My Nonprofit Reviews

I began to work in Palliative care and Cancer pain management during the year 2003. While doing a training in a Palliative Care service at the National Institute of Oncology in Panama as a graduate student I came to know how far I was from being able to effectively interact with patients on cancer pain needing palliative care. At that moment I was already a Pharmacology professor with almost 20 years of teaching experience, with a strong background in pain research techniques but I lacked of clinical training in cancer pain management. I figured out that if that was my condition my students were, most probably, even in a worst position. I proposed a course on Pharmaceutical on cancer pain management that included not only pharmacology, pathophysiology and pharmacotherapy of cancer pain management but also a chapter on opioids availability and regulations. By now I have trained around 180 pharmacy students. But it was not only the year 2006 that my academic life made a real change in favor of my country: I applied to a fellowship from the University of Wisconsin with the International Pain Policy and Study Group and with other seven health care professional from all over the world I was accepted. The fellow was sponsored not only by Open Society Institute but also by IAHCP. Many persons were involved in our training, I would not be fare if I did not mention each one of this wonderful persons: Mary Callaway, Karen Ryan, Martha Maurer, David Joranson, Willhem Scholtem, Liliana de Lima. I was so lucky to have Liliana de Lima, form IAHPC as my direct mentor. The whole training, the support of University of Wisconsin, OSI and IAHPC ended in a major change in opioid´s prescription and dispensation in my country. This change is positively influencing opioids availability in Panama. I am still working in a second part of my fellowship but at the same time I became a mentor for a physician in Peru as part of a program coordinated by IAHPC and also became in touch with the National Plan of Palliative Care in Panama trough IAHPC. With these opportunities I have been able to increase palliative care knowledge not only in my School but also at national and international level. I was also invited during the last month of March to the 53rd meeting of the CND in Vienna where U.S.A presented a proposal to discuss during the next ten years not only measures to control misuse but also to increase opioids availability for medical and research purposes. Many organizations supported this initiative, which was approved. IAHPC, OSI and Human Right can be mentioned as leaders of this main idea. Prof. Rosa Buitrago de Tello, School of Pharmacy, University of Panama.

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