Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) 2012 Review and Thoughts

From the 3rd of July until the 8th of July 2012 I went to Taipei, Taiwan to attend the Asian Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium (APPS) which was organised by the Asian Pacific Regional Office of the International Pharmaceutical Students Federation. I first got to know about this event in December last year and I was really interested to join. Needless to say, the rest was history and I boarded my plane to Taiwan for this symposium.

Overall I really gained a lot from this symposium, especially being able to know friends from all over the Asia Pacific region, notably Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and not forgetting Malaysia as well. I was able to discuss and share our experience of pharmacy education and the industry back in our respective countries and it was really an eye opener for me. This symposium also taught me how important the power of language was. Being able to converse fluently and write in both English & Mandarin(Simplified & Traditional) had really made my life in Taiwan very much easier. I do not regret taking my Chinese education to SPM level now even though it was quite an ordeal during my high school days. Adding on to that, having some grasp on simple Korean phrases also helped me a lot in getting along with the Korean participants. I shall make it a point to go for more language classes during my summer holidays to improve my grasp of other languages. :D I really do hope that I could keep in touch with friends from other countries, and Facebook has really just made that very much easier.

Alright, moving on to what the symposium was all about and the experiences that I gained :


Day 0
Today was the day of registration of participants. I arrived at East Holiday Inn Hotel around 9.30am in the morning to mark my attendance.

After going through the rather pleasant registration process, I left my luggage in the organisers care and left the venue to continue my tour around Taipei city =P. When I came back to the hotel, it was already about 8.15pm and the welcome party had already begun. The participants were playing ice breaking games and many amazing performances were dished out.

Very well coordinated group dance. Kudos to them.

After the welcome party, everybody then went back with their respective activities while the Malaysian contingent stayed on to discuss what are we going to perform for the Global Village Night. 

Day 1
Finally the day everybody was waiting for. The day started with the opening ceremony whereby the big shots of the Pharma industry of Taiwan came to present an opening speech and welcomed all the participants to APPS 2012.

The Chairperson of APPS 2012!

After all the formalities, the first activity of the day begun with talks. The first talk was by Prof. Oliver Hu who was the Director General of Health for Taiwan. 

One of the main points that Prof Hu brought up was how he successfully separated the dispensing rights between the pharmacists and the doctors, which is still a prevailing issue in Malaysia. All I can say is, dispensing rights separation is very much possible in Malaysia, but for that to happen we need a very strong political voice in the government. Someone like Prof. Hu who is a trained pharmacist by profession. If we could have a pharmacist as an MP in parliament or holding a very high position such as the DG of health I believe the day Malaysia sees a dispensing separation would not be too far away.

After the talks there were more series of workshops such as Patient Counselling Event(PCE) and Student Exchange Workshop. 

Eric conducting the PCE

The PCE was exactly the same as what I had for my OSCE (Oral Structured Clinical Exam) classes during the past semester so everything was pretty familiar to me. However I was a bit surprised that only Monash University integrates this aspect into their syllabus and puts a very strong emphasis on it, at least for my year.  I feel a bit better now after paying such a hefty sum of money getting into this university as I know I've gained a lot more.

Counselling tips

For the Student Exchange Workshops I found out there were actually many exchange opportunities to other countries for a short period of time. Maybe I will try to apply it during my 3rd or 4th year when I have a better knowledge on the pharmacy course. Aiming for Seoul or somewhere in Europe where I can see snow xD. 

One of the participants sharing his exchange experience in Czech Republic

After dinner, we then headed to National Taiwan University for the Auction Night. Basically this auction night was a fundraising event whereby each countries bring something  unique from their own countries and put it up for auction. The money gained from this event will then be used to sponsor a needy student so that he/she could attend conferences such as APPS etc.

NTU Convention Centre

Raise this fan if you want to bid

Various items available for auction

A friend from Japan bidding for an item

Bidding successful!!

New souvenirs to bring home!

Day 3

Day 3 started with another symposium. I attended the one titled "Drug-drug, drug-herb and drug-food interaction." This talk was quite poorly conducted though as the speaker was basically just reading off the slides without adding any additional information. Basically what I learned was those herbs deemed as 'natural' and 'safe' may have fatal side effects if we do not understand the pharmacological properties well. So being 'natural' doesn't necessary means its safe for consumption along with other medications that you are currently taking, especially warfarin.

