Pharm. Modupe Oyawole, a clinical pharmacist and deputy director of Pharmacy Department, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), has called for more training for pharmacists in medical specialties in order to bridge knowledge gap in this area and to achieve better treatment outcomes for patients.
Pharm. Oyawole, who recently had a clinical training on Nephrology and Transplant Pharmacy at the University of Chicago, Illinois, under the auspices of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) as a member, revealed the shortfall of specialised pharmacists in this area, which is not in favour of hospitals or patients.
“Definitely, this is the way to go because a lot of pharmacists are needed to manage effectively the medications used in the different medical specialities and emerging diseases”, she asserted.
Speaking on the steps to be taken for pharmacists to embrace this trend in the country, Oyawole, who spoke with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview, said there is need for education, advocacy and sensitization of pharmacists, especially those in the clinical setting to aspire and take up the challenge, for the benefits of the patients and upgrading of knowledge of pharmacists.
Citing her institution as an example of steps to be taken by individual pharmacists, she said she has commenced a train – the – trainer programme, to disseminate knowledge and information to help establish an advanced and robust Pharmacotherapeutic management of patients.
Narrating the motive for her decision to embark on the training, she said having been with the transplant team for a while, she realised that the anti-rejection drugs which is the main stay of post transplant management along with other medications use are highly specialised medications that require pharmaceutical expertise to ensure desired treatment outcomes, thus, she decided to seek for more expert knowledge in this field .
On completing the programme, she highlighted the knowledge she has acquired to include: How to maximise therapy of immunosuppressant in transplant patients; How to do medication reconciliation in transplant patients; The role of pharmacists in the management of patients with kidney disease; How to select appropriate immunosuppressants for transplant patients; The difference between deceased donor and living donor; and How to make informed and evidenced based intervention in multidisciplinary clinical setting.
As one of the newly invested Fellows of the PSN, Oyawole expressed deep gratitude to the Society for the honour, pledging to use the opportunity to motivate and inspire others in the following areas: Enhance evidence based clinical practice, encourage and help develop hospital pharmacists interest in area of specialisation through workshops, seminars, collaboration with technical bodies like Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, as well as West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacists etc, promote data collection and documentation from clinical activities to improve research and timely studies so as to contribute to effective policy decisions, and others.
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