Hi! As the title states, I’m off to Uganda for my 8th trip! This time I’m traveling without Wilkes University pharmacy students so I can teach in the pharmacy program at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda for 5 weeks. So I’m really looking forward to teaching and mentoring Ugandan pharmacy students and the Pharmacy Interns at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Those of you who have followed my journeys to Uganda will remember that I spent 3 separate months in Uganda in 2014 to help the faculty at Makerere develop a pharmaceutical care skills lab course (PCSL) where the students learn direct patient care skills such as patient counseling, how to evaluate medication regimens, and make recommendations to the hospital physicians to improve health outcomes. This is part of a larger  project to help Advance Pharmacy Practice in Uganda.  

   
Another part of the project kept me very busy all summer while I hosted 2 Ugandan pharmacists for 8 weeks in the USA to learn advanced pharmaceutical care skills with my American pharmacy students at my practice site, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. I still have much more to post about Cathy Namulindwa and Gonsha Rehema’s experiences this summer and I will continue to do that while I’m in Kampala over the next 5 weeks. 

Stay tuned to learn all about the Ugandan healthcare system and the practice of pharmacy.  My hope is that you feel as if you are on this journey with me. It is sure to be full of many escapades yet to be determined. 😊

  In fact, the trip took a left turn right from the beginning. This morning, just as I was finishing up my final packing, I received a text from Delta Airlines that the flight from Detroit round be so delayed that I would miss my connection in Amsterdam to Uganda. My first fight from PA to Detroit was on time but that couldn’t help me. In fact, there wasn’t really any alternative flights available. Fortunately my brilliant husband suggested I ask Delta about re-routing me through Newark, NJ. This airport is much farther from my home but we had just enough time to make that flight, which turned out to be a blessing since it is direct to Amsterdam. Well, they are calling for boarding. I’ll keep in touch and talk to you more later.