After the talk we also had some discussion whereby participants from each countries share how Traditional & Complementary Medicine faired in their countries. Following on to that was a poster exhibition competition. Didn't really pay much attention it though. xD All we had to do what stick a 'Like' sticker to whichever poster that you thought was interesting.

'Like!'

The next agenda of the day was the hospital visit! Prior to the symposium everybody was given a chance to select a hospital/NGO of their choice to visit and places for each venue were quite limited. For my part I picked Shuang Ho Hospital which was located in Tao Yuan (桃園).

When we arrived the hospital pharmacists greeted us and explained briefly about what the hospital was all about and its history.

Group photo

Outpatient pharmacy

After that we were brought to a mini tour of the hospital. One of the highlights of the hospital is that it has a drive through pharmacy! This is the first hospital in Taiwan to provide such services though I believe there are one or two hospitals in Malaysia which are also offering such a service.

The drive through pharmacy are only for patients who wants to do a refill for their prescriptions. If it is for a new script the patient has to go to the outpatient pharmacy first.

And finally, the main event for the day, Global Village Night! In simple words this function is a cultural night whereby participants from each countries present their performance! Everybody also dressed up in their traditional costumes and it was really nice to see.

Performance by Taiwan high school students

Korean Performance Part 1

Korean Performance Part 2

Indonesia

Performance by APRO!

Canada!

Malaysia

And last but not least, the winner of the best performance for the night: JAPAN!

Baju Kebaya!


Korean Traditional Costume

And that concludes a wonderful day~!

Day 4

I believe today is the day everybody was looking forward for: Taipei 1 Day tour! We were brought to a few places by the organisers to get the feel of Taipei for one day, which includes the National Palace Museum, Taipei Expo Park,Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Ping Xi. I will post more about all these places in a separate blog post though. :D


First stop: National Palace Museum (故宮）

In front of National Palace Museum. No pictures were allowed to be taken in the museum though :/

2nd stop: Taipei Expo Park

Whale

3rd stop: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

Last stop: Lantern releasing at Ping Xi!

It was really a heart warming and beautiful sight as we watched the lanterns written with all of our wishes slowly float into the sky and disappear into the darkness abyss. Hope that my wishes all will come true!

Day 5

After breakfast we were all ferried to Taipei Medical University. Our first agenda of the day was the regional meeting by APRO.



The organisers of APPS 2013 from Japan then came out to give a preview of what is to be expected for next years APPS in Tokyo! Sadly the date falls after my semester starts but I will be trying very hard to get approval to attend this event.

After that i participated in a Clinical Skills Event which tested my knowledge of drugs and clinical application. Since I am only in my 2nd year I was not very familiar with the drugs and did the test rather badly haha. A good experience nonetheless.

The last activity of the day was to walk over to the Xin Yi district (nearby Taipei 101) to attend a campaign which was organised by the Pharmacy Society of Taiwan to promote safe medication use for the consumers.

We were asked to collect signatures for the public and educate them that they should seek advises from a pharmacist regarding their medications.

At about 4pm our duties were done and we were free for the rest of the day. For me I went on to visit the Taipei 101 tower and the Shih Lin night market :)


Day 6

And finally, the last day of the symposium in Taiwan :(  The day begin in a dull fashion, with 4 talks back to back arranged for us. I could not understand why the organisers had to squeeze all the talks on the last day when everybody was visibly exhausted and tired after a long week of activities.

Our lunch are usually served like these. Sometimes we were served sushis and buns. I have no idea why though, but those 2 food are not filling at all :/

For the 2nd part of the day, there was the Patient Counselling Event finals and some pharmacy contest and a presentation by an Indonesian university to be the host for APPS 2014.

And last but not least, the final event for APPS 2012 was the Gala Dinner which was held at NTUH Convention Centre. Everybody was dressed very elegantly. All the guys were very handsome and ladies were very pretty and mesmerising for the night! 

Performance for the night

Taiwan passing the baton over to Japan for next year's APPS

And it's time to take photosssssssssss :D

With Korean girls

Japan!

Australia~

Taiwanese Senior from Monash Parkville :D

Monash Sunway!

Singapore!

Room mates (Taiwanese & Malaysian) for the 5 nights

Thailand!

And an ending dance to mark the end of a fantastic night and symposium!!

I even won a prize from the lucky draw session! XD

A very big thank you to all those involved in organising APPS 2012 to make sure that this event was a rather successful one (though the registration process was rather poorly handled ._. ). Thank you for all the memories and new friends gained and I really hope to attend the Japan symposium next year. :D