Dear IPSF APRO readers, My name is Brian and I am the Editor in Chief of the IPSF Asia-Pacific Regional Office. I am proud to present to you the first APRO newsletter of this term. Let me introduce myself. I have recently graduated from my pharmacy school at the University of Otago, New Zealand last December and am currently working as an intern pharmacist in Queenstown, a famous tourist location in New Zealand and Australia. I started getting involved in IPSF as a Design and Creativity Committee member and attended my first IPSF event, IPSF Asia-Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium 2014, in Malaysia the same year. Getting involved in IPSF has definitely broadened my horizons and shown me how different we, pharmacy students from different countries and different pharmacy systems, can be even though we learn similar pharmaceutical basic knowledge. The Asia-Pacific region is a diverse region, where more than 8 languages are used to teach pharmacy. Each country has their own unique pharmaceutical systems and the Asia-Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium is a golden opportunity to learn about others. Furthermore, I am glad I have had the opportunity to be part of IPSF APRO, a place where we can work with other elite pharmacy students in the region to make this pharmaceutical society better. The aim of this newsletter is to share the latest updates and some interesting topics of our region as well as some IPSF participants’ experiences to all of our readers. The Student Exchange Programme is popular in the Asia-Pacific region and it is great to see students able to participate in other regions and get a taste of the pharmaceutical world in different regions. This is a must-read newsletter if you would like to know what is happening around the Asia-Pacific Region. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the newsletter starting with the writers, the editorial and translation committee, the design committee and everyone who has contributed to this newsletter! Viva la Pharmacie, Brian
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This year IPSF APRO is going to create three public health street campaigns throughout the year which based on the topics of antimicrobial resistance, diabetes and no smoking. The aims is to expand our knowledge and awareness to the public and to provide opportunities for all pharmacy students to interact with their communities through educating the public with a certain topics and step closer to their role as a pharmacist.
The first public health street campaign is called “AMR fighter”.
Antimicrobial resistance is the resistance of a microorganism to an antimicrobial drug that was originally effective for treatment of infections caused by it. It has been highlighted as one of our biggest health related issues recognized worldwide. The problem is rapidly increasing, especially among South-East Asia countries.
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Therefore, it is important that the health care professionals and members of the public are aware of and fight against the resistance. IPSF APRO comes up with an idea to spread around the knowledge of misused in antibiotics to the public under the theme of “AMR fighter”. We would like to educate the community with a better understanding of advantages and disadvantages in using antibiotic drugs and also provide the alternative choices for curing such diseases. The most common disease in misuse of antibiotics is a common cold. People who get cough and sore throat is familiar with asking for antibiotics without notice that more than 80% of the illness is caused by viruses, and the antibiotics which specifically act to destroy the bacteria could not cure the disease. The common cold sometimes is self-limiting after few days of rest and lots of clean water.
The antibiotics not only have no effect to the infected viruses, but also strengthen the organism strain which further develop a drug resistance! This also the way to waste your money and may lead you to an experience of drug allergy. This problem requires collaborations among health care professionals and the public. To reduce the rate of resistance, WHO suggests people to help by; 1. Hand washing, and avoiding close contact with sick people to prevent transmission 2. Getting vaccinated, and keeping vaccinations up to date; 3. Using antimicrobial drugs only when they are prescribed by a certified health professional; 4. Completing the full treatment course, even if you feel better; 5. Never sharing antimicrobial drugs with others or use leftover prescriptions.
It is a good chance for pharmacy students to adapt their knowledge and skills to implement activities into the public. The campaign will consist of education posters, take home brochures, flu kits corner, video presentation, photo booth and fun activities to build up a power of fighter! to slow down the rate of resistance. For more information about AMR: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/
On the other hand, pharmacists have a role to promote the infection prevention and control. Keep in mind that, only prescribing and dispensing the antibiotics only when needed and choose the right drugs with the suspected diseases. The “AMR fighter� would be a street campaign that helps in education and raising the awareness within the community.
