FIP's contributions to the sharing of expertise and resources in the Pharmacy Profession

FIP's contributions to the sharing of expertise and resources in the Pharmacy Profession

Updated version of an article published in Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (RIPER) PDIC Bulletin, December 2011; 2(17). www.riperjournals.org

Agathe Wehrli

FIP Pharmabridge Coordinator, Geneva, Switzerland

Prepared in collaboration with,

Andreia Bruno, FIPEd Project Coordinator & Researcher, FIP Collaborating Centre, London, UK.

Diane Gal, FIPEd Project Manager, Belgium.

Jennifer L. Marriott, FIPEd Steering Committee, the umbrella directorate for FIP Education

Initiatives, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Australia.

Oliver van der Spek, Manager Marketing & PR, FIP Secretariat, The Hague, Netherlands.

With today’s ease of communication (including networks established within social media like Facebook and Twitter) and travel, contacts between individual pharmacists and pharmacy institutions have boomed and many contribute to the sharing of expertise and resources in the pharmacy profession. What follows is a description of mainly relevant projects of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

FIP Pharmabridge aims to strengthen pharmacy education and services in developing countries with the help of the pharmacy establishment in more affluent countries (www.pharmabridge.org). Pharmabridge has been set up by Agathe Wehrli in 1998 after over thirty years with World Health Organisation (WHO) and she still administers the project. Close to 1650 people have registered with the project so far. Three quarters of them live in the third world and, overall, half of them are engaged either in teaching institutions or in hospital pharmacies.

A core activity is book donations and over the years many books have gone for example, to India, mostly from the US professional associations ASHP1 and APhA2 but also from private publishers and US student chapters. As Indian demand for some pharmacy books is very high, ASHP together with the Pharmacy Council of India have begun to print some ASHP books in India. They were on sale at the FIP Congress in Hyderabad at amazingly low prices3. Depending on the sales other titles may follow4.

The more difficult task is the organization of practice exposure for third world colleagues in practice sites in countries with more advanced pharmacy education and services systems. By the end of May 2013, 56 pharmacists have received 4 weeks practice exposure/training. Most of them are pharmacy teachers and hospital pharmacists, so far from Chile, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, and Peru. The majority went to US University Hospital pharmacies (Michigan, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Texas U, Chapel Hill, California), some to hospitals in Canada and in the UK. Others went to community pharmacies in Finland, UK and US. 24 out of the 56 candidates came from Indian institutions: College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Warangal, A.P., Raghavendra Institute of Pharm. Ed. And Res., Anantpur, A.P., St. Peter’s Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Warangal A.P., Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Ltd, Coimbatore, T.N., Annamalai University, T.N., and JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty, T.N., PSG College of Pharmacy, Coimbatore, T.N., Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Karnataka, Goa College of Pharmacy, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kerala. Those who have been offered Pharmabridge practice exposure are expected to share their experience back home. Reports of initiatives candidates have taken after the visits are very encouraging and demonstrate the incentives such opportunities provide for improving pharmacy education and services. The trainers report that these experiences are equally valuable to them in learning about other cultures and practices and making lifetime friendships. Often contacts are sustained and result in ongoing collaboration. People interested in practice exposure have to register with Pharmabridge and all arrangements have to be made through the latter.

Pharmabridge also sends experts to developing countries for group training in Good Manufacturing Practices or GMP (workshops held in Mongolia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka), and seminars on pharmacotherapeutics and immunization (held in Nepal and Nigeria). US, Canadian and UK pharmacists travelling to Brazil, India, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines and Uganda have also offered lectures, training and consulting services.

FIPEd, the new umbrella directorate for FIP Education Initiatives, is bringing together all of FIP's education actions; strengthening FIP projects and partnerships with the WHO and with UNESCO. FIPEd is comprised by the Academic Institutional Membership (AIM), the Education Development Team and the Academic Pharmacy Section (AcPS). FIPEd has the mission to bring together organisations and leaders who are working to improve health through advancing pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education.  FIPEd works to - stimulate transformational change in professional pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and pharmaceutical education to advance and develop our diverse profession towards meeting present and future health care needs around the world – and to advocate for the use of needs-based strategies where pharmacy education is socially accountable, where practice and science are evidence-based and practitioners have the required competencies to provide the needed services to their communities. The best way to start getting involved with FIPEd is by joining us as an individual member of the FIP Academic Section, as an Academic Institutional Member (for schools or departments of pharmacy).

