Name: Ellen South

University: UTS

Winner NSBPC 2018

My interest in allergies and allergic rhinitis, combined with my experience in the NSCPC, has seen me now working as a community pharmacist in Canberra.

This is really appropriate as the city has the highest prevalence of allergic rhinitis in the country and at Capital Chemist Wanniassa where I work we have a huge number of patients enquiring about allergic rhinitis treatment.

Allergies and allergic rhinitis are very interesting areas. In Australia, approximately 25 per cent of the population suffers from these conditions. On top of that, about four out of five people do not choose the ideal medicine for treating allergic rhinitis, so there is a lot for pharmacists to do in this field.

Patients living with allergies can suffer debilitating and constant symptoms such as runny and sore noses, headaches, fatigue, and itchy and red eyes. These can impact heavily on their quality of life.

So at Wanniassa we see a lot of these patients. I have been a #wanniwhitecoat since the end of 2018 when I started my internship position.

My workplace has revealed the power of community pharmacy and I am lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing pharmacists who have a huge passion for the profession.

Every day, I help patients as soon as they walk in the door with health advice and I am involved in performing a multitude of professional services.

No two days are ever the same and I do everything from medication counselling to organising the provision of Webster packs.

What also attracted me to community pharmacy was the ability to build connections with the community and I think that community pharmacists improve the health of the patients on a day-to-day basis.

At Wanniassa I work with some inspirational pharmacists who have taught me, and continue to teach me so much.

As soon as I became a registered pharmacist I began working full-time through the bushfire crisis, and COVID-19. With all that was thrown at us at the frontline, I have maintained positivity and a patient-based approach to helping improve the health of Wanniassa and wider Canberra.

Our NSBPC entry was the provision of pharmacy services to focus on and improve allergic rhinitis symptoms.

I particularly enjoyed how multifaceted the competition was – with clinical pharmacy skills, business projections and public speaking all put together to provide experience that added to my pharmacy experience immensely, before I even left university. A highlight for me was the ability to attend and network at the Pharmacy Connect Conference, which led to gaining my intern position after being interviewed by Capital Chemist Wanniassa.

The NSBPC gave me the opportunity to gain an insight into the business aspect of pharmacy. As a community pharmacist, this is a vital part of pharmacy management and I did not learn a huge amount of business knowledge during my university degree.

The NSBPC is a unique and extremely valuable opportunity for university students and absolutely is worth the effort. The networking opportunities, experience and skills that I gained has made me a more experienced pharmacist. They have inspired me to one day put my ideas into a new pharmacy service, and students cannot miss the opportunity. I would enter the competition again if I could.