As followup to our 2-day DUR Workshop, we invited the hospital pharmacists back to present their DUR analyses. My role was to be the 'expert' commentator. One problem - the presentations were in Thai! But that did not stop me from commenting - I understand more Thai than I can speak, and many of the technical language/words are English (or close to it). So they listened to my comments, and sometimes, they were relevant (sometimes not, but they were probably too polite to let me know). It was fun, and the pharmacists did a great job developing DUR criteria, analyzing their pharmacy claims data and presenting the results. This is a first step to building a multi-hospital database of drug use data that we can use to describe and study rational drug use across Thailand. We have quite a bit of work to do!
The Fulbright Regional Enrichment Conference was held in KL, Malaysia March 12-14. This was a nice treat - the opportunity to meet other Fulbright Senior Scholars and Fulbright Fellows (what a bright group of people!!!); learning about Malaysian culture and society (see me dancing?? - I am the one in the blue shirt); and having 2days in a 5-star hotel (TV, no insects, no mice, and the usual amenities). Some of the topics covered in the panel sessions: "The Role of the Arts in Modern Southease Asia"; "Issues in Public Health"; "The Changing Asian City: Urbanization, Migration and the Environment at Risk".
Before the Fulbright meeting, I was invited to the University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Faculty of Pharmacy to give a talk. Of course, there was lunch, gifts, and hospitality. My host even provided me with a Malaysian SIM card for my cell phone!
This weekend I finally realized the value and impact of the Fulbright Program. I strongly encourage young people to apply - the experience will broaden your global perspective and your host country will benefit from your wisdom.
Although we went to Laos primarily to see the waterfalls, we visited several pharmacies in Pakse, Laos. In the market area, there were about a half dozen pharmacies right in a row. These were outdoor market stalls, and I am pretty sure I did not meet any pharmacists. Like in Thailand, many drugs are sold without prescription. We bought antibiotics, herbal remedies, cardiovascular drugs, and others. Narcotics were not available.
We took a trip to Ubon Ratchathani Province to visit hospitals and pharmacies. The hospital pharmacy has centralized inpatient and outpatient services, some mail order, and patient counseling. The community pharmacies sell many drugs without a prescription. The pharmacist we met owns two pharmacies on the same block. And of course there was a dog in the back room.
I can't believe the last month of my visit is here already! It's been nonstop with traveling in central Thailand. A group of graduate students (and one recent graduate that I've known for several years) took me to Korat--they were wonderful tour guides! It was fun interacting with them outside of the more formal classroom/university environment.
I also had the opportunity to visit Silpakorn University in Nakhon-Pathom Province, and met with Dean Jurairat Nunthanid and several faculty. Dean Jurairat just became Dean a few months ago. This is a relatively new Faculty of Pharmacy, with the first BS(Pharmacy) class graduating in 1991 with 26 students. In addition to the BS program, they have a MS in Heaalth System Management (70 students), a PhD in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (8 students), MS in Consumer Protection (day and weekend program) and MS in Pharmaceutical Management in collaboration with 2 other universities.
No, I didn't eat there. It is very fancy and quite crowded at 11pm. Many students were there studying - it is examination week.
So just in case anyone thinks it is all fun, or that I am just have lazy dog day afternoons, I thought I would share with you some of the activities of the past week:
--Met with DUR workshop faculty planning group to plan (Yupadee, Yupapan, Aurawan, Niyada, some students) --Worked on workshop handouts and articles --Attended Chula Social Research graduate program student seminar, collected co-trimoxazole samples for Dr. Sheth's project (graduate students volunteered to shop pharmacies). --Attended viewing of “Children of the Dark” film at Foreign Correspondents Club. This film was produced in Japan and is a docudrama about child exploitation in Thailand - due to the sensitive content the film was banned from the Bangkok International Film Festival this year. See http://facthai.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/children-of-the-dark-ban-at-bkkiff-thai-film-journal/ for more information. --Met with Tim from Kenya – he is neighbor at my apartment building Vidhayanives and wants to study peace and conflict resolution in the US --Met with Prof. Niyada and Bruce Ravesloot from Raks Thai (Care Thailand) to discuss antibiotic resistance --Assembled outline of potential collaborative research topics and set up meeting to discuss with Drs. Niyada, Vithaya and Yupadee but meeting got cancelled. Prof. Niyada and I decided to pursue HIV/AIDS in the elderly, a growing concern. --Spent Friday at Thammasat University lecturing medical students (3 hours) on pharmacoepidemiology (thank you, Dr. Weiss!!); also observed a class that used clinical case format --Was asked to prepare and deliver talk on P3 program to the Thai Pharmacy Council on Sunday – this talk was very well received and was part of their report and recommendations. Dr. Rodriguez de Bittner and Dr. Lee - thank you for sharing the slides - the group leader was enamored with the program and has already created a 'Thai version' of P3 - but they want to call it P4 - the 4th 'P' is for 'Poor.'!! They may contact you. BUT...most all of these meetings/events are accompanied by Thai food!
It was a great day at Naresuan University last week. Naresuan University is located in Phitsanulok, Thailand, about a 40 minute flight from Bangkok. The University was named after King Naresuan the Great. It was established as a public university in 1990.
I was the 'Plenary Speaker' for the launch of their Center on Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research - see the 3rd page of the press release (1st pages are in Thai)
