My time in Kenya has been awesome. I would even go so far as to say it has been a life changing experience. Being immersed in a new culture for two months tends to have that effect on a person. I have grown in so many ways, both inside and outside of the realm of pharmacy. That is what is so great about this rotation. Your knowledge base and clinical skills are challenged and expanded through the direction of a preceptor who expects excellence. At the same time you are experiencing so much in addition to just pharmacy. The people, the culture, the food, the music…it is a refreshing experience.
Throughout this rotation the pharmacy students have had many different opportunities in many different settings. Our primary responsibility is patient care at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital medical wards. This is an experience that takes some getting used to. The wards are like nothing you would ever see in the United States. The physical conditions of the facility take adjustment in and of themselves. Other challenges faced daily include out of stock medications, more than one patient per bed, no isolation for high risk patients (those with TB for example) and a nonsensical payment structure. These remained reasons for frustration, to say the least, throughout the duration of my stay here, but by the end we were able to adapt and really begin to make a difference. I saw how valuable pharmacists are to the medical team, especially during rounds. Not a day went by while working at MTRH that Purdue pharmacy students did not make an intervention on a patient’s behalf. More than once these interventions were significant enough to be life saving. Beyond this, during rounds my colleagues and I made friends with many Kenyan medical and pharmacy students. It took time to gain trust but I really feel these friendships will last beyond my two month stay in this country.
Outside of the hospital we spent time at various sites including AMPATH clinics. This was a great experience. Students worked with Kenyan pharmacists at these sites to dispense antiretroviral medications to HIV positive patients. It was during my experiences at the AMPATH clinics that I was offered a glimpse into the severity and extent of this epidemic disease. I looked into the eyes of 2 and 3 year old children infected by mother to child transmission at birth. They were destined to a life on complicated and not-so-benign medications by no fault of their own. It was heartbreaking but also rewarding to know that a difference was being made, and I was witnessing and even perhaps contributing to a small part of that. Without my time spent in these clinics I would still have no appreciating for the burden of this disease in sub-Saharan Africa.
Just being on the content of Africa and interacting with the people has made me fall in love with this place. I have learned that it is a place of much need but also great hope. This rotation allows you the flexibility and great opportunity to interact with students living at the IU compound from many different universities in the AMPATH consortium. One student in particular had an impact on me. He was here on a return trip doing work with street children, or children who live on the street at least part of the day in hopes of making money and surviving under the oppression of poverty. I was deeply impacted by watching him work with these children and gained insight into the complex social implications of this problem. I say this to emphasize that although I came to Kenya intending to learn mostly about tropical medicine as it relates to pharmacy, I left with so much more than that. This place gets in your blood, at least it did mine. The opportunities are so vast. It is wonderful to come here as a student under the direction of a preceptor, together identify needs, and then have the freedom to implement programs or research initiatives to make a difference. That type of flexibility is unique to a setting like this. The needs are great but so are the opportunities. The more you put in to this rotation, the more you will get out.
It is also great to be in a setting with other pharmacy and med students all working together. Learning and working together as students is an avenue to doing the same as professionals. I was amazed to watch as barriers were broken down between the two fields and students came to realize how complementary the knowledge base is between pharmacy and medicine. It was energizing to me to be on a rotation where everyone was working hard and we learned together.
It is probably obvious, but I really have loved my time here. If you are thinking about coming to Kenya please view this opportunity as a privilege. It is not a vacation. You will work hard, which is ultimately for your benefit and the benefit of all your future patients. There will be plenty of time to travel and experience Kenya as a whole, but I challenge future students to take the work they do here seriously. The Kenyans have come to depend on us, and we have the ability to make a huge difference. With a proper attitude this rotation is an absolutely incredible and life changing experience. I am so thankful I have had the opportunity to experience this place. I’ll be back. You can count on it.
Katie Ringenberg
PharmD Candidate, May 2009
