AN INDELIBLE MARK? DR. PATRICK MUTHINI IS JUST GETTING STARTED

What is your official Title and Name:

I am Dr. Patrick Muthini John, A Kenyan by birth about to celebrate my 32^nd year of life.

Where do you current place work?

I am an employee of Kitui County Government posted at Kitui County Referral Hospital but currently serving as a Clinical Pharmacy resident at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Mention your education background briefly?

I started my elementary education at the heart of Makueni County specifically at Kilyungi Primary school then transferred to Malaa primary school where I did my KCPE in 2005 setting a record performance that has never been broken to date. I later joined Makueni Boys’ High School; the school that ushered me into leadership.

I am a proud alumnus of The University of Nairobi school of pharmacy (they now call it a department 😢) having graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree. I always give credit to my sponsor, Oshwal Pharmacy Group (OPG) who saw me through my college life catering for my fees and upkeep as well as The University of Nairobi for the library locums that helped me push through the campus life making me look like a rich kid.

I am currently pursuing masters in clinical pharmacy in my year two of three at the department of pharmacy, University of Nairobi targeting to specialize in oncology pharmacy. Once more, my gratitude goes to the University for the award of a scholarship to pursue my Masters Program.

Time and again, I have pursued several short courses lasting up to three months which include Leadership and Management in Health by University of Washington, Clinical Management of HIV by University of Washington and recently an introduction to epidemiology for Global Health by the same institution.

Work experience experience so far?

I did my internship at Makueni County Referral Hospital in 2016 after which I rotated at Kaiti Pharmacy located in the same county. I later did my industrial internship at Regal Pharmaceuticals under supervision of one Hon. Fellow Dr. Rodgers Atebe who could spend time off his tight administrative schedules to narrate to us the sweet stories about the beauty of this profession.

Talk of energy! I did locums at Pharmart Chemists at night and interned at Regal Pharmaceuticals Limited during the day spending only two hours on my bed for three good months. The aftermath of 2017 KMPDU strike which included abolishment of automatic posting was looming and this meant I had to look for money left right and center before the end of our internship.

Fortunately, I managed to secure a job at Kitui County Government and was posted to the extreme southern region of the County as a hospital pharmacist incharge of Ikutha Hospital (it was literally a health center by then) becoming the first pharmacist to work in the facility as well as the sub county. I was to double up as sub county pharmacist a responsibility that came with numerous challenges but nurtured me to the pharmacist I am today. It is in this subcounty where I was tasked to act as the focal person of the Medical Donations Programme (MDP) of the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) linking the clinics in Kenya and the MDP programme in Newyork. This programme enabled us to meet the healthcare needs of many families in the subcounty and also enriched my commodity management skills.

Two years later, I was transferred to Kitui County Referral Hospital to head the Pharmacy Department of the biggest referral facility in the county. Everyone can agree with me that this was not an easy task from manning a facility with only two staffs in the pharmacy department and sub county with not so high workload to being at the referral center where every eye is on you. It was a difficult decision to make but I had no option. KCRH turned to be the best facility to learn from. With every department looking upto you for supplies, having a dozen of pharmacy professionals to empower and at the center of it all waking up to meet patients who have hope in the system you are part of has to shape one to be nothing but the best. About COVID 19 and the challenges in consumables, let’s make it a story for another day.

What you love most about being a pharmacist?

If there is something I love whole heartedly, then it’s being a pharmacist. It’s like a vocation to me and like other healthcare professions, it has a direct touch to the community. There is nothing sweeter than seeing a patient walk home happily having gone through a caring system that has a pharmacist at the exit and even at the bedside who has a great role in offering a patient tailored approach to medication. I have always wanted to be that pharmacist who will leave a mark wherever I serve and this pushed me to assume the leadership role of the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya as a branch secretary of the Lower Eastern Branch, the body that has always pushed for the pharmacists’ agenda.

What can you say to the Pharmacists out there?

The idea of Medication Therapy Management (MTM) has spent more time in our conversations than in the real clinical practice. We all need to champion this at all levels of healthcare in our facilities. This probably will be the end of the global pandemic of antimicrobial resistance paving way for us to be the real drivers of antimicrobial stewardship. The future of community pharmacy consultative services lies in MTM.

Our clinicians in the wards need us as pharmacists to help identify the drug therapy problems (DTPs) and assuming this role will create more room for employment of the young pharmacists. We are still too few in the profession to meet the unending healthcare needs in the society. Yes, we need pharmacists in healthcare management, education sector, research institutions, political arena, regulatory affairs, at that dispensing window whether as community Pharmacists or dispensing pharmacists in hospitals but we equally have to get pharmacists involved in direct patient care in the wards. We don’t have to be clinical pharmacists to join ward rounds and review patients’ treatment files as we probe on that rich history on medication use amongst our patients. Studies have shown that having pharmacists in the ward rounds has led to impactful interventions and can be used as a learning opportunity for the wider MDT.

Finally, Clinical Pharmacy residency has so far taught me many things but one that I know has changed my practice and will probably be worth to recommend is that of being a lifelong learner. There is new evidence coming up everyday and the medicine we practiced twenty years ago is perhaps not the medicine we are practicing today. We are surrounded by new molecules, new diseases that were not known to affect humans, remerging diseases and even new indications of existing molecules. Reading and participating in peer reviews will keep us abreast of the emerging practices. I long for the day when my colleagues in the Pharmacy Department at my work place will keep abreast with the evidence based  and the most current clinical practice.

Viva la pharmacie!!

DR. PATRICK MUTHINI