The series of Pharmadays comprise pharmacy olympiad (for high school students), poster competition, pharmacy competition, and national seminar. The team from ITB won pharmacy competition category, which consist of quiz and patient counseling and saw participation of 22 teams from universities all over Indonesia.

Mathias Lourdion Kusnaman, Bella Tania, and Novi Rizky Amelia are the team members who participate in the competition. One of the motivations to participate in the competition is to get experience and do extracurricular activities.

“We participate in Pharmadays after we see the poster on social media. Previously, we participated in competition at other university but ended up only as finalist, so we tried our luck again in other competition. It happened that the closest competition that we knew about is this Pharmadays 2019,” said Lourdion.

Lourdoin said that during the competition, the biggest challenge that they had to face is the counseling. “All three of us are students of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and have never do face-to-face counseling simulation with patients on drugstore. This skill is learned more on Clinical and Community Pharmacy study program and our skill regarding is very basic. But we can get through that challenge well despite our little experience and knowledge.” Said Lourdion.

Pharmadays 2019 comprised three phases, namely preliminary, semifinal, and final. In general, the material of this competition is divided into two bigger categories namely quiz and drugstore patient counseling with the aim to look for the best participants based on the combination of those two categories.

The preliminary was held on 14 September 2019 at the Hall of Faculty of Pharmacy of UGM. The best nine teams advanced to the semifinal and final, which were held on the following day on 15 September 2019. In the final, the team from ITB championed the competition after a win over the representatives of Universitas Sanata Dharma and Universitas Diponegoro.

“This positive result raises our mentality to compete. By participating in this competition, we do more joint studies to remember our courses materials we learnt on previous semesters. During our previous competition, nervous and carelessness often occurred and lessen the result we get. This competition has raised our confidence and enriched our insight that pharmacy is an extensive field.

According to Lourdion, participation in this competition can measure to their knowledge on pharmacy. It becomes a motivation to catch up with knowledge they have not mastered. Hence, he hopes that students of pharmacy of ITB are motivated to participate in any competition. “As long as we have the chance and time to do it, why not?” he said.

Reporter: Christopher Wijaya (Pharmaceutical Science and Technology 2016)