While others are basking in the New Zealand sun, returning back to deliciously cooked home meals with their family after work at the end of the day, travelling the world, or just plain doing nothing, I'm here at university stuck in an isolated (albeit adequately lit with natural light) seminar room tapping away at my laptop for at least 7 hours a day and 5 days a week. But don't despair, it's not as dire as it sounds. Any job has its fill of gross paperwork and unsightly clerical work. And my work here doesn't completely consist of staring at a computer screen. I'll tell you more about the exciting events I have encountered so far, and what the future holds, later.
But first, so what exactly am I doing you might ask? Well, for those who didn't know, I'm currently undertaking a summer studentship at the School of Pharmacy. A studentship is a research job where you work under the supervision of a staff member at the university. The summer project was developed by, and is related to the supervisor and whatever research they're carrying out at the same time.
I am supervised by two lovely women who work here at the school. My primary supervisor is Dr Kirsten Lovelock who is a research fellow (she doesn't teach). My project relates directly to the area she is studying at the moment. She got her PhD in anthropology and is a very knowledgeable social scientist.
My secondary supervisor is Dr June Tordoff who is a senior lecturer in pharmacy. She is traiend as a pharmacist and works part time at Dunedin hospital doing drug information, which is basically like customer services for the pharmacy. She answers drug questions that come from anyone: local and distant pharmacists, doctors, students, patients etc.
My project is titled, "Access to medicines and health care in rural New Zealand: the role of the rural pharmacy and depot." Dr Lovelock has done a lot of work on rural health and I'm contributing by researching the contextual nature of health in rural settings and how the pharmacist contributes to the well-being of the community they serve.
Due to the lack of a fully coherent health care workforce in rural areas, health professionals already existing in such places often need to take up responsibilities which extend beyond their traditional roles of their discipline. I'll briefly look at the capacity of the rural pharmacy and the services they offer. For this part, I'll be interviewing rural pharmacists and depot operators. Depots are little shop thingies in remote, rural places were patients can leave prescriptions which will then be transferred to the affiliated pharmacy to be processed and filled, which are then returned to the depot where the patients can pick them up. Depots tend to be located in remote areas where a pharmacy wouldn't be financially viable, but the area still requires the services of a pharmacy. They are usually manned by a pharmacy technician or even just a lay retailer.
I'll also dip into looking at how the rural community perceives the rural pharmacy and their access to health care services. There's often discrepancies between the way the policy makers handle rural health care (or any other aspect in the whole of society, for that matter) and the reality of the situation faced by those who actually live in these settings and who are affected by the policies that are put in place. We'll be interviewing members of the community for this section.
So that's a long-ish summary of what i'll be doing in my summer. I have to write up a report on all of this. I've done about 10-ish pages so far and I feel like it's only about 1/6th there. Bah. So much work and i'm already half way through my studentship. I feel like this is going to take much longer than just 10 weeks.
This is just blog #1 in a series of blog posts that I'll hopefully churn out while my adventure unfolds over the summer. Expect lots more over the next week (or so. I'll probably procrastinate...) since i'm already half way through my studentship. I have plenty to say!
To my readers: if you want to continue talking about rural health in New Zealand (or even health in general), feel free to hit me up! Comment away. Let's partake in some healthy discussion.
