Member Organization Perspectives V SINAEF (V National Symposium of Pharmacy Students

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ContactContact PersonPerson -- JimenaJimena Vargas,Vargas, FECOEFFECOEF CostaCosta RicaRica

The Costa Rican Students Federation (FECOEF) annually organizes a national symposium for pharmacy students (SINAEF). Its purpose is to provide students an opportunity to comprehend and update themselves on current pharmaceutical issues, broaden their professional development and provide spaces where they get to know each other and expand their network.

At the V SINAEF, students received

presentations and had

competitions, forums, workshops and recreational activities. To the date, this event is the largest student’s academic activity in our country, but this year FECOEF’s board of directors took it to the next level and for the first time, extended the invitation to all IPSF’s associations, making it the first hybrid-modality SINAEF.

The event was held January 21st-23rd, 2022. Its organization took four months and 32 pharmacy students who volunteered to make this event such a successful one. To highlight the big efforts the medical and scientific field did and are currently making to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the main topic of the V SINAEF would be “Heroes of Public Health” .

The main goal of the talks was to inspire students to become professionals capable of influencing and revolutionizing worlds’ health just as the medical and scientific field has done for us.

As for the competitions, we developed the Patient Counseling Event (PCE), Clinical Skills Event (CSE), Posters Event (PE) and Compounding Event (CE).

Additionally, the forum was about “The Present and Future of Psychoactive Substances Consumption in the Actual Syndemic Context in Costa Rica” , where professionals with PhDs in pharmacy, neurology, nursing, criminology and psychology participated and discussed their perspectives.

Then, the workshop given was about leadership skills. Lastly, the two main recreational activities were at the end of each day. So students could relax, connect and have a good time; there was a Black & White Party for the first night and an International Night for the second night.

Everything took place at the Radisson Hotel, so we had a big enough space to develop all the events while keeping the social distance safety measures recommended by the Ministry of Health of Costa Rica.

Figure 2. Photo of the organizing team

This event was possible thanks to

sponsorships from pharmaceutical

companies, professional entities and

several companies of Costa Rica.

With their help, not only was developing the SINAEF at this amazing hotel and giving national pharmacy students a welcoming kit made possible, but whole or partial grants were given to a considerable number of students in order to participate and have an opportunity to grow professionally.

In total, there was a participation of 140 pharmacy students, which makes it the biggest SINAEF ever made. At the end, the organizational team saw a high degree of satisfaction and received positive feedback regarding the organization and development of the event.

We managed to incorporate a large number of new students into the world of scientific research focused on pharmacy, in addition to promoting their active participation at FECOEF.

Figura 3. Fórum