Are you ready for your expanded roles as pharmacists.

Attend the 2-Day Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Seminar Workshop for Expanded Roles of Pharmacists on March 2 to 3, 2018. The Seminar will be held at the PAWSI Lecture Room at 231 Ortega St. cor. A. Mabini St. Bgy. Addition Hills San Juan City. 

Participants will earn 13.5 CPE points. Registration fee is only PHP 3,000 inclusive of meals and workshop materials. 

Register ASAP. Only 40 slots available. For registration and inquiries, please contact 0917.882.0766.

The APIMM congratulates its current President, Leonila  Ocampo for being awarded a Lifetime achievement award by the Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA), a prestigious organization of pharmacies in Asia, in its Congress last November 13, 2016 held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Ocampo is a leading pharmacist and a staunch advocate of good pharmacy practice in the Philippines. She is a key industry expert with exceptional and wide ranging experience including community pharmacy, pharmacy operations and management, academe, research and policy consultant/advocate.

Together with other pharmacy experts and leaders in the country, Ocampo painstakingly fought for new policies that aim to improve pharmacy service and healthcare delivery to patients. Despite strong opposition from business-oriented pharmacy owners, Ocampo persistently lobbied for the legislation of a new pharmacy law, “The Pharmacy Act of 2016,” which paves the way for major changes in the country’s pharmacy practice among which includes the professionalization of pharmacy workforce.

In accepting the international recognition, Ocampo promises to become a “potent contributor to the discussions and solution building that may forward policy options, educational interventions, and practice models that may address the challenges in the [pharmacy] profession” not only in the Philippines but “across settings in many parts of Asia.”

​“As a pharmacist from the Philippines, I wish to share the unique lessons we had as well as the practical strategies we have employed to overcome overwhelming limitations in the country, to effect changes in pharmacy education and practice. The perspectives I will bring in are grounded on the reality of constraints and value of innovation,” Ocampo further notes in her message to FAPA.###

The Asia Pacific Institute for Medication Management (APIMM) lauds the passage of RA 10918 or An Act Regulating and Modernizing the Practice of Pharmacy in the Philippines last July 21, 2016 saying the new law and  its Implementing Rules and Regulation  will “greatly contribute in ensuring better medication care to the public.”

Leading pharmacist Leonila Ocampo, President of the APIMM and a key advocate of good pharmacy practice (GPP) in the country said “RA 10918 is a landmark legislation not only in the pharmacy industry but in the entire healthcare system in the country. If implemented to the fullest, we can expect huge positive impacts on the delivery of better healthcare especially in terms of medication service to patients.”

The implementing rules and regulation of the new pharmacy law has been finalized and signed; it is expected to take effect in January 2017.

“[Having the new pharmacy law passed] was not an easy process at all. It underwent many levels of scrutiny by legislators and faced strong opposition by big industry players who thought its provisions were contrary to business interests. But after long and painstaking years of lobbying, it is finally here,” Ocampo avers.

RA 10918 is in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)’s GPP framework updated and adopted last 2011. GPP aims to “contribute to health improvement and to help patients with health problems to make the best use of their medicines.”

Specifically, RA 10918 expands the scope of the pharmacist’s tasks to include immunization. The new law is also geared towards the professionalization of the pharmacy workforce by upgrading the level of pharmacy assistants to NC III, requiring more stringent rules on evaluation of pharmacy personnel and pharmacy licensing.

Ocampo underlined that present pharmaceutical practice in the country needs a lot of improvement in order to optimize the outcome of taking medicines. “At present there is a significant gap between potential and actual outcome of medicines and this can be attributed to some extent to the competency of the people who are handling and dispensing the drugs.”

“Pharmacy practice should be appreciated by the public as part of the health profession and this can only be possible if those in the frontline, meaning pharmacies in the patient care settings are capable of delivering professional health service and not merely act as sales people selling drugs to patients,” Ocampo furthered.
Ocampo added that efforts to adopt the GPP framework and professionalize the pharmacy industry in the Philippines started as early as 2010. In 2014, the Department of Health and Food and Drug Authority issued an administrative order and a memorandum circular that set attendance in pharmacy support workforce orientation as a requirement for renewing or applying pharmacy license to operate. It is part of FDA’s long term goal to transition to a 100 percent Pharmacy Assistant Certification by 2020, an initiative important to ensure that only competent people will handle and distribute medicines to clients and patients, given the nature of the medicines.

