Student group’s challenge

“There was a group of students who wanted to do something about the recycling of medication. They (students) wanted to do this, because a lot of medication is thrown away and not used. However, the law inhibits the reuse of medications as there is a danger to it. This group of students wanted to do something about it, but they did not know what and how it should be done, as the law was an obstacle. Furthermore, if you want to recycle medication, it often costs more than just throwing it away. We are not talking about immunotherapy that costs 100,000 euros per year, but about normal medications that cost a few euros. You often need staff to manage and run such a recycling process, and the cost of the medication does not outweigh the cost of such a person. […] Students did find out that there were certain groups of medication that could be reused if certain conditions were met, such as the box not being opened and so forth. It was a difficult subject and students did not really come up with a great innovation, but for a very small part of the medication, recycling was possible. […] The students really struggled with this healthcare problem. The problem is really relevant, but the students talked to people in the field and then they (students) became a little disillusioned because the stakeholders said that the recycling of medication is not allowed by law. Then, the students dived into the law, and read the law again and looked for any openings in the law. Every time, they went back to the stakeholders, but stakeholders repeatedly told them that it will not happen in practice. So, the students got more frustrated every time” [T2 recycling medication].

Teaching activities

“I then brought the students in contact with various people from different pharmacies, to talk to these people to see if there is still an opening somewhere that could be used for the recycling of medication. […] What is your role as a teacher? My role is to try to keep students’ enthusiasm up and to inform students that working on complex healthcare problem is not simple. If it was simple, then someone else would have thought of a solution already. […] So, per definition, it is difficult, and it is challenging. So yes, I try to keep the students enthusiastic. So that is probably the most important thing and that the students still see it as a challenge to come up with a solution anyway” [T2 recycling medication].