Did you know that every graduate from every School of Pharmacy on the island of Ireland will have trained on the McLernons MPS dispensing system?

We are delighted that we have fostered links going back over 30 years to ensure that every pharmacy contractor taking on a student for a Summer job, offering a placement during the course of their degree or offering them a job after graduation can be confident that they can hit the ground running, having already familiarized themselves with MPS throughout their University degree.

From Coleraine in the North East to Cork, and in the cities of Belfast and Dublin, we have donated almost 200 dispensing systems to train the next generation of pharmacists. In addition, we also supply the Institutes of Technology with MPS dispensing systems, training the next generation of pharmacy technicians in Letterkenny, Dublin, Carlow and Athlone.

Keith McLernon, MD, said, “We think it is vital that we support the award-winning work and teaching carried out in Coleraine, Queens, Trinity, Royal College of Surgeons and Cork. Allowing students to become familiar with the processes involved in dispensing in a safe learning environment is so important for their learning and development.”

“Originally there were just two Schools of Pharmacy, in Queens and Trinity, training all the pharmacists graduating North and South of the Border. In the early years of the 21^st century three more Schools opened, and we were delighted to be asked to provide their dispensing systems.”

He added, “Our most recent partnership has been with RCSI, who recently decided to use only McLernons MPS to teach their students. The process was rigorous, in that they carried out analysis of all the dispensing systems in Ireland and took on board feedback and opinion from students and pharmacy practitioners.”

“We support our customers in a number of ways – not just with our trainers, engineers and help desk – but by sponsoring awards and partnering with academic institutions. We look forward to continuing our relationships with Universities and colleges to train and empower pharmacy students and pharmacy technicians.”

UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER AT COLERAINE

Ulster University has three campuses – in Derry, Belfast and Coleraine. The School of Pharmacy, sited along the banks of the River Bann in Coleraine, opened its doors to an initial cohort of 35 students in 2009 and since then the School has grown steadily, attracting more staff and more students each year. Today around 120 future pharmacists start each year, coming from all parts of Northern Ireland and most counties in the Republic with some from GB and some from further afield.

Prof Paul McCarron, Head of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, discussed the relationship between McLernons and the School, “The new accreditation standards require a greater level of clinical involvement and decision-making. Students begin the process of learning how to deliver health care in their first year, and gradually spend longer periods of time in community and hospital settings and in GP practices.”

“From second year our students spend time in community pharmacies – using the dispensing systems and labelling systems – and are much more involved in health care delivery from a very early stage in their studies.”

“Using the McLernons systems here, then going out to the community pharmacy and using them ‘in situ’ provides complementary experience and reinforcement of the systems and processes needed. Our relationship with McLernons since the School’s inception has been incredibly beneficial and we are very grateful for their support.”

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK

UCC School of Pharmacy opened in 2004, and McLernons MPS has been the in-house dispensing system used since then. The dispensing lab has 38 terminals, each in a specially designed dispensing space with its own drug cabinet, where the next generation of Irish pharmacists turn their academic knowledge into practice in a safe, simulation setting.

Dr Aoife Fleming, MPharm Director, said, “We receive invaluable support from McLernons – both from Brian our engineer and from the Support Desk. Their ability to ‘dial on’ to our systems and trouble shoot any problems remotely has been a game changer.”

“Weekly use of the MPS system throughout their five years at Cork helps prepare our students for practice, and it gives them a massive advantage to be familiar with they system that is most commonly used in the community.”

“Week on week we see their confidence grow, and they are fully au fait with MPS within 3 or 4 weeks, which means that they can then concentrate on acquiring and applying the skills that they need to become competent pharmacists, learning how to work effectively and safely.”

We feel that UCC is a unique place to study pharmacy in Ireland as the cluster of companies working in the pharmaceutical industry sector here provides great opportunities for training and career development for our students. The community and hospital pharmacy placement experiences in our region provide students with an in-depth insight into pharmacy practice, supported by our innovative and dynamic pharmacy curriculum.”

