Experts discuss respiratory diseases and the complications during the 6th Annual Conference hosted

by College of Pharmacy Gulf Medical University

College of Pharmacy, a constituent college of Gulf Medical University organized the 6th Annual

Pharmacy Conference on Respiratory Diseases – An Update, on the 20th of February 2015 at GMU

Campus, Ajman. The event accredited by the Ministry of Health UAE was attended by over 150

professionals from all over UAE.

Experts further felt that various groups of health care professionals can address the issue

successfully only through a collaborative approach. Prospects for primary and secondary prevention

are good if public health measures, health education, and preventive medicine are implemented

based on existing knowledge of correctable or avoidable risk factors.

Dr. Awadelsian Omer Awadelsid spoke on overview of Respiratory tract diseases. He emphasized

on the causes of community acquired and hospital acquired pneumonia and described need for

preventive and therapeutic interventions by health care professional.

Speaking about future prospects in pulmonary drug delivery systems, Dr. Ibrahim Elsayed provided

the audience an overview of the latest technological developments in pulmonary drug delivery

systems. He discussed the previous instruments that are being used and explained the advantages of

newer pharmaceutical developments of new drug delivery instruments that are either approved or in

pipeline.

Dr. Kiran Kumar spoke on the Pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures for smoking

cessation. The speaker described the detrimental effects of smoking on health and the evidence

based approaches that may be adopted to minimize the risks of smoking disorders. He highlighted

that every healthcare professional should participate in tobacco cessation programs and minimize

tobacco related harm. 

Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Riad Elmansoury, the pulmonary specialist from GMC hospital narrated

hazards of antibiotic misuse. He explained the need for rational use of antibiotics in various

respiratory tract infections and the techniques that may be used to minimize adverse effects or the

prevention of resistance for antibiotics.

Dr. Dixon Thomas described the risk assessment and management of various drug induced

pulmonary disorders. He explained the mechanisms of drug induced pulmonary diseases and

stressed on three important drugs that should be intensively monitored for pulmonary toxicity.

Pharmacists should play a significant role in identifying the risk and reporting to pharmacovigilance

programs of the country.

Dr. Shabaz Mohiuddin described the various characteristics of pulmonary embolism. He outlined

the causes, pathogenesis clinical complications and the latest evidence based guidelines employed in

the diagnosis and management of this disease. He highlighted that pharmacists should be aware of

the anticoagulation medication that are commonly used. He urged that pharmacists are required to

counsel patients and carefully monitor the safety and efficacy of these high risk medications.

The program ended with a role play by the faculty and students of the college of Pharmacy, GMU.

The role play depicted a case of an asthma patient, who was prescribed by many antiasthmatic

medications. The pharmacist had to systematically assess the patient’s medication history in order to

identify potential drug related problems and refer the patient to the physician. The session ended

with a patient counseling session, where the pharmacist advices the patient to adopt lifestyle changes

and improve the compliance to medication.