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I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

2014

Committee

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Education 3

Social 3

Charity Cup 4

UWA 6

Liesl Blott 8

O-Show 10

Cocktail Party 11

PDL 13

Have Your Say 13

C U R T I N U N I V E R S I T Y

J U L Y 2 0 1 4

- KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN -

The Official Publication of the Western Australian Pharmacy Students Association

Hey Guys! My name is Sally Punyanitya and I will be your President for 2014. I am a third year pharmacy student and this is also my third year on the WAPSA committee. My previously held positions were first and second year representative. I am very friendly and always available to talk about pharmacy concerns, so if you see me around, feel free to approach me for a chat. This year has gotten off to a great start! O-show was a fun, messy night involving lots of toilet paper and alcohol and a total of 120 people attending. We also had the cocktail party which was 18+ event (sorry kiddos, you’ll get a chance to attend next year’s one!). One of our aims for this year is to strengthen our ties with MOPSS (Master of Pharmacy Students' Society) at UWA, so we can share resources and have more of a chance to get to know the lovely pharmacy students there. We are also focusing on bringing educational events to you guys, as well as making the social events as fun as possible for everyone involved. I also had a chat with Jo Higgins, the PSA Internship Manager here in WA, and she is very happy to offer WAPSA student members the opportunity to make an appointment with her to personally discuss the PSA Internship Program: 1) What is involved 2) What students will need to do in order to prepare for the program 3) How they can structure the program to fit in with other commitments Students can contact her via email at jo.higgins@psa.org.au to arrange an appointment.

xoxoxo

Sally - President-

R E C E NT

E V E NT S:

Charity Cup

Cocktail Party

Ethical Nutrients Session

U P C O MI NG

E V E NT S

Annual Ball

Vampire Cup

Pharmacy Forum

Staff vs. Students Soccer Match

KOOROC

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2014 WAPSA COMMITTEE On the 3rd of March, WAPSA held its Annual General Meeting to elect a

new committee. A big congratulations to those who were successful, and

thank you to the other applicants. Remember that next year there will be

another opportunity!

YEAR REPRESENTATIVES:

President

Sally Punyanitya

Vice President

Phoebe Gadd Treasurer

Niki Lynch

Secretary

Ashleigh Clarke

International Rep

Nhan Do

Education Chair

Tim Dixon NAPSA Liaison

Brayden Lubcke

Social Chair Ellen Bwye &

Jenna Neil

Charity/

Community Chair

Teghan Macdonald

Rural/Indigenous

Chair

Sharree Williams

Publications Chair

Lauren Tully

KOOROC Editor

Julie Ng

First Year: Lewis Oliver

Oliver Oon

GEM First Year: Shanae Hancey

Second Year: Sarah-Jane Noble

Susanna Ly

GEM Second Year: Ben Muletta

Justine Dee

Third Year: Erin Dwyer

Gemma Damiano

UWA Representatives: Amy Williams

Amy Swerlowycz

Fourth Year: Claire Kendrick

Shaylee Vekaria

Lauren Burton

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EDUCATION UPDATE My name is Tim and I’m the Education Chair for 2014. As you all know, each

year WAPSA organises extra-curricular events for each year group. They are a

great way to learn and experience different sides of pharmacy that aren’t offered

in your usual units. So far this year I have run a session with Ego

Pharmaceuticals and a hospital pharmacy information session for the third

years. I have also organised an Ethical Nutrients course that was held this

month. Although the courses are often run in the holidays or tuition free weeks,

they are really worthwhile. We try and run courses that are applicable to work in

community pharmacy or provide you with valuable information about getting

jobs and internships.

The most important event this year is the Pharmacy Forum. It is a trade show

dedicated for students and will feature representatives from all walks of

pharmacy life. It’s not until next semester but I would encourage you all to keep

it in mind. Feel free to flick me an email any time and I’ll make sure to keep you

posted with any events that are coming up.

Tim

- Education Chair -

Hey guys! This year the WAPSA Committee made the best decision they’ve made in years—choosing us to be the Social Chairs. We have always thoroughly enjoyed WAPSA events (sometimes maybe too much…) so we knew we would bring you all some really great nights this year. WAPSA’s social calendar started off with O-Show – thanks to the 121 people who showed up and got involved! It was a great night, the WAPSA punch was flowing and there was fierce competition between year groups in President’s Cup and of course the boat race (well done to UWA – we’ll get you next time). It was a great way to meet loads of first years and we hope they continue to come to all the events.

