An Interview session with an Expert in Health and Medicines Information
Received on (14/05/2022)
Name: Froukje Harkes-Idzinga
Country: The Netherlands
Current Job Position: Pharmacist at the Medicines Information Centre of the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association (KNMP)
Area of Expertise: Health and medicines information
Current Role in the Health and Medicines Information Section: Treasurer in the ExCo
Describe your experience in the Section:
I have been a member of FIP since 2017 and I have been active since then in both the Health and Medicines Information Section (HaMIS) and Social and Administrative Pharmacy Section (SAPS). I have attended several FIP World Congresses and during some of those, I served as a poster judge for the HaMIS poster award. My work as an ExCo member of HaMIS started in the autumn of 2020 when I was elected as treasurer. In addition to the Section’s finances, I am involved in keeping the information on the HaMIS web pages at fip.org up to date. Next to this, I am a member of the FIP Technology Forum.
Please discuss a bit about your career path and how you have come to be in your current position:
After finishing my PharmD education in 2007, I started my post-graduate training to become a community pharmacist, while working in a Dutch community pharmacy. After I had finished my training and worked as a community pharmacist for another few months, I decided to look for new job opportunities because I felt working as a community pharmacist perhaps was not the best job for me. I applied for a job at the Medicines Information Centre of the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association. I have worked there for more than 12.5 years now and I am still happy to work here. I am involved in maintaining the medical-pharmaceutical information in the Dutch drug database G-Standard, I work at the Medicines Information help desk for pharmacists and I recently got involved in the work for the Dutch Pediatric Formulary.
How do you see the importance of FIP for the Pharmaceutical Profession?
I think FIP provides great opportunities for pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists from around the world to learn from each other and share ideas to improve the pharmaceutical profession. FIP also has a role in showing the added value of pharmacists in health care.
Please share any suggestions or advice for early career pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists:
Take the time to discover the different areas of expertise in which you can work as a pharmacist or pharmaceutical scientist. And find out what kind of job suits you. Connect with your colleagues from all over the world and learn from each other. Always with the primary goal in mind; to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines for all patients.
Thank you for your time.