Individuals can also join the online Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP is an online discussion forum where individuals can view and post documents and resources, take part in discussions and keep informed of events and activities. To join this online discussion group send an email to education@fip.org .

In addition several resources are openly available such as: - the Pharmacy Education Journal, an open access online format, for pharmaceutical education (http://pharmacyeducation.fip.org) offers an opportunity for educationalists to publish articles on innovations in teaching and learning methods, guidance on structuring courses and assessing achievement, and the dissemination of new ideas; - the 2012 FIP Global Pharmacy Workforce Report (www.fip.org/humanresources) with data from 90 countries and 9 case studies on pharmaceutical human resource developments.

The UNITWIN Global Pharmacy Education Development (G-PhED) Network was officially launched in Lisbon in 2010. This UNITWIN collaboration is the first ever in the field of higher education for health professionals and the first for global pharmaceutical education. In bringing together pharmacy schools from all regions of the world with UNESCO and FIP, the UNITWIN Network in Global Pharmacy Education Development (GPhEd) will enable development in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education and improve communication for scientific innovation, healthcare outcomes, and ultimately, the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  The Unitwin programme is developing two sites for sharing resources to further pharmacy education and practice. SABER (Sharing and Building Educational resources) is a site for the global community of pharmacy educators to freely share resources across all discipline areas (http://www.saber.monash.edu).  The SABER community offers the opportunity to discover, contribute and collaborate with like-minded educators committed to a shared practice philosophy and represents the collective commitment to improving pharmacy education internationally. Monash University (Australia) provides the resources for this platform, as a collaborative partner with GPhED UNITWIN.  Pharmapedia (www.phip.org | Additional information: www.pharmahost.org) is an online peer-reviewed pharmaceutical knowledge and expertise repository. It brings together and facilitates an exchange of knowledge, expertise and ideas among pharmacy practitioners in all areas of practice. Pharmapedia provides access to basic and advanced pharmacy and medicines management information, written by practitioners for practitioners.

More information is available on www.fip.org/education.

The FIP Academic Institutional Membership (AIM) is a Membership that allows Faculties and Schools of Pharmacy to become inter-connected on a global platform of discussion, leadership and shared challenges and successes. The FIP AIM focuses on the parallel evolution of Faculties and Schools of Pharmacy alongside the ongoing changes in pharmacy practice, science, research and their respective funding. All Faculties and Schools of Pharmacy from around the world are welcome to apply for FIP AIM and become part of this growing, international network. These Academic Institutes are represented by their Deans, Vice Deans and other Decision Makers within AIM activities such as online discussion platforms and the annual International Dean’s Forum at the FIP Congress.

This past year the 72nd FIP Congress in Amsterdam welcomed the third FIP AIM Deans Forum, where over 50 Deans came together to discuss their experiences, views and opinions on topics such as: ‘Achieving excellence in global pharmacy education to meet the needs of society’, ‘Interprofessional education’ and ‘Success in pharmacy education and social accountability’. The programme for the fourth AIM Deans Forum during the Dublin FIP Congress of 2013 (31 August – 1 September) is already underway with topics such as ‘Patient safety: From a safe pharmacist to a safe healthcare team’, ‘Applying competencies to pharmacy education’, ‘Ensuring better patient health: Measuring the impact of our graduates’ and ‘Developing AIM: linking education across FIP’. These topics will be further explored with the purpose of aiding Deans of schools/faculties of pharmacy to foster the growth of their academic institute.

E-Drug, an interesting network  (http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug/): Spreading vital information around the world, E-DRUG is the English version of SATELLIFE's electronic discussion groups on essential drugs. E-DRUG is used by health care professionals, researchers and policy makers to obtain and discuss current information on essential drugs, policy, program activities, education and training. Members also use E-DRUG to announce and learn of upcoming conferences or courses in their field.

All the above enable pharmacists from developing countries to learn about, and take advantage of pharmacy education and practices in affluent and more advanced developing countries. They can actively participate in discussion forums and the various options all foster exchange of information and North/South and South/South collaboration.

1 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists

2 American Pharmacists Association

3 Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 5th edition

Compounding Sterile Preparations, 3rd edition

Introduction to Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy

Basic Skills in Interpreting Laboratory Data, 4^th edition

4 Pocket Guide to Accompany Handbook on Injectable

Drugs

Basic Skills in Interpreting Laboratory Data, 4e