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One thing we should know about pharmacists is they are multi-talented. Today’s pharmacists have numerous career options. Pharmacists have used their clinical knowledge in different areas, including hospitals and community pharmacies. However, there are also many other areas that give pharmacists another opportunity to apply their skills within the pharmaceutical industry. We cannot separate the fact that medicine that we are consuming today are products from pharmaceutical industry. Also, in order to ensure that the medicine is safe for the patient, that is the responsibility of the pharmacist. Medicines have existed since the dawn of human civilization. The first pharmaceutical company was built in Germany in the 1880s and more recently in the U.S. and England, working together with academic labs. Drug manufacturers have successful-
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ly made discoveries of potential drugs and turned them into successful products. In the past 10 years alone, over 300 medicines have been approved. In developing countries, generic drug manufacturers provide many patients with nonpatented drugs; such as, in India, China, and Brazil. The international pharmaceutical industry manufactures and distributes many drugs, displays generosity in its philanthropic activities, and has an important role in maintaining the manufacture standards. Now, let us talk about one of pharmacist’s important roles in pharmaceutical industry. Industrial pharmacist works to discover, manufacture, and supply medicines to the people. Pharmacists work with chemists, scientists, bio scientists, doctors, and others in a team. Pharmacists choose and develop drug compounds (active and addition ingredient) which have good therapeutic effects. Then select
form, route of administration, including the drugs packaging. Before, industry starts producing the drug to the pharmacists, then the pharmacists will do a research to make sure that their selection is the best selection. They test the drug compounds to know their stability. After that, they create nd modify some formulations to make them better, and also ensuring the drugs safety and quality. So, pharmacists in Pharmaceutical Industry test the drug within pre-clinical trials and clinical trials as well. Dra. Ninung Murtini Apt., as R&D Manager at PT. Phapros Indonesia also an ISPE Industry Advisor (Indonesia Affiliate DIY-JATENG) said, “Good manufacture process (GMP) implementation does not deviate from the original method, the drugs or products produced by these industries are surely safe. Because the main purposes of cGMP products must include quality, safety and efficacy.” Pharmacists are involved in the manufacturing process of approved medicines and quality checking process, and they approve each batch of medicine before it is released to the market. Believe it or not, the Pharmaceutical Industries are playing important roles in maintaining the good healthcare system. “And the role of pharmacists in the pharmaceutical industry has become very essential as a personal key and the person in charge of production, quality control and quality assurance” said Dra. Ninung Murtini, Apt. Starting from developing new drugs, providing medicines and vaccines, and also distributing the medicines to different healthcare facilities. So, by working in pharmaceutical industry, making sure the safety and requirement of the medicine to improve the patient outcome, we, as pharmacists are also taking a great part
in contributing the development of a good healthcare system. Although these drugs have met the criteria of safety, quality and efficacy, the misuse of drugs will also cause patients become sicker not healthier. How do Pharmaceutical Industries prevent that? “To prevent the misuse of the drugs, the information of the drugs must be delivered via Mailing or Brochure, also presentations need to be delivered to Professors, Doctors, Head of Pharmaceutical Installation in a hospital, and the Owners or Pharmacists in charge of a Pharmacy. Giving this information to medical representatives will also help us delivering drugs information to patients,” said Randy Richardo, S. Farm., Apt. an Associate Product Manager in PT. Dexa Medica, Indonesia. Therefore, pharmacists have a very important role, starts from the beginning of the manufacturing process of the drug until the medicine gets into the hands of the patients to make them become healthier. And the most important question is, are you proud to be a pharmacist?
Special thanks to: 1. Dra. Ninung Murtini Apt.; ISPE Industry Advisor (Indonesia Affiliate DIYJATENG) and R&D Manager at PT. Phapros, Indonesia. 2. Randy Richardo, S.Farm., Apt.; Associate Product Manager in PT. Dexa Medica, Indonesia.
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My name is Kanyaphak Maitachk (Lukmai), a 4th year student from the faculty of Pharmaceutical Science at Khon Kaen University, Thailand, and I was the Advanced level winner of the Patient counselling event (PCE) competition in the 14th Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) 2015 at Pattaya, Thailand. I am extremely honored to be receiving such an important award of Patient Counseling Event (PCE) as the winner of the advanced level this year. It’s such an honor to be a part of the APPS 2015 and be able to join the competition in my third year of joining the APPS and as well as my second winning of the PCE competition, since I won the competition of PCE beginner at APPS2013 in Japan. I would like to share some experiences and some tips of how to improve in Patient Counselling Skills. These winnings are the good step of my life to get closer to my future career as a good pharmacist in the coming years. As a pharmacy student, I try to learn and gain the experience to become a good pharmacists. Patient counseling event competition is the good way to utilise knowledge from university in the real practice.
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Stop thinking that you cannot do it, think positive and believe in yourself that you can do it and make it happen. For myself, I took off my fear and try to accept any opportunities in my life. English might be one of the biggest barriers to some nonÂ-native speakers but the more you practice, the better you become. Do not fear to make mistakes because every mistake will give you an opportunity to learn.
Start to try something new in order to get more experiences. You can start by joining any competition at your university to gain the skills to improve yourself, then step up to a bigger competition. For myself, I also started from the competition at my university and a that time I didn’t win it, but the experiences and advices that I received help me to improve and motivate myself.
As a pharmacy student and also as a (soon-to be) pharmacist, we can’t stop learning and motivating ourselves. As today, our world consists of new technologies which are new therapies and new medicine will come out every single day, we need to actively update our knowledge by becoming active learners, and provide the best choce to the treatment for patients.
