Overseas Advanced Pharmacy Practice Rotation – Unique Opportunity for Personal and Professional Development

Abstract

In this article, I provide a brief overview of our first Advanced Pharmacy Practice Rotation [APPR] in India that was undertaken in the summer to 2010. I accompanied three pharmacy students for a ten week trip to India. One month was spent as a volunteer teacher at Parkirma Foundation in Bangalore and another month doing pharmacy rotation at JSS hospital in Mysore. Students had a professional experience of a completely different health care system and they were also personally enriched by numerable opportunities for human interactions with people from completely different culture and religion. Increasing globalization of health care that is bound to occur in the coming decades - with increased interest in medical tourism to developing countries such as Thailand, india, Brazil and China, students who have undertaken such overseas APPR will have an edge in getting better outcome for their patients. I finally conclude that overseas APPR provide an unique opportunity in the pharmacy curriculum to train pharmacists for the 21st century.