25/3/2022
Blazing the trail in Culture Change By Edel Q. Mwende
T
he Kenyatta National Hospital Division of Pharmaceutical Services is a trend-setter in initiating culture change and quality improvement. This is aimed at honoring their staff (pharmacists, pharmacutical technologists and pharmacy auxilliary staff) who go above and beyond to provide exceptional and distinguished service and help deliver on the division’s mission which is; “To optimize patient experience through pharmaceutical care, facilitate training and participate in national health planning.” A publication by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement written by Pidson Kamugisha on Thursday, December 2, 2021 “How Shared Ownership Supports Sustained Quality Improvement,” highlighted that proper implementation of Quality Improvement (QI) strategies can not only increase productivity and efficiency but can also improve quality and safety. This, however, requires a dedicated team to effectively carry out the changes. Cultural change is the process in which an organization encourages employees to adopt behaviors and mindsets that are consistent with the organization’s values and goals. The culture change initiatives at KNH were introduced in the FY 2021/2022. The Pharmaceutical Services Division identified some key activities among the recommended options in culture change which included coaching and mentoring, office rotation and staff appreciation. The Division established a collaboration with Phillips Therapeutics Limited to offer training for its twenty-seven (27) team leads who underwent a 3-day “Phillips Top100 Leadership” training
PHOTO | YVONNE GICHURU Phillips Therapeutics Limited Marketing Lead; Dr. Eric Githaiga (left) and Phillips Therapeutics Limited Key Accounts Manager; Jotham Nkonge (2nd left) hand over the KNH Pharmaceutical Services Division ‘High Performance Team Award’ trophy to KNH Director Pharmaceutical Services Dr. Alfred Birichi (middle), Head of Unit- Pharmacovigilance, Poison & Drug Information Dr. Dorothy Aywak (2nd right) and KNH Assistant Chief Pharmacist Dr. Faith Tuikong (right).
which was conducted February 7th to 9th 2022 as part of coaching and mentoring the staff in the Healthcare Environment about leadership. The fully sponsored training which took place at the Diagnostics and reporting Centre incorporated execution as a leader, leadership styles, effective communication, and powerful presentation skills. A significant part of the collaboration was the support towards initiating the “Pharmacy Awards Program.” The Phillips Therapeutics Top 100 Training is targeted to Retail, Wholesale, or even Hospital Pharmacy owners and provides methods, best practice skills, and tools to help in Therapeutic soft skills upgrade. The Business modules are intended to support Retail and wholesale Pharmacy owners with
ISSUE 6 | Kenyatta National Hospital Newsline
“To optimize patient experience through pharmaceutical care, facilitate training and participate in national health planning.”
Mission for Pharmaceutical Services Division
business skills to successfully, start, grow, or expand their business. The Pharmacy management recognizes that every team member plays an important role in achieving the Division’s performance targets. Recognizing this effort and encouraging others to raise the bar with regards to meeting set daily and monthly targets was a driver to initiating an award mechanism to recognize and celebrate exceptional accomplishments of the staff who demonstrate good leadership and teamwork. The Division’s performance monitoring team will be responsible for selecting the winner of “Pharmacy Team of the month.” Every month, each pharmacy will be scored on its performance with regards to pre-determined criteria that includes quality and timeliness
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