Dr Michelle O’Driscoll, current module co-ordinator for the dispensing labs added, “ “Pharmacy practice is constantly changing, and it is important that our student build upon their academic knowledge and develop the skills and experience gained from a familiarity with the practice of pharmacy dispensing. The support from McLernons is invaluable to our students in this regard”

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST

Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) has offered a pharmacy degree since 1929, originally as a B.Sc. in Pharmaceutics, making it one of the oldest degree courses in Ireland and Great Britain. The School of Pharmacy is ranked in the top forty Schools of Pharmacy in the world in the 2023 and 2024 QS World University Rankings. Each year, around 150 students start their four-year MPharm degree programme at the School of Pharmacy, and McLernons supply all the dispensing systems used in their ‘mock’ community pharmacy, and dispensing software in one of the teaching laboratories.

Prof Lezley-Anne Hanna said, “The new (2021) ‘Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists’ mean that we are educating students to be pharmacist independent prescribers at the point of professional registration. Therefore, we have transformed our MPharm degree programme to encompass prescribing skills and attributes, and ensure students have greater opportunities for experiential learning in patient-facing practice and interprofessional learning. We have also retained the importance of research and science, given pharmacists are the experts in the safe and effective use of medicines. Given these changes, we use simulation-based learning and teaching much more than we did in the past and strive to make the learning environment reflective of real-world practice.”

“Using MPS means that our students can learn in a safe, authentic environment using the sector leading software. The McLernons systems are also used as part of our pharmacy practice assessments. We deem this gives students an excellent grounding for their future practice.”

“We place a great value on our relationship with McLernons, their support is exemplary, and they are a very reliable IT partner. We need a good relationship with our vendor so that any issues we may have can be resolved quickly without compromising the student experience and are delighted that team at McLernons constantly exceed our expectations.”

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, DUBLIN

The RCSI was founded by Royal Charter in 1784to set and support professional standards for surgical training and practice. It has been at its current home at 123 St Stephen’s Green since 1810  and the School of Pharmacy opened in 2002. The five year M.Pharm course is clinically focused from the outset, with second year students completing their community pharmacy placement over a 12-week period rather in one full two week block. This allows them to align their practical experiences each week with what they learn on campus.

In the Summer of 2024 the School made the decision to switched the dispensing software used in their training labs to McLernons MPS software.

“At the RCSI we are solely focused on the health professions, with a very obvious ethos that everything that happens in the College if driven to achieve the best healthcare outcomes”, said Dr Shane Cullinan, Senior Lecturer. “We changed to MPS because we wanted to prepare our students for the work place – both in placements and post qualification.”

Louise Enright and Sheenagh McCarthy, Senior Pharmacy Technician Educators, explained why RCSI made the switch in Summer 2024 to McLernons  dispensing software for their students. “We carried out extensive market research of the PMR systems available in Ireland, and agreed that McLernons would be best placed to meet our student’s needs, considering it is the predominant software used within the community pharmacy sector,” said Louise.

“It was a great experience working with the engineers in McLernons from start to finish!”

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

The School of Pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin has had many shapes and guises with the first intake to a dedicated pharmacy Degree happening in 1977 and it is the oldest School of Pharmacy in Ireland.

McLernons first donated pharmacy systems for use in the Pharmaceutics Lab in 2010 and the MPS dispensing systems are now used on over 50 systems used throughout the School, in the dispensing lab and model pharmacy as well as pharmaceutics.

Associate Professor Cicely Roche said, “At Trinity, we place an emphasis on the integration of science with pharmacy practice in order to best prepare students to derive professional judgement in practice from the concurrent evidence base.”

“Having MPS systems throughout the School provides a space for students to learn in an environment where they feel safe. We want to expose them to challenges and different scenarios in order to really embed their learning, giving them the opportunity to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes”, said Associate Professor Sheila Ryder. “Students value the opportunity to come in to the lab and practice – they can they move on into a community pharmacy either as locum technicians, on Saturday jobs or with their placements with confidence and a familiarity with the MPS software.”

Cicely added, “We are very grateful for the many years of support that McLernons has given both to the School of Pharmacy and to the students who have passed through it. “