The Cocktail Party was another great event, where we celebrated finishing off the semester. In terms of events coming up, the WAPSA Annual Gala Ball will be held at the Pan Pacific Hotel on the 23rd of August. We would love for you all to put on your best dresses and suits and join us for a great night! Tickets are currently on sale via our website.

I’m sure you’ll hear from us again this year, and we hope to see you all at the ball!

Jenna & Ellen - Social Chairs -

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Charity Cup As a branch of the National Australian Pharmacy Students

Association, WAPSA participates in the annual initiative of Charity

Cup. Taking place from the 1st of April until the 14th of May, the aim

is to raise as much money as possible for a specific charity.

This year NAPSA’s chosen foundation was

the James Macready-Bryan Foundation,

which I think was perfect. The JMB

Foundation supports families of young

people who have been victims of violence or

trauma which has left them permanently

disabled. One of the projects they are

working on is building a care facility especially for these young people, so

they don’t have to stay in aged care facilities. This foundation was really

easy to get behind because as young students it is very relevant to us; most

of us will know, or maybe even have experienced firsthand, the violence

when going out for a good night in the city. Unfortunately, this violence is

not as rare as it should be, and could put any young person in the same

situation as James was.

Over the six weeks of Charity Cup, we held an

―Around the World‖ themed Scavenger Hunt.

Although the turn out for this event was not

massive, it turned out to be a really fun night!

I was impressed with the teams and

competitiveness in the scavenger hunt – they also

produced some golden photos from the night.

On top of this we ran several sausage

sizzles. With each sausage sizzle we dared to

buy more and more sausages in a bun and

were very impressed when we sold all of

them every single time, thanks to Gemma

and Nhan’s awesome ―manning‖ of the

barbeque.

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O-SHOW

In the last few weeks of Charity

Cup we became even more

motivated to raise money, and

what better way to do this than a

Bake Sale! A lot of the WAPSA

committee were very excited

about donating (and eating) baked

goods, with even a few mums

(thanks Mumma Dwyer) being

more than happy to donate baked

goods.

Throughout the whole time during Charity Cup we were running a raffle,

which offered a trip for two adults to Penguin Island—donated generously

by Rockingham Wild Encounters—and a day trip for 2 to Rottnest Island,

which was very kindly donated by Rottnest Express. We really appreciate

the support for Charity Cup that people have provided. Congratulations to

the winners Mitchell Cox, who won first prize for the raffle, and Phoebe

Gadd, winner of the second prize!

After this year’s Charity Cup I am very excited to build on what we

achieved this year, raising more money and putting on more events to

make that possible. If you would like to know more about the James

Macready-Bryan Foundation and the great work they do, please visit

http://jmbfoundation.org.au or come talk to me.

All in all we raised $1950 and would like to thank every student & staff

member who supported us and contributed!

Teghan

- Charity/Community Chair -

Charity Cup

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Hi there fellow WAPSA members! We are happy to be contributing to this edition of KOOROC on behalf of UWA Master of Pharmacy students!

In September last year, UWA students combined to create the first society for Master of Pharmacy students at UWA (MOPSS). The aim of MOPSS is to encourage students to take on leadership positions, facilitate social and professional development opportunities, gain access to the many resources the UWA Student Guild have to offer and importantly, and strengthen our relationship with our fellow pharmacy students at Curtin University. We would like to reiterate that the intention of forming MOPSS was not to compete with WAPSA, but to strengthen ties between the two universities and leverage each other’s expertise and resources.

Pharmacy as an industry at the moment is facing many challenges. It is an important time to band together, create a great culture of teamwork and support for one another and show unity. MOPSS is passionate about encouraging students to become members of WAPSA as we believe WAPSA has a lot to offer UWA students in terms of representation within the industry, coordination of professional development events and social networking opportunities.

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MOPSS believes UWA students have much to contribute to WAPSA. We want WAPSA to benefit from the passionate students at UWA who have many skills and different experiences that come from being post-graduate entry students. In addition, UWA students are in a unique position to build a relationship with other allied health students such as doctors, dentists, social workers and nurses. We are actively working on strengthening the relationship with organisations such as WAMSS (Western Australian Medical Students’ Society) to encourage interprofessional events and enhance the awareness of how wonderful Pharmacists are to our fellow health professionals.

Advocating for the value of pharmacy as an industry can start now. As students we have a responsibility to inform our peers about what we do and our important role in patient care. UWA students believe that now is the time to show unity and band together as an industry to ensure a bright future. Building relationships with each

other now will contribute to the development of a cohesive industry later on! It’s never too soon to work together!

