I Prefer Paris: Interview with Pharmacist Student Malou Labreque

Malou Labreque is a Canadian pharmacy student studying at Paris Descartes. As part of her studies, she works part-time at the Pharmacie du Marais, a few doors from my apartment. I asked Malou if I could interview her for Eye Prefer Paris, as I thought it could be informative during the Covad-19 crisis in France. Here’s what she had to say.

What was it like to suddenly have to leave university and work in the pharmacy on the so-called front lines? What are your new hours at the pharmacy?

First of all, at the time the epidemic first struck France, I was completing a mandatory internship at another pharmacy. My university decided it was important for us to finish it and be at the front line mainly to help the pharmacists and to understand how they would react to such unusual circumstances. On the 17^th of March, the official quarantine was put in place, and it was quite extraordinary to see the shift from many customers to almost none. After that week, I started working at my usual pharmacy, but as I am still a student, I don’t have a very regular schedule. These last week I have mostly filled in for colleagues, some of them being sick, or having family members at home that tested positive and thus preferring not to work in fear of contaminating our patients.

What are the new protocols and rules at the pharmacy in recent weeks in regard to Covid-19? Do they change daily or weekly, and if they do, what are the newer protocols/rules?

We receive new official guidelines almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The most important measure was to ensure that our patients and my colleagues were protected. We installed a security distance between us and the customers and between each patient. We try to regulate the people in the pharmacy to be the least possible to make sure the contamination risk is at its lowest. We wash hands with hydroalcoholic gel between each patient and stay at least 1 meter apart. We disinfect the counters and any other surface as often as we can and advise each patient to wash their hands when they go back home. There are other protocols such as the distribution of masks to the healthcare professionals or the distribution of doliprane (reserved to 1 box per customer) that we follow whenever we get notification. These are strange times, and each must adapt. We advise our patients to stay home, only going out for absolute necessity and wash hands regularly, as these are the official guidelines.

How are customers acting when they come to you and what are their most frequent questions and comments?

In general, customers are very responsible and respect the rules. They act kindly towards us and understand that in these special times nothing is the same and they must comply to the new guidelines. I observed that there is a lot of information conveyed by the media that is not exact and people come in asking about that a lot. For example, a lot of customers come in asking for masks while the official information is that we can only distribute them to healthcare professionals. Some come in saying that they heard on TV that if they don’t wear a mask outside, they will be fined, which is not accurate, but they want to have one. This concern is very legitimate, but we are not allowed to sell masks, and some pharmacists have been fined for doing so. We advise the population to cover their mouth and nose with a scarf or handmade mask for now.

What are the most significant things you learned in the past weeks that you didn’t know before?

For me, for all of my colleagues and even for our customers, I think this pandemic is going to teach us that we always need to be careful. Washing our hands regularly should be applied to everyday life, COVID or not. These measures are extreme for the moment, but we should all learn from it, and follow-up after the confinement is over. I had to rethink how I see the pharmacist role in the society, being the first respondent and the closest to the population. We have a very important role to reassure and transmit the official guidelines to all that come see us. With this confinement, there has been a surge of domestic violence, and we have been appointed to listen and care for women or men who come see us that are victims of that violence. It’s very important to always listen to our patients, to take the time to reassure them and care for their wellbeing.

There’s been a great public outpour of respect and appreciation for healthcare workers during the Covid-19 crisis and every night at 8 PM people applaud you from their windows. What’s your reaction to this and how does it make you feel?

I find this gesture important, as I feel it restores the population’s appreciation towards all healthcare workers. We think about doctors mostly, but dentists, pharmacists, nurses, stretcher bearers, care assistants and many others are also very much exposed to the pandemic and work directly with the infected. I hope that in the future this recognition continues, and that everyone who works, closely or from afar, in the healthcare system is appreciated.

Why did you decide to study in France instead of Canada for your pharmacy degree?

I have always travelled between Canada and France. I was born in Canada but came to France for the lycée. After that, I went back to Canada and completed and biomedical sciences degree. Then, I decided to go back to France and try the PACES (first common year of medical studies in France giving access to dental, medical, pharmaceutical, midwife and kinesiological studies), and I got accepted in pharmacy. I always felt an attraction to France, especially Paris, and I knew I wanted to come back here. It was a great opportunity and I enjoy it very much.

What are some of the big differences between pharmacy schooling in France and Canada?

The fields we study are quite different in France and Canada. We have the same knowledge in chemistry and diseases, but in France, there are a lot more classes on plants and natural drugs, as I believe people are much more attracted to homeopathy or naturopathy. The length of the studies is different, the degree is obtained after 4 years in Quebec versus 5 in France. Then both courses can be longer for options or certain specialties (for example working as a hospital pharmacist requires at least one other year of study in France).

How many years does it take to get your degree and what is the curriculum like? What year are you currently in?

I am currently finishing my 3^rd year in pharmacy and in France it takes 5 years to complete the studies. After those 5 years, there is a contest for people wishing to continue on to become a medical biologist or work in a hospital. As for students wishing to work in a dispensary, there is no contest but one more year of specialization to complete. In any case, we have classes about plants and natural drugs, systemic diseases, parasites and microbiology, ethics, public health and many options about specific diseases or systems.

When I saw you the other day at the pharmacy, I asked you why you weren’t wearing gloves. Can you tell me your response again?

I will only speak for myself as all of my colleagues do as they wish concerning gloves. I prefer not to wear some because they are very irritating to the skin when wore too much. The gloves we have are not surgical gloves and are often powdered, and I personally don’t like having them on. Moreover, with gloves I do protect myself, but I’d have to disinfect them between each patient too. If I touch someone’s prescription and it has the virus on it, I’d have to wash my gloved hands before touching the next person’s prescription. With all those considerations in mind, I prefer not to wear gloves, wash my hands with hydroalcoholic gel as often as necessary and mostly wash with water and soap whenever I have the occasion.

Pharmacie du Marais 119 Rue Saint-Antoine, 75004