How we collaborated with LexisNexis to benefit our trainee pharmacists

In late 2022 our pharmacy team in the Midlands teamed up with LexisNexis, clinical negligence experts, to develop a study day for our trainee pharmacists. The event proved hugely innovative and successful, but don't just take our word for it - here's what Baishali Clayton and Danny Malik, who delivered the training, had to say:

Recently we embarked on a brand new collaboration between LexisNexis and the HEE Midlands Pharmacy Team in order to deliver some medico-legal training to trainee pharmacists. We thoroughly enjoyed both preparing for and delivering the sessions and it was really helpful that the trainee pharmacists were clearly engaged and interested too. We wanted to make the content interactive and fun, as well as informative, because the subject matter was pretty intense, and we did not want to be scaring anyone out of practice! The feedback we received was that the seminars were well received both in content and format (using live quizzes and Q&As) and was a little different to how we are used to presenting normal PowerPoint slideshows and such. It was definitely something we will be taking away with us as a positive method of teaching.

In turn, we also learnt from the process. I had a conversation with a Leicester hospital pharmacist the other day who took time to question a prescription, check the patient information leaflet and reason for the prescription with me, double check with her supervisor and ultimately tracking down the prescribing consultant, that the medication was suitable for dispensing, before letting me walk away with it. Once upon a time I would have been impatient and frustrated by that process. However, I was very impressed that she did everything right in order to act in her patient’s best interests and challenge the doctor. This was the very basis of the training that we were delivering to the trainee pharmacists – the ethical decision making, chain of accountability and preventing harm – and because I had been involved in that training, I also learnt from this that my time was not in fact wasted by her actions, but my wellbeing considered and protected.

We are actually now in the process of writing new Practice Notes and guidance for lawyers within our Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence module on pharmaceutical treatment.

We were honoured to have been invited to deliver the training to your fantastic students and we hope they go on to very successful careers!