International network of the Pharmacy Game users expands to Scandinavia

On September 20, the University of Oslo in Norway has been officially welcomed as a new Pharmacy Game partner. The Pharmacy Game will become a structural element of their Pharmacy curriculum allowing students to experience the real-world working practices in simulated pharmacies. With this new partner, the Pharmacy Game is now included in the pharmacy education of eight universities, spread across Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia. The concept of the Pharmacy Game GIMMICS® was developed in the year 2000 at the University of Groningen.

The Pharmacy Game is an example of hybrid education, where a student performs both online and physical assignments in the role of a pharmacist. The hybrid game also allows engagement of international colleagues to visit the game as online patients. One of these online patients was lecturer Ingunn Björnsdottir from the University of Oslo, who was looking for alternative ways of training students for interaction in pharmacies. Hearing about this activity sold her halfway the idea of implementing this concept among their students but, as she said, "when I had experienced being a patient myself, I was completely in".

Collaborative consortium

The international consortium of the Pharmacy Game partners is collaborating to optimize the educational concept of the game. They always look for new inspiring and innovative elements. Next to learn how to counsel patients, the educational model allows inter-and intra-professional collaboration with allied healthcare professionals, making it even more real for the students.

"Providing the students with the best learning environment is our motivation to make further improvements and connections around the world", said the International team of the Pharmacy Game at the University of Groningen: Katja Taxis, Claudia Dantuma- Wering and Tanja Fens.

Links:

• https://pharmacygame.education/
• https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4787/9/3/125/htm