Dr. Marjorie Watetu Kagiri is an exceptionally hardworking pharmacist with 7 years of experience. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) from the University of Nairobi (2013) and she followed it up with a Masters in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Nairobi (2020).
Her career started off at Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital as a pharmacist intern. While awaiting deployment, she volunteered at the Kenyatta National Hospital in the Oncology department. She was then posted to Nakuru county, Elburgon sub county hospital as a pharmacist. Here, she implemented an inventory system to improve on the management of commodities.
Being passionate about patient care, she implemented a pharmacist led-medication assessment tool as well as adherence and counseling sessions in the outpatient clinics. These interventions greatly improved patient outcomes. She took on more responsibility as the pharmacist in charge as well as the Secretary to the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (Central Rift Branch) in 2017 where she had been diligently serving until her study leave in 2018. She undertook a Senior Management Course at the Kenya School of Government to hone her interpersonal skills.
Dr. Marjorie Kagiri has a keen focus on non-communicable disease with a special interest in Oncology. She is driven towards cancer patient care and furthering research work in the field of hemato-oncology.
Her awards include the Award of University of Nairobi Scholarship.
Project Summary
HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AND DRUG THERAPY PROBLEMS IN PATIENTS WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE ON HYDROXYUREA AT KENYATTA NATIONAL HOSPITAL
Background: Sickle cell disease is an inherited genetic disorder caused by presence of a mutated form of hemoglobin. Multi-organ involvement and painful crises are the hallmarks of sickle cell disease. Studies have revealed that patients with sickle cell disease have a lower quality of life compared to the general population. Hydroxyurea is the standard therapy for the management of sickle cell disease.
Objective: To determine the health-related quality of life and drug therapy problems with hydroxyurea use in patients with sickle cell disease at Kenyatta National Hospital.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Kenyatta National hospital hemato-oncology clinic. Sixty-seven participants were eligible. Enrolled participants answered questionnaires designed to collect information on the socio-demographic and medical characteristics. The World health organization Quality of Life (QoL) tool was used to determine the health-related quality of life score.
Results: Participants had a median age of 20.7 (±7.2) years, 52% were male and had experienced several sickle cell disease-related complications with acute chest syndrome (65.7%) being the most prevalent. The most frequently reported clinical symptoms included headache (44%) and painful crisis (38.8%). Non-compliance (86.6%) was the most prevalent drug therapy problem. In the quality of life assessment, psychological health had the highest score of 68.2%. Positive family history (p=0.030) (6.58 CI 0.66, 12.50) was significantly associated with better overall quality of life scores. Vomiting (p=0.099) (4.77 CI -10.46, 0.93) and chest pain (p=0.697) (1.71 CI -10.43, 7.02) were associated with lower overall quality of life scores.
Supervisors
Dr. Peter N. Karimi
Professor Faith A. Okalebo
Links
https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=new_articles&hl=en&imq=KAGIRI+MARJORIE+WATETU&authuser=1#
