation firm (bank) and a major retail companies.

“We enrolled volunteers from social media and ‘linked In’ via MHFA’s social media pages for the study. Eighty people signed up to take part, however, we interviewed fifty, from which only thirty were included in our study based on selection criteria.

“The responders were trained to recognise signs of anxiety, depression and suicide, and were equipped with skills to speak openly about mental health issues with their colleagues within the workplace, and taught how to use their knowledge in a crisis situation, when to be a good listener to show they cared, and knowing when to refer their colleagues on to specialist care.

“The responders were fellow workers allowing their colleagues to feel more comfortable when discussing their mental health concerns.

“The finding of the survey concluded that having a MHFA responder on site was a worthwhile addition to workplaces, and it aided in improving workplace culture, alongside reducing stigmatising attitudes towards mental health illnesses. We are hoping our finding will be published in a medical journal sometime later this year.”

Her proud parents have her two Degrees hanging in ‘pride of place’ in their family home in Perth.

Sehaj is also a talented artist when drawing and using colour pencils, her mother’s talent is that of a landscape artist.

Andrea’s story

Andrea Moore is a local doing her internship at the Bridgetown Pharmacy. She has just completed her fourth-year as a pharmacy student, finishing with honours. She attained her honours degree with a paper on ‘The Efficacy of preventing the spread of Covid-19’. Andrea is now doing her twelve months internship at the Bridgetown Pharmacy before sitting her final written and oral examines to qualify as a pharmacist.

Andrea has always wanted to be a pharmacist, she has marvelled about the huge difference medicines and medical drugs have in our everyday lives, and she talks with passion about her career, “Medicines allow us to live a long and healthy life. Conditions such as high blood pressure, which can lead to a long list of ailments, are controlled well with medicines. Diabetes sufferers can live well with drugs, Cortisone allows sufferers of joint pain to be active, and what a difference antibiotics have made in the control of infections, there is a long list of conditions which can today be easily treated with medicines.

“I especially like helping people, it gives me a sense of wellbeing, being a pharmacist, I find it truly amazing, the different ways I can help others.

“Life style choices are also very important in the modern pharmacy, we can inform clients on the importance of regular exercise and maintaining a healthy diet.”

One of the reasons why Andrea wanted to be a pharmacist was because of a childhood illness she suffered, whilst being treated she was enthralled by the difference medicines made to her wellbeing.

Andrea continues “’The Efficacy of preventing the spread of Covid-19’ honours paper I wrote is still relevant today, even though the many different strains of Covid-19 have seemed to have become yesterday's news, it is still within our community, it’s just not so well reported on.

“Social distancing and washing of hands are still very important today. At the pharmacy the screens are still in place and probably will be for quite a while yet.

“I was born in Manjimup and I wanted to do my internship close to home, Bridgetown is suiting me well, I’ve been well supported by the pharmacists Kevin, Brenden and Ella in town.”

Now what would you imagine Andrea does to relax? She rides a Honda CR110 bike.