The Pharmacy Game Newsletter

Who are you?

My name is Manon den Uil, and I am a first-year master student Pharmacy at Utrecht University. In March I participated in the Pharmacy Game. 

If you could choose between conventional education and the Pharmacy Game what would be your preference and why?

I definitely prefer the Pharmacy Game! I found it very exciting to experience more of the actual work environment than only courses that focus on theory. During my bachelor and the first half year of my masters you mostly have theoretical courses. It was a totally different way of learning, I found that I had to think just a little different to get optimal results and to be able to help the patients in the best way possible. Every day that I did the Pharmacy Game I found it more and more fun!

What was most useful during the Pharmacy Game?

I found it the most useful that we could learn a lot of the ins and outs of a community pharmacy and being a pharmacist without the pressure of doing everything perfect. In the game you can still make mistakes and it will not have a real-life effect which makes it easier to really practice what you find difficult and strengthen your skills. 

Which skills did you improve during the game? 

This is difficult to say since the game gives you so many opportunities to improve a variety of skills! I really liked that I could improve my communication skills with my direct colleagues but also with the doctors and patients. As I mentioned before, you really learn a different way of thinking in which you are more flexible to see all the choices that you have and how you can make everything optimal for the patient.

Would you like to share some interesting moments you remember while playing the game?

Apart from gaining a lot of skills that we can immediately use in our internships, I also found it very nice to work in a group. Because of COVID-19 we were not able to go to the university much, but because this is ‘practical education’ we were allowed to go. We even had our own ‘pharmacy’ with a counter and ‘real’ patients that came to visit us!

I had a really nice team and we really enjoyed with each other.  Because of the different time span (each day =one game week) we could celebrate my birthday which of course led to some delicious treats (see my photo). We also had a lot of fun during the theme week, where we chose the theme summer! As a cherry on top, we also were the best pharmacy of our ‘city’ which was very exciting! In conclusion, doing the pharmacy game was a unique experience. I am thankful for all the effort of the teachers and student-assistants for making this experience possible!