1st Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS) Young Pharmacists Chapter (YPC) Committee and the 55th Executive Committee of the National University of Singapore Pharmaceutical Society (NUSPS)

The Young Pharmacists Chapter (YPC) and the 55th Executive Committee of the National University of Singapore Pharmaceutical Society (NUSPS) had their 1st official annual meeting on the 7th October 2015.

This meeting was arranged with the intention to introduce the new 55th Executive Committee members of NUSPS and members of PSS YPC. Apart from that, the objective of this meeting was to emphasise on the importance of fostering stronger bonds between YPC and NUSPS, getting more pharmacy students involved in future PSS-organised events. The YPC Facebook page was also introduced with the aim of engaging and communicating with young pharmacists, keeping them posted with our activities.

Various initiatives and plans for collaboration between NUSPS and PSS YPC were discussed. These include the benefits of recruiting more pharmacy students to join PSS YPC, introduction of Service- Oriented Undergraduate Learning (SOUL) program, planning of Health and Medication Awareness Carnival (HMAC), internship/attachment opportunities for pharmacy students, organising of more social events, such as Year End Party and Sports Day to provide an opportunity for the young pharmacists to network.

NUSPS shared their vision for this upcoming year, which is to enhance university experience for all pharmacy students by cultivating the spirit of volunteerism. Hence, the introduction of SOUL program (where students have to complete 25-hours of internship or attachment in various disciplines) to provide hands-on learning to students. YPC will assist NUSPS in the area of sourcing for internship opportunities for the students.

Several proposals for collaboration were put forward by NUSPS. For this upcoming year, NUSPS aims to promote the pharmacy profession to the general public as well as to the students. By organising a health and medication awareness carnival (HMAC), they hope to extend outreach to a larger range of target groups such as patients from various age groups other than the elderly. In order to achieve this, they will need the full support of YPC and fellow PSS members. Apart from that, to widen the horizon of pharmacy students in the pharmacy profession, YPC will be involved in the sourcing of speakers for NUSPS pharmacy alumni sharing sessions. The sharing sessions aim to expose students to the diverse career opportunities relating to pharmacy, ranging from clinical practice to community setting, academic research to industrial fields

Other proposed collaborative plans include hosting of a one-month attachment for four Korean exchange students in February 2016 to various sectors of pharmacy practice in Singapore. This provides them the opportunity to gain a greater insight in the pharmacy practice landscape in Singapore.

Please stay tuned to find out more about our upcoming plans!

55th Executive Committee of the National University of Singapore Pharmaceutical Society (NUSPS)

Young Pharmacist Chapter (YPC) Committee Members 2015/16

Written by:
Ms Tien Li-Chen
Vetted by: Ms Cindy Chew, Mr Anson Lim, Ms Sharene Goh, Ms Tracy Chean