By Dr. Teresa I. Pounds, PharmD, BCNSP & Jessica A. Scott, PharmD/PhD Candidate at Mercer University, College of Pharmacy
The pre-inaugural WASPEN chapter meeting was held in Kaduna, Nigeria on November 6th, chaired by Dr. Teresa Pounds, president of WASPEN with attendance of other key group leaders (Secretary, P.R.O., Treasurer) and members. Dr. Pounds introduced WASPEN (West Africa Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition) as a chapter and spoke extensively on the purpose of the group and its proposed impact in the healthcare system, particularly addressing the issues of malnutrition in hospitalized patients. Currently, there is a similar clinical organization in the United States named ASPEN (America Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition). The goal of WASPEN, similar to ASPEN, is to interconnect pharmacists, doctors, nurses and other clinicians in improving the management of specialized nutritional support for hospital patients.
During the meeting, Dr. Pounds recapped the mission of the nutritional support initiative started last November 2018 with the following key points:
- When a patient is admitted in the hospital, what process does the hospital have on ground to do a nutritional assessment? (that is, can the patient be assessed as being malnourished, or at risk of malnourishment?).
- Identification of patients who are at risk is very paramount to the aim of the group
- Importance and status of hospital nutrition support teams
In November 2018, a nutritional support hospital questionnaire survey was distributed to several key hospitals. Ongoing studies for the nutritional support hospital questionnaire survey are currently still underway.
Currently there are plans to inaugurate the WASPEN chapter anticipated in July/August 2020, with the location occurring in the cities of either Lagos or Abuja, Nigeria. Current members of WASPEN were further encouraged to attend the May 2020 ASPEN conference in Tampa, Florida to remain involved and active within the organization.