The annual PharmG game is underway, with a cohort of international educational partners visiting Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus to take part in an extended immersive simulation game that sees pharmacy students compete in teams. Adapted from GIMMICS, developed at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Griffith University is the fifth university world-wide to conduct the game and the first university in Australia.
Offering our Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy students the chance to compete in the game, like their peers in Europe and the UK. “The students compete in teams, running their own in-person pharmacies across a 3-week period,” says Lecturer Denise Hope from Griffith’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, “During the game they manage their time and workloads to complete a multitude of activities like dispensing, clinical cases, counselling and assignments.”
Students from Taylors University
This year, for the first time, Griffith University pharmacy students are joined by their counterparts from Taylors University in Malaysia. This adds a unique dimension to the simulation with students from both institutions learning from each other as they quickly adapt to working in a cross-cultural team. In this way, the 2018 PharmG combines the School’s strengths in simulation and internationalisation, which creates a remarkable learning environment for its students. Sarah Lee Ann from Taylors University said, “It’s a game with twists and turns, which allows one’s creativity, responsibility, communication and maturity to grow alongside building new friendships and memories. PharmG has been a wonderful experience that you would want to venture into.”
PharmG is designed to provide a completely immersive workplace that mimics what they would face as graduates in a real-work pharmacy setting. With actors that play the role of patients and a range of activities that they need to perform, that will result in the gain or loss of points, the game tests every facet of skills needed to work in the industry.
The School has been a pioneer for the university in utilising simulation technology to provide students with the most comprehensive education possible and the PharmG games presents a unique opportunity for our students to create international connections that will provide them with a global network.
