SAAHIP KZN COASTAL
NEWSLETTERApril 1998
SAAHIP KZN COASTAL
NEWSLETTER
April 1998
| Batho Pele – What does it mean to Pharmacy?
SAAHIP/Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmacist of the Year 1999 SAAHIP National Conference |
Batho Pele – What does it mean to Pharmacy? Wendy Grosvenor The conference theme "Batho Pele – what does it mean to pharmacy?" challenges all SAAHIP members. The deliberations and poster and podium presentations illustrated how successful hospital and institutional pharmacists are in putting people, the patient, first. There were many interesting presentations and discussions from different bodies and organisations. Mr Bada Pharasi (Chief Director – Registration, Regulation and Procurement, Department of Health) spoke about the Department of Health’s vision for the future of pharmacy and the regulations and proposed changes to the Act. Dr L van der Merwe (Deputy Director: Head of Pharmaceutical Services, Gauteng Provincial Government) spoke on the Level of Pharmaceutical Services. It was very interesting to hear Professor van der Walt (President of the South African Pharmacy Council) speaking on the direction in which Council sees Pharmacy going, and what they forsee for the future training of pharmacists, interns and pharmacists’ assistants. The issue of pharmacy education and training and pharmacy practice was discusses in greater detail by Mr L Chrsistodolou (SAPC department: professional development) and Driekie Hattingh (SAPC department: Professional development). All the above speakers gave those who attended Conference 98 and insight into the direction in which pharmacy (and more especially hospital and institutional pharmacy) is likely to head. Together, the speakers, academic presentations, motions and portfolio presentations all served to emphasize the increasingly important role the pharmacist has to play in the provision of healthcare for and to all the people of South Africa – Batho Pele!
Beverley Phillips Thursday evening’s theme was "In to Africa" sponsored by Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Guests were welcomed into the reception "boma" and Marquee by three energetic tribal dancers. Delegates interpreted the "In to Africa" theme in many creative ways, some wearing Cape Carnival costumes, traditional African tribal dress or pith helmets amongst many other imaginative garments. The food display was magnificent with traditional African cooking pots, spears and shields, some traditional South African cuisine and a lamb on the spit. Dinner was followed dancing and everyone had a brilliant evening. On Friday night a magnificent banquet was hosted by
Boehringer-Ingelheim in the beautifully Saturday night’s Gala Banquet, "A Night at The Oscars", hosted by Pharmacare was an outstanding finale to the conference. The marque decorations were stunning and admired by everyone. After the Poster and Presentations awards, The inauguration of Andy Gray as the new SAAHIP President and an excellent banquet, delegates again took to the dance floor with great energy and partied into the early hours of Saturday morning. Again a fantastic evening was had by everyone.
Pharmacists who are members of SAAHIP and in current practice in the field of hospital or institutional pharmacy are eligible for the award. The award will be based on excellence of work in any field of hospital and institutional pharmacy practice that has made a difference to hospital and institutional pharmacy and/or to patient care. The work must already be in progress and may be a clinical service, a patient care service, a management system, a support system, an instrument or tool. Any of the former may not necessarily be a total novel idea, but would have been established or developed by the nominees in their own environment. Innovation would cover new practice standards, new policies or new training approaches or maintaining work in progress or service at an exceptional standard. The year’s finalists were:
The winner of the 1998 Pharmacist of the Year award was Elvera Helberg. We are very proud to announce that Rubin Moss was the runner up.
Podium presentations Role of the pharmacist in nursing care in a paediatric high care ward Drug reconsitution and administration is a highly responsible task undertaken by the nurses in the wards. The accuracy with which this is done is of greater significance in the paediatric wards where the doses administered are smaller. This task is ocmpounded by the fact that the strength in which most drugs are available are more suitable for adult dosing. Having worked in a paediatric high care ward for a considerable time period, I have found it necessary to shift the focus of the pharmacist relationship to nurse-pharmacist thereby becoming more involved in direct patient care. The aim of the study was to ascertain the knowledge of nursing staff in a paediatric high care ward w.r.t dose calculation, drug administration and stability of medication, and to ascertain the need for continuing education of the nursing staff so as to improve patient care. The study was conducted as a positive study with the study group comprising both enrolled and professional nurses. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire which comprised two sections. Firstly a series of open ended questions to gauge the opinion of nursing staff to problems experienced in the ward. Secondly, a series of drug calculations identical to those appearing on the prescriptions in the ward. It was interesting to note that the most popular source of information used by the nurses in the ward, is a package insert. The nurses did express the need for more information on drug reconstitution and stability. There also exists difficulty in the drug calculation, which is of greater significance with drugs that have a narrow therapeutic range, eg. Aminophylline and digoxin. The outcome of my study was to initiate and maintain a continuing education programme in the ward. There exists in the ward a dire need for a closer and more intense working relationship between the ward pharmacist and the nursing staff. Poster presentation The poster that I presented at the conference was titled the "Screening of Oncology chemotherapy prescriptions". This study highlighted the importance of the screening function of pharmacists involved in oncology chemotherapy. The following were some of the results obtained: - Twelve different types of errors or omissions were identified and the largest category related to incorrect or incomplete protocols being written up (35.62 % of the errors or omissions). Dosages calculated incorrectly based on correct body surface area determinations accounted for 10.62 % of the errors (three of these errors involved prescriptions where doctors had exceeded the maximum recommended dosages). Incorrect calculations of body surface area accounted for an additional 9.38 % of these errors. The total number of errors and omissions recorded was 160 (average of 13 per month), i.e., 4.2 % of the prescriptions screened contained errors or omissions. The results of this study highlighted the importance of the screening function of the hospital pharmacists involved in the supply of oncology chemotherapeutic agents.