“RA 10918 is necessary to institutionalize long term changes in pharmacy practice so that we will have legal basis to carry-on what has been started. The law’s passage is indeed a welcome development,” Ocampo said.# 

Pharmacists are invited to participate in the 6th Clinical Pharmacy Summit to be held from Sept 16 to 18 at the Crimson Hotel in Filinvest, Alabang Muntinlupa.  

This summit is being organized by the Philippine Pharmacists Association (PPhA) and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP).
 
US-based experts on clinical pharmacy will cover 1) cardiology pharmacotherapy including as session on women's health and 2) infectious disease pharmacotherapy including women and men's health. The cardiology segment will focus on arhythmias, atrial fibrillation and pulmonary arterial hypertension while the infectious disease segment will focus on HIV infection, other STDs, tuberculosis, fungal and intra-abdominal infections. 

The summit's resource speakers are: Prof. Jessica Adams from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; Prof. Brian Hemstreet of Regis University; Dr. Alan Lau, Director of the International Clinical Pharmacy Education, University of Illinois at Chicago; Dr. Maddux, Executive Director of American College of Clinical Pharmacy and; Prof. Robert Parker of the University of Tennesse
 
Hospital pharmacists, and pharmacists interested in pursuing clinical pharmacy are encouraged to attend. 
 
Registration fee for the three-day event is Php20,000.00 for professionals and P10,500.00 for students inclusive of the learning materials, food and certificate. An early bird rate of P18,500.00 is given to professionals who will register between Aug. 15 to Sept. 8, 2016.

Registration materials may be downloaded from the PPhA website: www.philpharmacists.org and the APIMM website: www.apimm.net.
 
You can also download, complete program here. To register, fill up our online registration form. 
 
For more information, please send email to: 6thaccpsummit@gmail.com or contact event secretariat, Ms. Camille Ocampo, at 0935-848-4642.

Pharmacists are invited to participate in a three-day seminar on Pharmacotherapy and Clinical Practice Series this March 11 to 13 at the Bestwestern Hotel in Makati Ave., organized by the Philippine Pharmacists Association and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
 
The series will cover pediatric pharmacotherapy and the therapeutic management of oncology patients. The pediatric segment of the program will provide an overview of the treatment of sepsis and meningitis; insights into management of respiratory syncytial virus and otitis media; and pediatric immunizations. The second segment of the program will provide an overview of the treatment and monitoring of complications of cancer and anti-cancer therapies.
 
Clinical pharmacy experts and practitioners based in the United States comprise the program’s resource speakers. They are: Maya Campara, Pharm.D., BCPS, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago; G. Robert DeYoung, Pharm.D., BCPS, Supervisor, Clinical Pharmacy Services, Mercy Health Saint Mary's/Mercy Health Physician Partners; Alan Lau, Pharm.D., FCCP, Professor and Director, International Clinical Pharmacy Education, University of Illinois at Chicago; LeAnn Norris, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCOP, Associate Professor, South Carolina College of Pharmacy and; Jennifer Pham, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCPPS; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago.
 
Hospital pharmacists, faculty members, community pharmacists, and other interested pharmacy
practitioners are encouraged to attend. Senior undergraduate pharmacy students may also attend with limited slots available.
 
Registration/tuition fee for the3--‐day event is Php18,500.00 (early bird)  and  Php20,000.00  (regular) inclusive of the learning materials, food and certificate. Student  rate is Php 10,500.00. The event will carry  CPE units from  the PRC  CPE  Council  for  pharmacy practitioners. Registration materials may be downloaded from the PPhA website: www.philpharmacists.org and the APIMM website: www.apimm.net.
 
You can also download, complete program here.
 
For more information, please send email to: diane.aninon@gmail.com or contact event secretariat, Ms.
Diane Aninon, at 0915-6024448.