Blended Intensive Programme Dublin 2025

Following successful staff and student mobilities to Università di Pavia (Italy) and Université Paris-Saclay (France) in 2023 and 2024, the School hosted an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme in Clinical Pharmacy in June 2025. Led by Dr Fabio Boylan, Dr Theo Ryan and Dr Juliette O’Connell, this three-week programme consisted of two weeks of online lectures followed by one week of in-person clinical pharmacy activities, hosted on campus in the Panoz Institute.

Staff and students from Università di Pavia, Université Paris-Saclay and Trinity College Dublin engaged in academic and intercultural activities to strengthen connections between the three institutions and provide students with improved clinical pharmacy skills, informed not only by the Irish practice context but enhanced by pharmacy practice norms in Italy and France.

Students developed knowledge and skills in point-of-care testing, vaccination, antimicrobial stewardship, over-the-counter medicines provision and development of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), among other activities. The current Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) Secretary General and Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) President was invited to talk to students about the expanding roles of community pharmacists, and the students had the opportunity to hear about Dublin's progress on the new Children's Hospital as well as the pharmacist's role in the incorporation of an electronic health record.

Cultural activities were a highlight for many participants. These included a tour of the famous Trinity College campus, visit to the Book of Kells, and the programme concluded with a visit to Johnnie Fox’s “Hooley Show” to experience Irish music and dancing.
The success of this third year of Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes in Clinical Pharmacy culminated in a peer-reviewed publication in the international journal Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning and enhanced connections between the three universities. The Programme has now entered a new cycle, with the addition of Vilnius University, Lithuania as a partner institution.

Publication: Ryan T, Stricker L, Maliyevsky M, Bonte D, Boylan F, Bruno GM, Morel E, Péchiné S, Ricevuti G, O'Connell J. A case report on the design and implementation of a multinational blended intensive programme in clinical pharmacy practice. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. 2026 May;18(5):102608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2026.102608 

Blended Intensive Programme in Dublin 2025