ICHP Welcomes Pharmacy Delegation from the Republic of Kenya

by Maggie Allen, Director of Operations
June 17, 2010

ICHP staff welcomed a delegation from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board for the Republic of Kenya this past February 24 at the Loves Park headquarters as part of a Kenyan research and fact finding trip to the United States. The delegation included Dr. Ronald M. Inyangala, Assistant Chief Pharmacist, Head CPD - Division, of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board; and Dr. Wilberforce Kariuki Gachoki, Pharmacist, Pharmacy and Poisons Board.

Michael Rouse, Assistant Executive Director of International and Professional Affairs for ACPE, brought the delegation, and ACPE intern and PharmD student, Diana Zadorskaya (of Russia) to ICHP headquarters in Loves Park to review our procedures as an ACPE accredited continuing pharmacy education (CPE) provider.

The impetus for this trip came from a Kenyan Act of Parliament which directed the Minister of Health to develop continuing education programs for all the professions in Kenya. Drs. Inyangala and Gachoki are responsible for developing this program for pharmacists. They contacted ACPE to learn more about what is involved in implementing a fully-accredited CPE program, and ACPE in turn selected ICHP to meet with the delegation, based on our solid record of administrative oversight and excellence in educational programming.

Trish Wegner and I met with the delegation for the afternoon and provided examples and documentation of our various education programs, processes, procedures and systems. The delegation had questions on our communications with ACPE as a provider of CPE; the preparation of an application for accreditation / reaccreditation; and the identification and selection of quality faculty. We discussed needs assessments and how the learning needs of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are determined, including the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program that we have been implementing at our statewide meetings this year as an example of self-direction in recognizing individual educational needs.

In addition, we provided an in-depth review of the life of a continuing pharmacy education program. We covered the steps involved beginning with the initial education concept, the search for funding including the grant application process in the US, the review and approvals of learning objectives, submitting the program to ACPE, providing content oversight, the logistics of live and online meetings, and we concluded with sharing our final evaluation summary and report to ACPE. We also explored our database structure for maintaining CPE records.

The delegation drove here from Chicago, where they had met with ACPE staff, so they had an opportunity to see a little bit of the Illinois countryside on the way to Loves Park and also enjoyed lunch at a favorite local restaurant, Mary’s Market.

Although Scott Meyers was in Springfield on legislative business for the day, all the rest of the ICHP staff had a good time meeting the delegation and giving them a tour of our offices.

Not only did we have a great experience meeting with pharmacists from another country and learning about the challenges they face, we also are very proud of the fact that in some small way, ICHP’s example will help the profession of pharmacy in Kenya. We all felt our mission deeply that day - advancing excellence in the practice of pharmacy - on a global scale!

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