The University of Florida College of Pharmacy hosted the second annual Student Pharmacist Compounding Competition in March, welcoming national leaders in compounding pharmacy and students competing from 14 U.S. pharmacy colleges.
The weekend competition, sponsored by Medisca Group of Companies, was organized in three phases. Each university team of three student pharmacists conducted and documented a drug compounding preparation; prepared a written response to a posed regulatory issue; and presented a poster to illustrate the response.
“The students participating in the competition were some of the best and brightest in the country. Given the high-pressure environment they were competing in, the preparations and responses they achieved were more like those of a practicing pharmacist, rather than of a student,” said Rick Schnatz, Pharm.D, senior scientific liaison at U.S. Pharmacopeia and keynote speaker. Read the USP news announcement.
UF Pharmacy Dean William H. Riffee, Ph.D. sees the competition as a way for education to foster the growth, development and integrity of the art and science of compounding.
“Our many U.S. colleges of pharmacy have made great strides in providing quality pharmacy education with unique learning opportunities for students, and meeting the challenge of industry demands,” Riffee said.