142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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311918
Delineating pharmacy processes in Haiti

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Meghana V. Aruru, PhD, MBA, B.Pharm , Department of Clinical, Administrative and Social Sciences, Roosevelt University College of Pharmacy, Schaumburg, IL
Cara Brock, PharmD, CGP , College of Pharmacy, ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY, Schaumburg, IL
Connor Reilly, BSBA (cand) , College of Arts and Sciences, ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY, Chicago, IL
Jack Warren Salmon, PhD , Health Policy and Administration, University Of Illinois-Chicago, River Forest, IL
Haiti's 2010 earthquake led to tremendous loss of life and human suffering. Since 2010, many NGO’s, humanitarian and medical mission groups rushed to aid and rescue disaster victoms. Several clinics and hospitals began to hire and train Haitian doctors and nurses. However, pharmacists in Haiti remain elusive. Pharmacy as a profession is not well recognized in Haiti. This study evaluated pharmacy processes across Northern Haiti.  A 3 member interdisciplinary team travelled to 6 clinics and 2 hospitals. PCurrent pharmacy practice does not often involve trained pharmacists or technicians. This study identified pharmacy issues as follows – Inventory management, Patient communications and Workplace Logistics. Currently sites manage their inventories manually with extensive paper records. This is problematic since medical teams visit multiple times and it is challenging to identify and effectively manage large inventories. Patient communications are challenging culturally, patients expect such communications to occur with physicians. However the ground reality suggests that physicians are unable to take the time to communicate medication instructions to patients. Patients see a technician to procure their medications and receive instructions. Technicians in the pharmacy are largely untrained which is problematic for appropriate patient communications. Patients have questionable literacy and providing written instructions may not work. Workplace logistics included Drug information resources, Point of care testing kits, Waste management, Handling and distribution of liquids among others. Haiti is a unique country where pharmacy is not well-established. There are significant process issues and challenges that need to be addressed to provide meaningful care in the long-run.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify and explain pharmacy processes in Northern Haiti Discuss strategies for improving and strengthening pharmacy processes in Northern Haiti

Keyword(s): International Health, Health Systems Transformation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been involved in global health research for the past 8 years. I have taught, researched and disseminated my work at various venues. I have worked in the area of systems improvement to develop low-cost, workable solutions for resource constrained settings.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.