The Pharmacy on every mission is guaranteed to be the busiest department. This year we were fortunate to have an abundance of support. Both local as well as one of our own WHA support team member. Wutt Yi, a young enthusiastic Burmese Pharmacist who was also very fashionable, and Mai-Thy who has a financial/banking background were crucial in making our team complete. Our seamless workflow was a result of several months of preparation prior to mission start. We learned from previous missions how to improve efficiency by preparing and having a formulary inventory and labels translated into the local language. During our dispensary, we had the opportunity to be in direct contact with the locals we were assisting. They were all very appreciative and patient with the WHA while we were in their hometown. We made sure that patient counseling was sufficient so they understood how to properly use the medication we provided, in terms of possible side effects and dosage. We not only provided them with medication that we brought with us from the U.S., but also educated them with the generic names for future refills at their local pharmacy to treat their chronic conditions such as hyper tension, diabetes, or heart disease.

We wish we can have the opportunity to return to this beautiful country.

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"I am fortunate to be part of an incredible dedicated team. They are capable, compassionate, and patient to work so effectively and selflessly such a challenging atmosphere."

-Tam Anh Le RPh

"Communication, collaboration, and team work were instrumental between the WHA and local professionals which ultimately provided high quality patient care. This met the overall goal for the WHA mission in Myanmar. The Pharmacy supported the efforts to educate all patients on other important steps to improve and maintain health and ensured that all medication prescribed to the patients would contribute to the best possible health outcome and also meet the patient’s needs, e.g. we educated/advise patients about the medications, dosage, possible adverse side effects and drug interactions in performing our patient care. Lastly, we also referred patients to his/her doctor or other health professional to address specific health, wellness, or social services concerns as they arose."

-Christine Le, PharmD

     

Blog 9