Annual Report - FIP

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Annual Report
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2. During the six days, I have attended several sessions including GMP, Validation, GCP, Regulatory
affairs, Biotechnology, Clinical research, Community pharmacy, Individualised Medicines etc.,
which have enriched my knowledge and understanding in these areas - which have to be dealt with
during our day-to-day work.
3. This knowledge could be inculcated amongst our colleagues for overall improvement of working
environment of the directorate.
4. My presentation is a humble contribution to the global research to reach medicines to the
underprivileged.
Finally I wish to keep on record that FIP Foundation for Education and Research is an excellent initiative,
which can help a Pharmacist/Pharmaceutical Scientist to avail this opportunity so that they can serve
the profession more efficiently, by attending such conferences, getting to know about the types of
research activities and applied sciences in the pharmaceutical technology sphere through interaction
with participants.
Report on participation at 67th International Congress of FIP, Beijing, China 2007
By
SMDK Ganga Senarathna
2007 FIP Congress Travel Grant Awardee
I attended the 67 th FIP congress with the hope of achieving two objectives 1) To enhance my knowledge
in the field of Academic Pharmacy and 2) To expand my knowledge in evidence based selection of
medicines, pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics.
The 67 th FIP congress was equipped with four sessions from Academic Pharmacy section. I attended
all academic pharmacy sessions, two administrative pharmacy sessions and one of pharmacy information
session. I found all the sessions very rewarding.
The session on "Life-long learning and continuing professional development: we have all heard the
theory, what is the evidence?" had three very informative presentations. The presentations were focused
to address the issues related to Continuous Education (CE) and Continuous Professional Development
(CPD) programs and highlighted the difference between the CE and CPD and why it should be CPD
rather than CE. Dr Jennifer Marriot's presentation highlighted certain barriers in conducting CPD
programs and Ms Jennifer Archer's presentation was thought provoking as it pointed out that we might
be conducting CE assuming that it is CPD.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Sri Lanka (PSSL) is conducting a CPD program for the pharmacists in
Sri Lanka even though CPD is not mandatory for practicing pharmacists in Sri Lanka. After this exposure
I joined the sub-committee for CPD at the PSSL, so the knowledge obtained through this session could
be implemented which would help the PSSL to conduct CPD programs more effectively.
The session on "Experiential learning - bridging classroom education and pharmacy practice" was a
totally new concept to me. This session again was very informative and helped us to understand the
importance of experiential learning and the merits of it. At present in my University we have a curriculum
for B.Pharm. course with zero credits for experiential learning and it is not a compulsory requirement.