Patient Counselling and Pharmaceutical Care in Practice competition

The Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Pécs hosted the “Patient Counselling and Pharmaceutical Care in Practice” competition for the fifteenth time. This special jubilee event gave final-year pharmacy students the chance to test their therapeutic knowledge and communication skills in realistic community pharmacy scenarios.

This year’s competition focused on pharmaceutical care in pregnancy, reflecting the upcoming national professional guideline on the topic and highlighting its clinical importance. In a carefully designed simulated pharmacy environment, students worked through complex cases involving pharmacotherapy decisions, medicine safety considerations and challenging counselling situations with pregnant patients.

From the beginning, the aim of the competition has been to confront students with authentic professional situations they will face in their future careers. During the five‑minute scenarios, participants had to demonstrate not only solid clinical knowledge, but also targeted information gathering, clear counselling and empathetic, patient‑centred communication.

A total of 26 motivated students from both the Hungarian and English programs took part, and their performance was evaluated by a jury of practicing and academic experts. The jury assessed three main aspects: how effectively students collected relevant information, how accurately and understandably they provided professional advice, and how well they communicated with the simulated patients.

Winners:

• Hungarian program: 1st place – Lilien Mariczki; 2nd place – László Schreiner; 3rd place – Hajnalka Szmik

• English program: 1st place – Armita Mokfi; 2nd place – Saghi Ghasemi Tatabaei; 3rd place – Jeff Muchiri Waweru

Both Hungarian and English program students handled the demanding pregnancy‑related cases with outstanding professionalism and sensitivity, confirming the high standard of training at the Faculty. Beyond selecting the winners, the competition primarily served learning and skills development, while junior students and invited colleagues could follow the cases via live video stream, gaining insight into pharmaceutical care.

The long‑running competition clearly demonstrates the commitment of the University of Pécs Faculty of Pharmacy to practice‑oriented training and talent development. Such initiatives help ensure that future pharmacists enter the workforce with strong professional competence and confidence, ready to provide high‑quality care to all patients, including vulnerable groups such as pregnant women.