Around 100 pharmacists and experts from Jordan and Palestine recently participated in a one-day workshop organised by Bayer Middle East aimed at equipping them with the necessary basic skill sets required to work with patients and understand their needs.

The workshop was received with great enthusiasm by the attendees, with many of them eager to learn how to solve challenges and provide the best services possible to patients, said a statement.

The organisation of this workshop comes in conjunction with the constantly evolving healthcare space in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region; pharmacists are increasingly playing the critical role of providing a more patient-centric approach that requires them to deliver the key service of medication management, medication reconciliation, prophylaxis services (initial screening), education, behavioural counselling and the management of the pharmacy model effectively, it said.

The opening speech was given by Dr Zaid Rawhi Al Kilani, secretary of the board of the Jordan Pharmacist Association, on organising the workshops conducted under the supervision of industry experts and specialists, creating the perfect platform to consolidate the exchange of experiences between pharmacists from both Jordan and Palestine, providing them with key insights on working with time management, financial understanding and maximising positivity, while minimising physical and mental stress in patients.

As well as the exchange of experiences and the best practices, in line with the concept of the ‘Seven-Stars‘, which defines the modern roles of a pharmacist as caregiver, provider of information, decision maker, teacher, life-long student, leader and manager.

On his part, Dr Yazan Alahmad, country division head of consumer care at Bayer Levant, said: “Training pharmacists to become experts in providing pharmaceutical care is part of our ongoing global efforts to recognise the important role they play in healthcare infrastructure, in order to support patient needs. We strongly encourage the development of our pharmacists to become seven-star experts,” he added.