crystal(yim(201302014( … adherence* and* counselling* for* pharmacy* personnel!manual! and! month...
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Crystal Yim 2013-2014 Access to medicines and their rational Use Pharmaceutical Program Officer Nairobi, Kenya
As the Access to and Rational Use of Medicines Pharmaceutical Program Officer I worked with the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) to ensure the reliable supply of high quality and affordable pharmaceuticals for communities in need. EPN is a Christian, not for profit, independent organization committed to the provision of quality pharmaceutical services as a means to achieving global and national goals and targets on health and access to medicines. EPN supports the implementation of National Medicines Policies. EPN is a worldwide network of associations, institutions, and individuals who have an interest or are involved in the delivery of just and compassionate quality pharmaceutical services. Within the first month of my assignment, we travelled from Nairobi to Arusha in Tanzania where we worked with a local member organization to develop the survey and train data collectors for the Tanzanian Essential Children’s Medicines study. The objectives of this study were to determine the availability and pricing of selected children’s medicines including antiretrovirals (ARVs), to describe facility-‐level practices that affect access to medicines and to document the opinions of health facility professionals regarding barriers to access. This was the main project I was involved with for my 6 month placement with EPN. Other activities included: working with counterparts on East African Pooled procurement initiatives, development of informed consent forms, conducting a survey regarding hospital pharmacy attitudes towards continuing professional development, investigating treatment barriers for patients living with HIV, writing proposals for Rational Use of Medicines drug utilisation evaluations at faith based hospitals and helping counterparts to apply for conference scholarships and funding proposals. Investigating HIV treatment barriers with the Mbone Ngwone
HIV Positive Support Group The EPN team at the annual EPN forum.
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A typical outpatient hospital pharmacy in Kenya
What we discovered on my first visit to a Tanzanian dispensary storeroom …
As a Pharmacy Technical Officer I worked with Gold Star Kenya to strengthen the capacity of their Pharmacy team for the remaining 6 months of my assignment in Kenya. Gold Star Kenya provides quality and evident based interventions for improved health outcomes through internal expertise and strategic public and private partnerships. Gold Star Kenya mobilises resources from public and private sources to manage programs and projects that, expand access to comprehensive and integrated high quality HIV prevention, care, treatment and support services and promotes the adoption and practice of high impact service delivery interventions and innovations to facilitate the scale-‐up of best practices that address and common health conditions of the public health interest in Kenya. I worked closely with my pharmacist counterpart and two pharmacy technicians to develop a Medication Adherence and Counselling for Pharmacy Personnel manual and month long pilot training course. The manual comprised 5 modules from the introduction to antiretroviral medications through to using pharmacy counselling techniques and reporting adverse drug reactions. The sixteen pharmacy participants used the manual to successfully complete the 4 week pilot course. The course consisted of two training days one at the beginning and at the end with weekly MCQs and Case studies to be completed over 4 weeks. A facilitator’s manual was produced to ensure my counterparts were able to continue to provide trainings in Eastern and Western Kenya.
The successful pharmacy participants of the Medication Adherence and Counselling course – May 2014. Other activities included the development of SOPs for laboratory test processing, strengthening relationships between Government and private laboratories and Gold Star Kenya and helping the office and program assistants to increase their computer skills and document editing abilities. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent as a volunteer pharmacist in Kenya. The work was different to any job I had in Australia and I found the entire experience extremely rewarding both professionally and personally. The aspect I liked most was passing on my skills and experience as a pharmacist to help pharmacy personnel increase their knowledge so they are able to help improve the health of their local communities. I especially enjoyed learning from others and forming relationships with not only those I worked with but also those I became friends with in Kenya.
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