Bulletin No. 2, 2015

Students interviewing seniors at an elderly community centre of elderly community centres throughout the territory, and gauged their drug knowledge and medication adherence. Pharmacists then provided recommendations and patient education accordingly. Workshops were hosted to train social workers, family members and caretakers on how to detect early symptoms of AF and identify those at risk. Publications on AF were developed and uploaded to AMPOULE ( www.ampoule. org.hk ), an online drug information and enquiry platform built by Professor Lee and operated by the School of Pharmacy, for the benefit of the general public. Professor Lee advocates an RCT (Research, Clinical Service, Teaching) model for balancing the three main aspects of her job. She believes they can reinforce each other. Data acquired from KPF-funded projects can be used in teaching and application for research grants. The outreach programme she designed for her students can also become a part of the course she is teaching. A trial fibrillation (AF), an abnormal heartbeat charac terized by rapid and irregular beating, ups the risk of stroke and heart disease, and is particularly dangerous for the elderly. Prof. Vivian Lee of the School of Pharmacy conducted an ICON project in 2013–14 that created a multidisciplinary platform for reaching out to the community to promote awareness and early detection of AF in Hong Kong’s elderly community. In a previous KPF-funded project, Professor Lee found that 2% of old people may suffer from AF and symptoms such as dizziness and fatigue, but are unaware of the underlying disease. Professor Lee and her team that included cardiologists disseminated knowledge of AF to 500 elderly subjects, as well as social workers, caretakers for the elderly, and the general public. Public lectures were delivered by physicians and pharmacists on AF and drug management. A summer outreach programme conducted electrocardiographic assessments on users Knowledge Delivered to the Doorstep—Knowledge Transfer Project Fund 17