As documented by Dominic Amon.
After six years of training at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, I obtained my pharmacist license. I began working as a Pharmacy House Officer at Maamobi General Hospital in Accra, Ghana. I managed the ART and diabetic clinics of the hospital. At the ART clinic, I was responsible for refills, counseling clients, and initiating new clients on therapy. I also checked for drug interactions, as most of the patients had other conditions such as hypertension, in addition to diabetes. This set me on the path to practice public health, primarily in HIV care and clinical pharmacy.
I developed an interest in health projects and programs, and decided to upskill. I saw the possibilities of big data in the pharmacy industry, and wanted to understand the latest technologies better. I plunged ahead and enrolled in Simplilearn’s PRINCE2® Practitioner and Foundation, Introduction to Data Analytics, and Digital Transformation Leader courses.
What I Gained From My Upskilling Efforts
These courses taught me how to calculate risks and when to act on them. The data analytics skills I acquired included gathering data, interpreting it, making inferences, and implementing solutions. The skills I learned from Prince2® and Introduction to Data Analytics will be useful in research pursuits as well.
My new skills helped me in my everyday work at the hospital. The certification helped me implement strategies to get my clients to adhere to therapy. I saw each client as a project and tackled each one individually. I had a plan to personally call them to remind them of clinic dates and check up on them. It also helped me to rate the performance and progress of therapy using key performance indicators.