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I really liked the tours during the weekends. Indeed, I went to many places like Bogor where I visited the safari, to Kawah Putih the White Crater where I was feeling like Indiana Jones (or maybe Indonesian Jones). I also went to the Pinus forest in Bandung where I visited the caves where people were hiding during world war. I finished my stay in Indonesia by going to Bali where I surfed for the first time, which was an amazing experience. I also did sea walking in Nusa Dua. I visited Uluwatu Temple and many other temples in Ubud as well. I ended my trip there by eating seafood at Jimbaran restaurant where I enjoyed the view of the sea with all the wave comes and goes. I really liked the Indonesian food as well. My favorite meals are Nasi Goreng Ayam (Fried Chicken Rice), Cheese Martabak, Chicken Satay and Gehu (Sundanese traditional food). At first, I did not know why all the Indonesian people like to add sambal sauce in all their meals. However, after I have tried, I was addicted to it too. Indeed, I was adding sambal sauce into each dish and when there was no sambal sauce, I asked the server to bring it. Unfortunately for me, I don’t like Durian because I find the odor too strong and it tastes likes medicine. At first, I started to eat in restaurants but when I discovered the street food, I found them really tasty that I ended eating street foods during the last weeks.
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The first time I arrived in Indonesia, I was very surprised because the weather is so hot to the point I thought I was in a sauna. I took a shuttle bus to Bandung. After 3 hours of journey, I met the officer of the SEP committee who picked me up to Jatinangor. In Jatinangor, I stayed in an apartment with an another SEP student from Finland named Marko. There were exactly 3 SEP students that were having IPSF students exchange program at Padjadjaran University. Even we all came from the same continent, Europe, our cultures are very different. It was very interesting and exciting to live with them during the internship. I am very glad that I have done this SEP and moreover in Indonesia. I have learnt so much about this country and the people here. From the personal and professional side, it was a rewarding experience which made me grown up. I have encountered so many people who have become my friends. I will never forget this experience and I hope to come back again in Indonesia, this country that I see as my second home.
I had my student exchange program in Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul is not the capital city of Turkey, but this city is the most populous city in Turkey and the country’s economic, cultural, and historical center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Since I chose research for my internship, my SEO located me in a university. I had my internship at botanical department in Istanbul Universitesi. The internship was started at nine in the morning and finished at four in the afternoon from Monday until Friday. It was such a long day, but I did enjoyed it a lot. This university is located not to far from my dormitory, but I had to take a tram to get there. When I started my internship, some people from the university greeted me and they asked me to look around the faculty. The faculty of pharmacy in this university is one of the best in this country.
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I met my supervisor and she explained to me about my internship. There were three things that I had to do in my internship, they were mounting herbarium specimens, observation of anatomical plants, and determination of the classification of the plants. Well, it was really hard to do the determination because I did not recognize most of the plants. The plants were really different between Turkey and my country. So I have learnt a lot about medicinal plants there. I did some observation of anatomical plants there. I had some samples from my supervisor. It was onion and I had to slice it very thin. After that, I had to observe it in microscope. It was fun because I really like doing work in the laboratory. Beside my internship in weekdays, I have had awesome weekends too with my SEO and another SEPers. My SEO always had a really great plan for SEP weekends. I visited so many beautiful places with wonderful
scenery in Istanbul. My first SEP weekend was visiting the infamous Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia is a former Christian church, later an imperial mosque, and now a museum (Ayasofya Müzesi). This place contains a large collection of holy relics and featured. It was a Greek Orthodox cathedral of Constantinopel. In 1453, Constantinopel was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. Then, this main church of Orthodox Christianity converted into a mosque. So, you can see two kinds of features there, there was a holy relics from Christian and you can see Islamic features there too. It was really wonderful because you would not get this scenery anywhere else but here. Later, I went to the beautiful Blue Mosque. The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was really calm and beautiful. The interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles. The upper levels of the interior are dominated by blue paint and there are some decorations include verses from the Qur’an. These two places were my favorite places in Istanbul, but of course, there are still many beautiful and wonderful places there, such as Dolmabahce palace, pierre lotti, topkapi palace, basilika cistern, bosphorus sea, etc. Well, you have not been to Turkey if you do not try these delicious food. First, you
have to try turkish kebab. Yeah, a lot of people must have tried it before, but you will get a special taste that you would not get it from other places. Turkish kebab tastes really good because it was a little bit spicy and the meat is well cooked. Second, you have to try dondurma. It is a kind of usual ice cream, but the ice cream is really good because it is made from goat’s milk. It have a sticky texture and the color is white. Sometimes, you can buy it with additional pistacchio on top of it. It is so delicious. Third, you have to try baklava. This one is a dessert with a really sweet taste. It isreally sweet until you can not feel your teeth. Fourth, you have to try lokum. Yeah, it isthe famous turkish delights. It is really sweet and gummy, but it tastes really good. There are a lot of flavour such as pomegranate, strawberry, mint, orange, grapes, lemon, etc. This place is absolutely one of a great destination to go and I am so grateful that I had this precious chance to get there.
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CREDITS