This in not an official U.S. Department of State (DOS) blog and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the DOS. 

Patrick engages the pharmacy interns in a discussion about SOAP note writing

I’ve had another productive day here at Makerere University where I am really starting to understand the pharmacy school education and am honing in on the type of curriculum that should help their students gain the skills in pharmaceutical care that are desired.  I was even able to go over to Mulago National Referral Hospital to meet up with Patrick Opio, the pharmacist that came to the USA last fall, and his supervisor, the Priniciple Pharmacist, Simon Ssegueya.  Actually, I had been meeting with Professor Richard Odoi in his office to talk more about the curriculum and the possibilities and had mentioned that I would like to also meet with the Principle Pharmacist to explain what we are trying to accomplish and gain his support and perspective on this new curriculum.  So Richard picked up the phone and reached Simon and asked if he could bring by a guest (no names mentioned). We then got in the car and headed across to Mulago where we met up with not only Simon and Patrick but a whole lecture hall room full of the current pharmacy interns. We basically interrupted and then joined their Grand Rounds where interns were presenting cases. But, as we came in, Simon saw me and gave me a great big smile and said, “she is not a guest, she is family”.  How wonderful to be received like that!  So we sat through the conference where Patrick was also giving a presentation on writing clinical notes to communicate patient care issues, called SOAP notes. The picture is of him engaging the interns in a conversation about SOAP note writing. He was not expecting me to come by today so I’m sure I caught him off guard, but I was truly impressed with his increased confidence and presence in the classroom and I think this is directly related to his USA experience last fall.  We made arrangements to work together next week at the hospital so I can see his progress with rounding and the clinical documentation system we developed together.

My home away from home- the little house on the complex of Edge House- the visiting scholar house on the Makerere University campus

This is the view from my house. To the left is the large house that is filled with rooms full of bunk beds for visiting students; the tent area is where I sat to get some nice and cool fresh air this afternoon

My own private kitchen. I’m sure I would share this with others if the main house were full but right now there are only a few guests.

A sitting area where I work on my computer; there is also a desk but it contains my groceries now.

The bathroom; it has great hot water and the shower spray is decent although you hold it up by hand.

The bedroom has the requisite mosquito net and a closet with a mirror on the door. They even have a fan to keep me cool.

A minor nuisance that we’ve been dealing with yesterday and today is lack of electricity on campus.  The pharmacy school has been affected the most. I seem to be able to have power off and on at the Edge House, where I am staying on campus, so at least I start the day with charged electronics.  I do hope, though, that tomorrow the transformer is fixed for good and there are no more difficulties. I’m lucky that I have a new computer with a good battery so at least I can work for a few hours until it is drained.  So, in the afternoon when I couldn’t work more, I came back and relaxed a bit outside until the ants got to bugging me too much.  I’ve include some pictures of Edge House and the yard so you can see the nice accommodations the University has provided for me.  I am quite comfortable and safe- the housing complex is surrounded by a fence and there is a worker on 24 hours to open and close the gate.