Implementing the "Train the Trainer" Program in South Africa

Segment Description: Debra Goff, PharmD, an infectious disease pharmacist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, shares how the "Train-the-Trainer" program was implemented in South Africa.

Interview transcript: (modified slightly for readability)

The NICU “Train-the-Trainer Antibiotic Stewardship Mentoring Program” for pharmacists got started in South Africa, in response to the CDC being called in by one of the largest hospitals in South Africa, where their neonatal unit was having an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections, resulting in the death of multiple babies.

So they called for help and the CDC knew of my program in adult medicine mentoring program for stewardship, and asked if I could help train their pharmacists to become intimately involved in the day-to-day patient care interventions, because their current role was really just dispensing medication.

And so they asked me to help and that's really how the program came to be. Except, I don't have expertise in neonatal stewardship. My area of expertise is adults. I know how to implement the model, but it led to a beautiful collaborative relationship with my two colleagues Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Prusakov who are world-renowned neonatal experts and run the very successful Nationwide Children's Hospital stewardship program. So I collaborated with them so we could go in as a team to provide this mentoring program for South Africa pharmacists.

Check out part 1 of this 3-part interview.