The Pharmacare award aims to promote and encourage hospital pharmacists to document their daily interventions in the form of case studies. The documented case study should demonstrate a pharmacist’s ability to identify a patient’s drug related problems, the resultant pharmacists’ intervention, thus demonstrating the application of principles of pharmaceutical care. Only SAAHIP members are eligible for the award. The winner of the 1998 Pharmacare award received a gold medal plus R 4 000. The runner up received R 1 000. This year’s winner was Katie Harries, while the runner-up was Ashwanth Singh. We are very proud as both these people are SAAHIP KZN Coastal members.
Web site - http://www.saahip.org.za Candy Day " A book that the BMJ published in 1990 on the future of medical journals made no mention of the Internet… Today we launch the eBMJ, an electronic version of the journal that includes not only the full text of everything published in the paper version but also begins to use the remarkable capabilities of the Internet. The future is coming so fast that it’s more difficult than ever to know where it will lead." (Electronic, international, and ready for anything. BMJ 1998;316. http://www.bmj.com) SAAHIP’s aspirations may not be quite this ambitious, but certainly emergent technology should be harnessed where this can be of benefit to the membership. The web site serves many functions: amongst others providing an international face for the association, contact details, activities, policy documentation, SAAHIP conference information and we hope to add more content of interest. The national electronic mail (email) list is a practical way to keep the membership updated, a rapid means to elicit response and discussion, and a conduit for the EXEC and branches to encourage wider participation of the membership. To promote and guide the use of the Internet as an invaluable tool for pharmacists in all sectors, the monthly "Net News" articles in the SAPJ have attempted to bring some order to the anarchy and plethora of information out there. It is accepted that information technology will fundamentally alter the health care system of the future, while at the same time health professionals need to be aware of the sober reality that inequities in access to technology will increase inequities in quality of health care. (JAMA 19/11/97 http://www.ama-assn.org/public/journals/jama/jamahome.htm) A parting perspective: "the Internet has become a most inviting and intriguing neighbourhood…But what a price! Simply keeping track of this electronic neighbourhood takes a couple of hours every night… Perhaps our networked world isn’t a universal doorway to freedom. Might it be a distraction from reality?" (Stoll C. Silicon Snake Oil: Second thoughts on the Information Highway) It will evolve and develop. But it is not going to go away. Ignore it for as long as you can, or make it work for you!
Carolyn Rochat (natalnbi@iafrica.com) KZN Coastal branch has been afforded the pleasure of hosting the 1999 SAAHIP National Conference. We have already secured the Alpine Heath resort and Conference Village for the 25-28 March 1999. Your organising committee (see below) is already hard at work to ensure that this conference will be a success. Since we value the input of our members, we would request that any ideas you might have for the conference be forwarded to Carolyn Rochat. You can be kept updated as to how the plans are progressing by visiting SAAHIP’s web site at http://www.saahip.org.za/. The conference committee is as follows:
 Contact Details for Committee
members:
Forthcoming Events
28 May CE Skin Cancer Entabeni 17.45 Frank Kimble 5 June General Meeting Pharmacy House Convatec To be confirmed Stomatherapy |
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decorated marque, the theme of the evening being
"The Night of The Stars". Dress ranged from elegant classical black to
characters of Hollywood, with "Laurel and Hardy", "Survivors of the
Titanic" and "Men in Black" stealing the show. After the wonderful buffet
dinner and the presentation of the Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmacist of the Year Award
delegates again danced the night away and had tremendous fun.