So next time you are at an event and see the friendly faces of UWA students, come and say hi! We are eager to get to know you and look forward to building an even stronger relationship with WAPSA!

Cheers!

- UWA WAPSA representatives and the MOPSS committee -

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We asked one of our intrepid first year representatives to interview a

member of the pharmacy staff at Curtin. A big thank you to Liesl for

taking the time to answer our questions!

When did you discover your

vocation as a pharmacist?

Year 12. At that time I was not completely sure what I should choose, but I loved science, human biology, chemistry and communication, so doing pharmacy seemed like a great way to combine them. My course was not that different from now, although we did more chemistry.

I love to help people (patients) and share knowledge to improve their health condition. It was my decision to study pharmacy; there was no influence from friends or family.

What positions have you held since graduating?

I have worked as a community Pharmacist (internship and locums), as a Specialist Medical Representative, Managed Care Clinical Advisor, Drug Utilization Review Pharmacist, Drug Information Pharmacist, I had my own business as a Pharmaceutical Consultant to pharmaceutical companies and private health funds, and I was also the Editor of Front Shop Pharmacy professional magazine.

That is a huge range of working experience!

Yes, and then I moved to Perth and had to start a new life, a new job - and that's when I went back to study complementary medicine.

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O-SHOW

What is the most memorable experience during your university life in your pharmacy degree?

Hmm… That would be the chemistry lab, as we did not pay as much attention to safety as you have to now. There was one day when we accidentally knocked over a flask containing acidic solution and it spilt over the whole desk and even our clothes! I also attended a few pharmacy student conferences by joining a society which is similar to WAPSA. I had lots of fun through that.

What about your compounding lab? We could take back and use what we made at that time. I used the creams, mouthwash and cough syrup that we made.

Do you stress out yourself while studying?

Yes, especially when assignments and work comes in at the same time. I have a passion for learning and developing my knowledge and that’s why I spent 11 years in university (Bachelor of Pharmacy, Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Management, Advanced Diploma in Naturopathy, Bachelor of Health Science, Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training) Sometimes when people get too stressed they can waste half of the day doing nothing other than stressing, hence is better to plan to use your time wisely.

Are there any messages or personal experiences you would like to share with KOOROC reader?

Don’t limit yourself. There are so many opportunities open to you with a pharmacy degree. Use the knowledge from your pharmacy degree and explore where it can take you.

Oliver

- 1st Year Representative -

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PDL is not an insurance company, but uses Guild Insurance Limited as underwriters to provide the Professional Indemnity cover that every pharmacist and pharmacy student needs. PDL is a support organisation with a focus on risk minimisation and is wholly owned by its members. PDL supports all pharmacy schools, NAPSA as well as individual State student bodies, and assists pharmacy students with special needs. The company is proud to be celebrating its centenary year having formed in 1912 when a group of chemists banded together to help a chemist in Echuca who supplied a powder to a customer who aspirated and choked on it. In court proceedings the chemist was ordered to pay £200, a large sum of money in those days. Pharmaceutical Defence Limited together with Guild Insurance provide you with free professional indemnity insurance to protect you as a pharmacy student. This insurance gives you - $20 million cover against claims made upon you for professional negligence/error. - $10 million public liability - $50,000 cover for legal costs if involved in Coroner’s Inquiry. - One free legal consultation on any matter to do with professional conduct of Pharmacy. - Expert advice-lawyers in event of litigation. Pharmacy students are encouraged to have their own individual Professional Indemnity policy. To apply for complimentary Pharmacy Students Insurance cover go to: www.guildinsurance.com.au/professional-indemnity/overview/pharmacist For more information about PDL visit:

www.pdl.org.au WA Local Advisory Committee Bridgett McKay B. Pharm Secretary 1300 854 838 PO Box 7072 Shenton Park WA 6008 Office Tel +61 8 9388 8838 Fax +61 8 9382 4878 Mob 0417902636 Email pdlwa@bigpond.com. PDL proud sponsor of publication of KOOROC PDL proud sponsor of publication of KOOROC

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KOOROC’s meme competition is back for 2014!

Enter by sending your pharmacy-related memes to the editor at

julie.ng@student.curtin.edu.au for the chance to be included

in the next edition of the KOOROC!

Do you have friends who say

the most ridiculous things? Or

maybe you’re that friend?

Send any quotes,

opinions or article

ideas to the editor and keep

reading the KOOROC to

see if you’re featured.