Crossing the bridge to Sweden
Today, (Friday, April 11th) marked our adventure to Sweden. We started off the day by catching a train to Lund. Surprisingly, Denmark and Sweden are connected via the bridge-tunnel Oresund Bridge which only takes approximately 10 minutes to cross.
Once we arrived in Lund, Sweden (said like Loond), we made our way to Lund University Hospital. There we met with Tommy Eriksson, a Research Pharmacist and Professor for Lund University. He explained the pharmacy hospital system and some key differences between Sweden and the United States in regards to pharmacy.
Sweden’s pharmacy system has been owned by the government for many years. However, the monopoly will be breaking up this year allowing for private businesses to own pharmacies. There is a lot of uncertainty on how this will affect their pharmacy system.
There are 2 Universities in Sweden that provide pharmacy education for Swedes, one in Uppsula (by Stockholm) and one in Gothenburg. The Gothenburg pharmacy program has only been in existence for the last 5 or 6 years. Tommy’s personal project is starting a new pharmacy education program next year with an emphasis on clinical pharmacy. Currently there are about 120 students per year in pharmacy in the country.
One of the major differences in pharmacy education is that in Sweden there are 2 different degrees. They have the traditional pharmacist degree that is obtained after 5 years of education. Pharmacists have more emphasis in research, science, and quality development. Most pharmacists graduating in Sweden have a career path in industry. The second pharmacy degree is a prescriptionist. This is a 3 year degree obtained from what we would call a ‘community college.’ Tommy noted community pharmacies are run by the prescriptionists and not the pharmacists in most instances. There are about 1,300 pharmacists and 5,000 prescriptionists in Sweden.
Lund University Hospital is a 1,000 bed hospital. There are about 90 people in the pharmacy department. Approximately 25 are pharmacists, 20 do prescription manufacturing, and the remaining are techs. There are 50 wards in the hospital, 6 of which have a clinical pharmacy service. Tommy proudly noted they have the most clinical pharmacist of any hospital in Sweden.
While at the hospital, we finally had the opportunity to walk through a hospital pharmacy and a ward. Notably, the pharmacies didn’t look a lot different than the states and are probably no different that the subtle nuances between Avera and Sanford.
After the visit with Tommy, we were allowed to explore the town of Lund. Most of us stumbled upon the Swan Pharmacy, the oldest pharmacy in Sweden. The pharmacy has been in it’s existing location since 1651. The current pharmacy has been in existence since 1897. Most of the pharmacy is styled in elaborate woodwork. We were struck with awe the moment we walked through the doors. Afterward, we continued to explore Lund’s many stores and cafe’s before hopping the train back to Copenhagen to spend our last night in Denmark.
Alissa
