Sunday, April 8, 2012

things I discover in the hospital pharmacy

Just ended my 6-week placement at Armadale Health Service.

One thing I notice about the staff there in general. We all talk to ourselves! Haha. It must be an occupational hazard. Be it dispensing or searching for a particular medicine on the shelves, we would talk to no one in particular.

Example: "Tryzan, where are you?" or "Patient's name.. check! Address... check! Now onto the drug's name..." 


I spent two weeks each at three different areas: clinical, dispensary and store. Clinical was fun, because I got to observe the clinical pharmacists at work. But when they were busy with their own duties, I would be stuck at the desk, engaging in a stare-to-death battle with my textbook. Dispensary was okay, 'cos it could be very busy. I had no time to think of silly thoughts and basically plunging myself wholly into the mechanics of dispensing. But, I didn't like the idea of making so many mistakes with dispensing. Each time my mistake was pointed out by the pharmacist, I would feel down for the rest of the day. I know it is a learning curve for me, especially when I didn't have any prior working experience. But things like this still get to me all the time.

My last two weeks were at the storeroom, where they shelve all the drugs. This could be one of my favourite places. Its mostly quiet and cool (air-conditioning is damn powerful in there!). In the morning, I would help to unpack the orders that come in, put away the boxes and such. Then I have to shelve the products to where they belong. It took me a few days to be familiar with all the shelves. It finally came to the point (weirdly so) that I greeted the drugs on the shelves like an old friend. Strange, but there was a sense of familiarity just by knowing where things were. I am probably crazy for referring to inanimate objects as 'friends'.

What do I tell you about occupational hazard? =)


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