BWH Haiti Administrative Fellowship Fosters Pharmacy Quality Improvement at Hopital Universitaire de Mirebalais

Jennifer Goldsmith
Director of Administration, Division of Global Health Equity
3 November 2016

Read more about Samahel’s work and collaboration with BWH in Pharmacy Today.

Although I have visited the Hôpital Universitaire Mirebalais (HUM) in Haiti before, my latest trip there marked the first time I received a behind-the-scenes look at its pharmacy. The impact that access to prescription drugs has on the lives of the hospital’s patients cannot be understated and it is made possible by the significant effort put into organizing medications and treatments, which is key to the pharmacy’s efficiency. Inventory management and supply chain are highly specialized operations distinct from the biochemical side of pharmacy work.

I was in the Mirebalais pharmacy in my role as fellowship director for the Walton Global Health Administration Fellowship, which was established in 2014 in BWH’s Division of Global Health Equity. Several generous BWH donors envisioned a program that would build on the existing bonds between BWH, Partners In Health (PIH) and PIH’s Haiti-based organization Zanmi LaSante (ZL). Through the fellowship, ZL administration and leadership would build skills to match the needs of a new 300-bed teaching hospital that was built in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake. To date, six fellows have participated in the program; among them is Samahel Joseph, director of Pharmacies at HUM.

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