Planning a Pharmacy-Led Medical Mission Trip,Part I: Focus on Medication Acquisition

This article, focusing on medication acquisition and formulary development, is the first in a 4-part series on pharmacist-led medical mission trips. The second article, “Servant Leadership and Team Dynamics,” examines the concept of servant leadership as part of medical missions’ efforts and provides suggestions for team building, both before and during the mission trip. Part 3, “Development and Implementation of an Elective Medical Missions Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Rotation,” focuses on developing an elective APPE for international and domestic medical missions, including provision of products. Part 4, “An Exploratory Study of Student Experiences,” is an evaluation of data collected from both APPE and non-APPE student participants on Gregory School of Pharmacy mission trips during the summer of 2011. Specifically it examines the issue of professionalism and the personal impact that mission trips may have on pharmacy students.

Pharmacists can be involved in many functions of the medical mission team. Particularly, they can play a large role in formulary development, acquisition of medications, and organization of medications before and during the mission trip. Important factors for consideration in formulary development and logistical planning include the group's budget; importation laws and regulations of the country being visited; transportation and storage of medications and supplies; disease states anticipated; whether controlled substances wilt be included; whether medical or surgical procedures will be provided; age distribution and languages of the population to be treated; whether sample medications will be used; handling of unused medications and supplies after the trip; and considerations of the population's cultural beliefs. Various organizations are available to provide medications for medical mission efforts at little to no cost, and knowledge of these organizations will help to facilitate the process of medication acquisition. Additionally, pharmacists can provide insight regarding the logistical set-up and workflow considerations during the mission experience.