Pharmacy projects 2012

Abstract

The Pharmacy Project Abstract booklet is meant to give a taste of research work carried by postgraduate students, the MSc and MPharm students as well as the undergraduate pharmacy students. The areas covered by the MPharm students include Pharmaceutical care, Treatment Protocols and Pharmacotherapy, Point-of-Care Testing, Pharmacy Administration, Pharmacy Information, Regulatory Affairs and Industrial Pharmacy. Drug Design is a more recently added area which is selected by seven students. The Master of Science Projects cover clinical and administrative research aspects ranging from Prescribing Trends in Parkinson ’s Disease, Management of Hypertension, Standard Operating Systems in Community Pharmacies, Drug Information Bulletin, Diabetic Patient Monitoring to Analysis of Drug Dispensing at Mater Dei Hospital. The abstract book also has descriptions of projects carried out between the second year and the fourth year of the pharmacy course. The areas covered by the 4th year students, who this year have the option of completing the BSc (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Sciences, include a vast range of topics. Areas of pharmacy practice covered include quality systems and standard operating procedures at Karin Grech Hospital pharmacy, analgesia in open heart surgery, testing for Helicobacter pylori, pharmacovigilance, Maltese dictionary of pharmacy terms, prescribing of analgesics, pharmacoeconomic aspects comparing costs of cardiovascular drugs, drug administration to elderly, access to pharmacy services, metabolic syndrome and patient management, formulary for products not listed in the BNF, course for pharmacist prescribing, gastric amylase activity, pharmacist recommended non-prescription medicines, chronic renal failure, INR Testing, penetration of clindamycin in peripheries, continuing education for pharmacists, quality of life tests in local scenario and directory of pharmacists. A number of drug design related projects included the creation of two-and three-dimensional molecular database of drugs used to target the endocrine system, the respiratory system and in malignant disease and immunosuppression, and drug design at the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor. Other aspects of computational chemistry projects involved investigating anti-oestrogenic effects of ephedrine and synephrine and development of computational chemistry practicals. Third year and second year students presented a few lines describing their work-in progress in various areas ranging from history of pharmacy and museums, clinical aspects, analytical processes, pharmaceutical terms dictionary, point of care testing, cardiac markers, rheumatoid arthritis, psychiatric disorders, administrative aspects such as the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme and pharmacist prescribing. A number of computational chemistry projects featuring drug design and creation of databases for drugs used in various conditions such as skin conditions, anaesthetic drugs and ophthalmology. The mentioned projects do not in any way reflect any preference or standards of the projects. They were picked up in a random way to give the reader an insight into the depth and width of the range of projects carried out during the pharmacy course indicating the versatility of the pharmacy graduate, a feature that explains partially why notwithstanding the comparatively large number of pharmacists graduating each year in Malta, they all succeed to be recruited in a professional job often matching to their own preference. [Foreword by Professor Anthony Serracino-Inglott]