Publication Date 01/02/2012 Volume. 2012 No. 1

Read this First

Editorial

Welcome to the first homepage edition of i2P for 2012.
In many ways it has been a slow start to the New Year because of having to deal with the “leftovers” from 2011.
One of those items for i2P was that a third-party provider to the site did not advise of a code change to the security section in our subscribe panel, creating a range of frustrated subscribers not able to get on board.
We apologise to all those potential subscribers who were unable to register with us in the second half of 2011, but if you try once more you should have no problem.

Columns

Rollo Manning: Pharma-Goss | open full screen

Linda Bryant: Inside NZ | open full screen

Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch | open full screen

Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus | open full screen

Mark Neuenschwander: I`ve been thinking about... | open full screen

Health Politics

Neil Johnston: Friends of Science in Medicine | open full screen

Peter Sayers: Confessions of a Frustrated Pharmacist | open full screen

James Ellerson: $75.5 million in 5CPA lying idle. Why is it so? | open full screen

Peter Sayers: The War Against Nutritional Medicine Why We Love Our Critics | open full screen

EPublications

Click here for a list of epublications

CSU Students Help to Close the Gap

Staff Writer

articles by this author...

Editing and Researching news and stories about global and local Pharmacy Issues

Pharmacy students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) have returned from a remote part of Australia where they worked on an important project to rid the local Indigenous communities of two common but treatable diseases.

open this article full screen

The aim of the two year project run by the Menzies School of Health Research is to treat the population of the Elcho Island to the north east of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory for skin mites (scabies) and intestinal worms (Strongylolides stercoralis).

Left to right: CSU students Ms Lauren Slater, Ms Clare Smith and Elcho Island resident Ms Leanne Bundhala Durrkay.

Ms Lauren Slater and Ms Clare Smith, from CSU’s Bachelor of Pharmacy program spent nine weeks from the start of the project in April living and working in the Indigenous community of Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island. They were part of a team of local health workers, doctors, nurses and a PhD student.

The two-year project centres on the mass drug administration of the local communities for the two diseases as well as the screening of the entire Elcho Island population for scabies and intestinal worms.

“The children and adults of Elcho Island were treated with two kinds of medication depending on their weight as well as cream for children with scabies,” third year pharmacy student Ms Smith said.

“It was an amazing experience being adopted by a local family and working in such a remote part of Australia. It was obviously quite challenging at times as I had to use a translator as some people speak the Indigenous Yolngu language.”

Ms Slater said, “It was a life changing experience living and working in Galiwin'ku. I learnt so much about the community, their way of life, the differences in the provision of health to remote communities and importantly I learnt a lot about myself from being part of this project”

“It was definitely challenging at times but the skills and knowledge we gained from our time in Galiwin'ku has made it worthwhile and something I will never forget. Although being adopted by a local family made it a lot easier to work with the community, it also made it that much harder to say goodbye.”

CSU student Ms Clare Smith on Elcho Island.

As the women returned to complete their four year degree in the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga, two more pharmacy students from Orange were flying to Elcho Island to continue their clinical placement.

Professor of Remote and Rural Pharmacy at CSU, Patrick Ball said, “This has been an important opportunity for our students to work closely with remote Indigenous communities.

“Lauren and Clare have lived with the community, been adopted into families and clearly had an exciting and life-changing experience. The Doctor in charge of the project has strongly commended the work of the Charles Sturt University students on Elcho Island.”

The project, ‘Beating scabies and strongyloidiasis in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory’ is a National Health and Medical Research Council funded community-based study incorporating ivermectin as a mass treatment for scabies (skin mites) and intestinal worms (Strongylolides stercoralis). It is due for completion in 2012.

Published in Information to Pharmacists ,

Previous story: PSA Media Releases forJuly 2010
Next story: Clinical Training for Health Profesionals

Return to home

Post new comment

Clinical Newsfeed

health news headlines provided courtesy of Medical News Today.

Click here to read more...

Research Reports

Dr Andrew Byrne & Associates: Tranquillizer use rife amongst OTP subjects world-wide, most legally prescribed | open full screen

Practice Development

Rollo Manning: Pharma-Goss - HMR/MMR – an opportunity to be gained | open full screen

Neil Retallick: Are the discounters impacting community pharmacy beyond margin erosion? | open full screen

Kay Dunkley - BPharm, Grad Dip Hosp Pharm, Grad Dip Health Admin, MPS, MSHPA: Support services for pharmacists and doctors in the United Kingdom – Part 3 Royal Medical Benevolent Fund | open full screen

Staff Writer: Catch the early wave in 2012 and secure your valuable CPD Credits at the Guild Pharmacy Academy – NSW Convention | open full screen

Staff Writer: Daily CPD Credits from Guild Accreditation Workshop | open full screen

Information Technology

Dr David More: Australian Health Information Technology Links | open full screen

Indigenous Health

Rollo Manning: Pharmacy Businesses in Aboriginal Health Services | open full screen

Preventive Medicine

Gerald Quigley: It’s Time! | open full screen

If any difficulty is found in subscribing, please use the "Contact Us" panel found in the navigation bar with the message "subscribe" and your email address.