7 October 2016

We spent the day at Makerere University sitting in on the 3rd and 4th year students’ Patient Case Presentations.  I was really impressed with one of the 3rd year groups. They clearly had listened to what we have been teaching them and used all of the tools we discussed to help them identify all of the relevant drug therapy issues for the patient. Kudos to that 3rd year group!! 

When we got back to the guest house so I could finish my final packing and then head to the airport, there were Monkeys all around!! They were even so bold as to enter any room that had a door open. I didn’t realize what was happening since I was in my room packing and I was caught by surprise when I left my room and nearly ran into a monkey in the hall.  Although they are really cute, as you can see, it is dangerous that they feel so comfortable around us.  Monkeys are smart for sure, but they can be mean, too, and have been know to attack and they can carry lots of diseases.  These photos were taken by the students but they definitely were keeping their distance to stay safe.  So tonight I head back to the USA. My new university, Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is getting ready for an accreditation visit and I have much work to do to prepare.  It has been, once again, a fantastic trip.  The 4 students have been a pure pleasure to work with.  They have worked hard and have been dedicated to my project here, to help advance pharmaceutical care and improve safe medication use. They have also grown tremendously in their cultural competence and especially their understanding of and appreciation for this wonderful Ugandan culture!! It’s been fun to have my old boss, Dr. Foote, along this time.  He, too, has jumped right in and hasn’t shown any sign of difficulties acclimating to the work here.  I am 100% comfortable with leaving the students in his care.  Actually, they will all take care of each other.  My only sadness is that I will miss out on the rest of the work and on seeing the continuing transformation of the Makerere Pharmacy Students as they continue to learn.  I have also worked closely with Winnie, the Ugandan Pharmacist Coorinator of my project and am so impressed with her dedications and passion for the patients and for the project.  We will continue to work on the projects we started from afar, but it was so nice to be here and brainstorm together the way forward.  From this point on, the students and Dr. Foote will continue the blog, so they’ve promised me…

This is a picture of the group right before I headed to the airport.