Icelandic pharmacists receive Faculty pins at FIP 2018

The five pharmacists who received their pins in Glasgow are part of an 11-strong cohort forming the “first wave” implementing the advanced training framework.

Icelandic pharmacists at FIP 2018

Five Icelandic pharmacists received their Faculty pins during a reception held by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), on the third evening of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) 2018 Congress.

In Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, where the reception was held, Lóa María Magnúsdóttir, Aðalheiður Pálmadóttir, Inga J. Arnardóttir, Ólafur Ólafsson and Pétur S. Gunnarsson of the Pharmaceutical Society of Iceland (LFI) were presented with their pins by Paul Bennett, chief executive of the RPS.

Their completion marks the start of a journey begun at the 2015 FIP Congress in Dusseldorf, during which the RPS and the LFI signed a partnership agreement. Although individual Icelandic pharmacists had previously completed Faculty training, the five who received their pins in Glasgow are part of an 11-strong cohort of Icelandic pharmacists forming the “first wave” implementing the advanced training framework following the 2015 agreement.

Magnúsdóttir, president of the LFI, told The Pharmaceutical Journal that it “meant a lot” to be in Glasgow to receive the accreditation. “Although we are only 5 here tonight, there are 11 Icelandic pharmacists that finished and I think they will also be very proud of us. Each and every one of them has been working hard towards finishing their portfolios and it was rather difficult being the first-timers in Iceland! So we were very pleased to finish, and it’s great to have this opportunity to celebrate it.

“Our association has around 450 pharmacists, and since, when we started, we needed ten years of experience to start Faculty training, these 11 represent around 4% of our eligible members. And we want to have more. There is a lot of interest from Icelandic pharmacists in the Faculty, and we can now help them in that.

“We are showing pharmacists who don’t live in the UK, and who may have a different language and background, that this is possible. That’s very important.”

The reception also saw RPS Fellowships conferred on Cheryl Way, a member of the Welsh Pharmacy board, and Bronwyn Clark, chief executive of the Australian Pharmacy Council.

The 2018 FIP congress in Glasgow, Scotland, brings together pharmacy practitioners and pharmaceutical scientists from around the world to consider ways of extending the role of pharmacists so that they play a full part in ensuring patients, and health systems, achieve full benefit from the medicines people take.

The theme of the 78th FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is ‘Pharmacy: Transforming outcomes!’.

This is the first time that the FIP World Congress has been held in the UK for nearly 40 years. The last time was in 1979, making this a truly unique learning opportunity for pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists in Great Britain.

UK healthcare company RB is Gold Sponsor of this year’s congress.

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, Icelandic pharmacists receive Faculty pins at FIP 2018;Online:DOI:10.1211/PJ.2018.20205397

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