Assessing the Impact of a Global Health Fellowship on Pharmacists’ Leadership Skills and Consideration of Benefits to the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a global, public health concern that affects humans, animals and the environment. The UK Fleming Fund’s Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) scheme aimed to support antimicrobial stewardship initiatives to tackle AMR through a health partnership model that utilises volunteers. There is evidence to indicate that NHS staff participating in international health projects develop leadership skills. Running in parallel with the CwPAMS scheme was the first Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Global Health (CPhOGH) Fellowship for pharmacists in the UK. In this manuscript, we evaluate the impact, if any, of participation in the CwPAMS scheme and the CPhOGH Fellowship, particularly in relation to leadership skills, and consider if there are demonstrable benefits for the NHS. The 16 CPhOGH Fellows were invited to complete anonymised baseline and post-Fellowship self-assessment. This considered the impact of the Fellowship on personal, professional and leadership development. Senior colleagues were invited to provide insights into how the Fellows had performed over the course of the Fellowship. All Fellows responded to both the pre- and post-Fellowship questionnaires with a return of 100% (16/16) response rate. There was a significant improvement in Fellows’ perception of their confidence, teaching abilities, understanding of behaviour change, management and communication skills. However, there was no change in the Fellows’ attitude to work. Feedback was received from 26 senior colleagues for 14 of the CPhOGH Fellows. Overall, senior colleagues considered CPhOGH Fellows to progress from proficient/established competencies to strong/excellent when using the national pharmacy Peer Assessment Tool and NHS Healthcare Leadership Model. The majority (88%) of senior colleagues would recommend the Fellowship to other pharmacists. The analysis of the data provided suggests that this CPhOGH Fellowship led to the upskilling of more confident, motivated pharmacist leaders with a passion for global health. This supports the NHS’s long-term plan “to strengthen and support good compassionate and diverse leadership at all levels”. Constructive feedback was received for improvements to the Fellowship. Job satisfaction and motivation improved, with seven CPhOGH Fellows reporting a change in job role and five receiving a promotion.

Development and Implementation of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Checklist in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Co-Creation Consensus Approach

“…The results on the use of the checklist post-CwPAMS programme, including a range of interventions [ 9 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ], indicate that the greatest improvements were observed in the core elements relating to senior AMS leadership, accountability, and responsibility. Smaller improvements were reported with regard to the availability of AMS expertise, education and practical training, monitoring and surveillance, and other AMS actions.…”

“…Learning from high-income countries needs to be shared and adapted for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The initial successes provide evidence for the effectiveness of shared learning approaches [ 1 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. A key requirement for the success of shared learning appears to be the engagement and empowerment of frontline staff, who need to be equipped with the skills and tools to carry out AMS effectively.…”

Implementation of a Global Health Equity fellowship established in partnership between an academic institution and governmental agency

“…USAID is uniquely positioned to train pharmacists in the global implementation of health interventions and science, operations, and policy drafting. 20 The PKP global health residency lacked opportunities to author or implement health policy at local, national, or international levels, provided no experience implementing or working within high-income settings to address health disparities, and struggled to have training externally recognized, possibly due to the lack of an associated Masters in Public or Global Health. At the same time, USAID was interested in expanding its training opportunities through the development of a structured postgraduate experience for pharmacists.…”

Success of antimicrobial stewardship programmes – it starts with leadership and accountability

“…To enable AMS leaders to do this, we must develop effective and relevant AMS leadership programmes and resources. There are many healthcare leadership courses and resources available and now some specific AMS leadership courses are in operation, for example, the UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Global Health Fellowship, 11 but such leadership courses may be only available to small cohorts; therefore, there is a need to develop more specific national and international AMS leadership tools/resources for larger groups of AMS specialists and AMS leaders.…”